What started as a way to get free sports cleats and shoes to kids in need is becoming much more, especially for one Kewaunee family.
Announced earlier this month, Play 4 Owen, 23’s Cleats 4 Kidz and local artist Zane Statz are collaborating on a new scholarship and award called Laces 4 Life. The initiative will recognize student-athletes from Kewaunee, Algoma, Southern Door, Gibraltar and Sturgeon Bay who are excelling in the classroom and in the community.
The $2,300 scholarship and cleat award honors Owen Vaughn, who died by suicide in February. The three-sport athlete became a source of inspiration for the Kewaunee wrestling and baseball teams as they wrapped up the school year.
A few towns away, 11-year-old Bentley Gerczak has been busy running his organization that helps connect young families with the equipment they need to compete in youth sports. What started as giving back a pair of soccer shoes he had won has grown into donating more than 150 pairs of new shoes and hundreds of used pairs for redistribution.
Gerczak has expanded the mission beyond cleats, collecting shoeboxes filled with nonperishable food items for local pantries. His father, Jim, and Owen’s father, Chris Vaughn, are friends, leading Gerczak to look for ways he could help carry on Owen’s legacy.
That effort included donating the pair of spikes the baseball team brought with them on their run to the state championship. Gerczak didn’t want to stop there, helping organize the scholarship, which will be awarded annually at a special banquet. He hopes other kids will be inspired to find ways to give back and that community members will support them in doing so.
It has not been an easy year for the Vaughn family since losing Owen in February. Chris Vaughn said he is thankful for the community support that rallied around them in the months following, whether through hugs, meals dropped off on their porch or events organized in his son’s honor.
That support helped lead to the creation of Play 4 Owen, which is launching the Owen Vaughn Memorial Scholarship as part of Laces 4 Life while also promoting mental health awareness. Vaughn said the goal is to help ensure no other family goes through what they did and to carry on Owen’s memory.
The Laces 4 Life scholarship application, which includes a nomination from a coach, teacher or other member of a school’s faculty, is due April 15, 2026. More information can be found below.
