How loss of brother shapes future South Carolina QB Ryan Hilinski’s life and spirit
Fremont Tribune
When you look down at the wristband, this is what you must do.
Turn to somebody to your left.
Turn to somebody to your right.
Tell each person three things you love about them.
Why would someone do this?
“Just being that light in somebody’s life,” future South Carolina quarterback Ryan Hilinski said. “That if they’re struggling, you can help them out.”
That number on the wristband, the No. 3 alongside the words “Hilinski’s Hope,” was worn by Hilinski’s older brother Tyler. He was a quarterback, like both of his brothers. Last January, he took his own life.
His family, his Washington State teammates didn’t know his struggles. And since, they’ve been left to mourn, cope, wonder why and find ways to move forward.
Ryan Hilinski, one of the top QB recruits nationally in the 2019 class, will soon become a South Carolina Gamecock, following a path his oldest brother Kelly started as they grew up in Southern California and that Tyler took to another level.
And although Ryan’s brother is no longer in his life in some ways, none of the Hilinskis will ever let Tyler be truly gone.
“I always say a prayer in the morning to him,” Ryan Hilinski said. “I always say a prayer at night to him. I just talk to him, make sure he’s doing all right. I know a lot people might say, ‘That’s weird. He’s talking to his dead brother.’ But no, he’s always with me, with everything I do and I say.”
