The Strom Family Honors Patrick’s Memory With ‘Trick’s Kicks’

By Gary Nager

I can’t say I really knew the Strom family — Dick, Kathy and their sons Michael and Patrick — before I heard of Patrick’s tragic passing in a single-vehicle accident in June 2012 in the Hunter’s Green neighborhood the family has lived in since 1998.

But since that day, I realized that I do have a bond with the Stroms (that I’m sure many of you feel as well), and not just because Dick and I used to coach against each other in the rec basketball league that used to be held every year in the gym at Benito Middle School (as a program of the City of Tampa’s Benito Rec Center adjacent to the school).

The Stroms had two sons, I have two sons. All four of those boys attended Hunter’s Green Elementary, Benito Middle School and Wharton High. And, although Patrick and my younger son Jake (who is now 21 and a year older than Patrick would be today) weren’t close friends themselves, they did have a lot of mutual friends — especially the Stroms’ close friends and neighbors, the Aronson family. Michael Aronson was Patrick’s best friend and David Aronson has been one of my older son Jared’s best friends since childhood.

But, even if I had never met or even had heard of the Strom family before (as I’m sure many of you reading this may not have), so many of us in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel live here to raise our families, to give our children as healthy, happy and prosperous a life as possible and see them grow into adults who might one day give us grandchildren. Whether you call it trying to live the “American Dream” or simply trying to do “the right thing” for our loved ones, no parent ever plans to outlive their children.

But, those plans don’t always work out. A little more than a year after Patrick’s tragic passing, Dick and Kathy still have no idea how they lost their son — other than he was driving faster than he should have been in the neighborhood (how many of us or our kids haven’t done the same?) and lost control of his car.

“The ironic thing,” Dick says. “Is that our other son Michael is a Tampa Police officer, so we are always at least somewhat prepared for a phone call about him. We just never thought we had to worry as much about Patrick.”

What Dick told me he does know, however, is that no matter how difficult the holiday season is for his family right now, for those of us still blessed to be on this planet, life goes on, even after having to endure such a terrible loss. He and Kathy also knew they both needed to do something to honor the former lacrosse player (for both the New Tampa Raiders and Wharton High teams) who rooted for his hometown (the Stroms moved to Tampa when Patrick was 5) Syracuse University Orange lacrosse and basketball teams.

And, since Patrick loved to be the first in line at stores for the release of the latest sneakers (aka “kicks”), they decided to create “Trick’s Kicks,” a future 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation dedicated to providing as many new pairs of high-level sneakers to children who might otherwise never even have a new pair of shoes, much less the latest Jordans or LeBrons or whatever “kicks” are hot these days.

And, while the Stroms and their supporters are still working out the details of how to identify the kids to help and how to get them their “kicks,” they already have started raising money to fund the organization and its mission.

“We raised about $1,650 at our ‘Cookie Exchange,’ held Nov. 17 at the Arbor Greene clubhouse, and have raised a total of more than $4,000, including some corporate donations.”

The largest corporate donors so far are the offices of Wesley Chapel-based general/cosmetic dentist Dr. Joan Lynch and local pediatrician Dr. Teena Hughes, who each donated $500. Upcoming fund-raising events for “Trick’s Kicks” are a 5K (3.1-mile) walk/ run in May 2014 and a golf tournament in October.

I wish the Strom family, “Trick’s Kicks” and your family — a happy, healthy and prosperous 2014.

To make a donation to “Trick’s Kicks,” visit GoFundMe.com/4uid6o or mail checks to Trick’s Kicks Inc., PO Box 48011, Tampa, FL 33646.

To find out more, visit TricksKicks.com.