WEBSTER GROVES, Mo. — One of the incredible things about St. Louis is how we come out and support each other. And I'm not just talking about attendance, but helping people who need it.
The Webster Groves community lost a good man in Adam Mallette, but how the town celebrated his life was remarkable.
It looked like the packed house was merely doing something that happens fairly often, watching a Webster Groves team play a high school game at Robert's Gym.
And they saw plenty of talent on the floor among the dancers, players and coaches.
But this night was not about Webster Groves basketball but rather a young man who played basketball for the team.
"This is also an incredible showing of love and support for Adam, honoring Adam and Karri, his wife. So it means a lot. It's just it's very humbling," Adam's dad Kent Mallette said.
Adam Mallette grew up as a multi-sports in the Webster Groves School District, but basketball was his love.
He grew to 6-foot-5 and became a two-year starter on a team that went to the quarterfinals with Drew Hanlen as the star point guard.
"The ultimate leader and ultimate competitor. Somebody that brought it every single day in practice also brought it in games," Hanlen said. "It didn't matter if he was out on the court or if he was on the bench. He was going to be uplifting the team however he could, and he was truly kind of what you want in a teammate."
From there it was on to Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, where this basketball player met a dance team member named Karri.
"He pursued me. He was younger than me, he told his friends. I'm going to date that girl. And he pursued me, he stole a kiss and the rest is history," Karri Mallette said.
They were married six years later. Their son, Mavrik, was born five years ago. However, in January 2023, Adam suffered a seizure.
"They didn't know why the first seizure happened. They never figured it out and didn't figure out why the second seizure happened. Second seizure was in April." Kent Mallette said.
Right about that time, Karri was having their second child, a little girl.
"We went back and forth with some names, and we just landed on Zoey because of the meaning, it means life," Karri said. "And we were so excited to have a baby girl. It just felt like the American dream to have a boy and a girl."
Adam got to hold and be with Zoey for just 18 days before he was placed in a medically induced coma due to a second seizure.
After eight weeks, the 34-year-old husband and father passed away.
So on this Friday night, Zoey, Mavrik and Karri were on hand for a game in Adam's honor where the money raised would go to a college fund for the kids.
Adam's coach at Webster, Jay Blossom, came back as the head coach at Principia School.
"I never dreamed of sitting on that visitor's bench. I grew up tonight, but the cause makes it all worthwhile," Blossom said.
With Adam's teammates on hand watching and Mavrik and Adam's dad on the Principia bench with Coach Blossom, they played basketball.
Webster squeaked out a two-point win and they celebrated the life of a young man who deserved to be celebrated.
"Adam was a social media account manager, that was his job. It was also his pastime. He would love to know that he's trending right now. He would love to see all of his teammates back here. I think he would be overjoyed. He would just, he'd be blown away like we are," Kent Maellette said.
"As time goes on, I think I'm able to live in our happy moments, in our love story and remember the good times," Karri said. "And Mavrik loves hearing stories about daddy, whether it's stories from daddy's childhood or when we met, or when Mavrik was a baby, and being able to share all of those memories with Mavrik and someday Zoey, it makes me happy that I have such great stories."
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