Parents of Red Lion athlete killed in crash receive keepsake from UPS driver
This story was originally published July 16, 2015.
Hans Engelman hopped in his UPS truck on Thursday and started down the narrow, country road lined with corn stalks for a delivery that was not on his schedule.
It had taken weeks, but finally, he had collected enough signatures — at least 68 — on the baseball bat that was meant for Stone Hill.
Just before 4:30 p.m., exactly one month since the Red Lion Area Senior High School student was killed in a car crash, Engelman pulled up in front of Stone's home in the Delta area. Then, he presented the bat — along with another one that was not signed — to Stone's parents as a surprise.
"This is the bat, right here," Stone's father, Glenn Hill, 44, said gratefully right after Engelman gave it to him and his wife, Tina, 41. "This is unbelievable."
Stone, 17, and his friend, Nick Mankin, 16, of Felton, were killed after the minivan Stone was driving crashed into a utility pole, flipped over and caught fire on Slab Road in Lower Chanceford Township. Both were members of the football team, entering their senior year. The crash, which the Pennsylvania State Police said they're still investigating, happened less than one mile from Stone's home.
Engelman, 48, of Red Lion, said he came up with the idea to gather signatures, from Stone's teammates and other players, after he went to his home the day after the crash to drop off the two bats. Engelman has been delivering in the Airville, Brogue, and Delta areas for about 20 years, and knew what had happened. He told the family he would take care of returning the bats.
"After I left there, I kind of thought: 'It's one of the last things he tried to do with or for his son,'" Engelman said.
Besides delivering packages to their home, he didn't know Stone's family well. But his daughter, Madison, 15, sat behind him in a study hall.
Stone, a linebacker, had played baseball since age 7, his parents said. He was a centerfielder for Pleasureville, in a wooden bat league. Since the crash, the team has worn Stone's last name on their jerseys, along with adding his No. 21 to their sleeves. For Red Lion, Stone would play any of the outfield positions — right field, left field — depending on what the team needed.
His family ordered the bats, as Stone had just broken one he'd used for years during his final at-bat in a game days before he died. The bats they bought were the same maple Mizuno model.
At first, when Engelman called the company, JustBats.com, he was told it was the business' policy to just take back the bats. Later, he heard from the customer service manager, Austin Hall, who had looked up what happened and donated them for Engelman to get signed.
During the next several weeks, he collected signatures, stopping by games after getting off of work between 7 and 7:30 p.m. It's something that "kind of snowballed itself," as people would text their friends about the project.
Minutes before delivering the bat, Tyler Taylor, 23, and Austin Taylor, 20, cousins from Lower Chanceford Township, met up with him to sign it.
Tyler Taylor helped coach Stone during high school, while Austin Taylor was a former teammate. Stone, they said, had a "contagious personality;" everyone he knew loved him. Both found out about the bat when Engelman had stopped by to deliver a package.
"The one day he was talking, and he just was asking about Stone, if we knew Stone," Tyler Taylor said. "We thought it was a good idea, so I figured we might as well."
This week, Engelman also collected another coveted signature: that of former York Revolution second basemen Travis Hake, who was Stone's hitting coach.
"Travis Hake. Is that right?" Glenn Hill said when Engelman showed him the signature.
"He chased me down to sign that," Engelman said.
Since the crash, Stone's parents said it's almost as if the weather has mirrored the emotions they're feeling.
They still feel like they're in a hurry: Stone lettered in baseball, football and wrestling for two years in high school, before dropping the latter because he wanted to stay bulked up for football.
They were not traveling for games maybe four weekends out of the year. Soon, Stone was set to go on a trip to colleges including Penn State, Ohio State and Syracuse.
A few minutes after giving them the bats, Engelman said goodbye to Stone's parents. He got back in his truck and took off, continuing down the narrow road lined with tall trees until he was out of sight.
Back to work.