FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — On June 27, 2023, Ryan Mallett, a son, brother and Arkansas football legend passed away at the age of 35, but someone is never truly gone so long as there are still people to remember them.
Ryan's sister Lauren and mother Debbie are doing just that.
"It's still sometimes hard to grasp that he's not here," Debbie Mallett said of her son, holding back her emotions.
"I'll think, 'oh I need to call Ryan and ask him...' and then I realize I can't call him. So yeah, it's still setting in and it's still a little raw," Debbie added.
After the initial grief of his death passed, the two knew they needed to keep his legacy alive. So they created the Mallett Family Foundation to bring together two of the things Ryan was most passionate about.
"I think it just helps give us a little sense of peace in the best way that you can, going through a situation like this," Lauren said.
The Mallett Family Foundation initiatives work to offer youth access to free sports camps and athletic scholarships to attend college camps.
"This is something that would be very dear to Ryan," said his mother. "He loved kids, and he loved athletics, so this is combining two of his loves together."
"We just kept hearing these stories about Ryan's impact on the youth throughout the state and we just wanted people to continue to have that memory and know that side of him," Lauren recalled when discussing how the idea to create the foundation came to be. "So what better way to do that than to combine the athletics with the kids and making it free for them. Everything we are doing we know Ryan would absolutely 100% be behind."
Ryan spent years inspiring the love of the game in the next generation, whether it was through his playing or coaching. Which is why there may be no better tribute than making sure everyone can get the chance to learn and love the game of football.
However, the Mallett Family Foundation is about more than just football camps.
They also put on free basketball camps, offer athletic scholarships to attend college camps, and give out academic scholarships. All to give underprivileged and at-risk youth opportunities they otherwise wouldn't have.
"Oh yeah, he would love it.," Lauren said. "Everything that we have done has been to kind of embrace who he was and so (we are) trying to connect the kids and the sports and the free part of it, but also trying to pick things that Ryan would have wanted to be a part of if he was still alive."
"Everything that Lauren has done, she has gone for, 'How would Ryan do this?' or 'What would Ryan want?' and so, she's worked very hard to honor him," Debbie added.
2024 marked the foundation's first year, and they couldn't have asked for a better start.
Over 1500 kids, nearly 1000 more than anticipated, came out to the camps and in turn are helping honor Ryan.
It's through helping grow their love of the game, through the dreams of the next generation, that Lauren and Debbie have ensured that the spirit and memory of #15 will live on.
"Just to see the kids out on the field and to see the high school kids interact with them, that really speaks to me as to who Ryan was," Lauren said, smiling. "Like those kids, I see Ryan in them just the way they interact with the younger kids. I mean I think it sets in every day that he's not here, you kind of wake up with that realization, but we hope it lives on through us, that's our goal."
"That means everything because we never want him to be forgotten... ever," Debbie added.
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