IT'S A WEEK before Christmas, and the student population is thinning at the University of Michigan. That's how it is unfortunately for me. And in Orlando, Florida, Kevin got a phone call from his father, Mike. Over the remaining years of his collegiate career, Austin stayed close to Beilein and the team while shifting his focus toward his organization studies degree, sometimes taking up to 17 credits in a semester. So when the dream became reality, it was cause for a celebration. “Flying was normal for me. Commitment is staying true to what we said we would do, even when we face unexpected adversity #HappyNewYear #Grit pic.twitter.com/V0PItcu7iD, — Austin Hatch (@AustinHatch30) January 1, 2018. "We were just standing in the hall," Michael Hatch remembers. The Michigan Wolverines honored Austin Hatch, who survived a plane crash in 2011 that left him in a monthslong coma, before Sunday's basketball game against Ohio State. They were going to celebrate Austin's decision to play basketball at the University of Michigan. pic.twitter.com/YkzLItvyuU, Two-time plane crash survivor Austin Hatch celebrates Senior Day at Michigan, Danny Green missed a wide open three that could have won the Lakers the championship, Khalil Mack flipped a 320-pound offensive lineman with one arm like it was nothing, Western Illinois’ Final Four run in Year 23, continued, The start of Western Illinois’ NCAA tournament run in Year 23, continued, 4-star 2022 guard Paul Lewis commits to Maryland men’s basketball, John Calipari shaves beard after losing bet to Charles Barkley. He'd remind Austin, for example, that it was OK to be a typical kid -- to go to parties, test boundaries -- but that to achieve his dream and play college basketball, he'd have to make sacrifices and maybe do what everyone else wasn't doing instead of following their lead. He answered by embracing a new life with Kim, and flying again, by going back to work and enjoying his friends, by doing the most uncommon thing of all -- honoring those he lost by moving on. Whatever the cause, the effects were the loss of Julie, 38; Lindsay, 11; and Ian, 5; and a father and son ravaged by grief, left to piece back together two lives. Five years ago, Kevin's dad, Mike, was pursuing a late-in-life master's degree. Growing more frustrated that she couldn't reach her brother than worried, she stopped dialing when two of Stephen's friends appeared at the end of the driveway. Similarly, on the basketball court, he can shoot, he can dribble, he can do all the things that a basketball player should be able to do, but stringing them together in real time, at the speed of a Division I basketball game, that's not there yet. Everything is positive and encouraging, but everyone -- especially Austin -- knows the player he was. They'd sit on the sofa, go through the everyday questions about homework and sports, then maybe dig a little deeper. I know you're not here, but where are you? "I know what you mean by heavy, but it's exciting to me because I have a chance to honor my father even though he's dead.". In August of 2013, he enrolled at Loyola High School, a Catholic school in Los Angeles. Investigators say a plane carrying the University of Michigan men’s basketball team skidded off a runway in 2017 after a jammed part prevented pilots … Almost seven weeks earlier -- Mother's Day, in fact -- Kim had accompanied Maria to the hospital. Hatch has served as a student assistant for the basketball team since taking a medical hardship scholarship at the end of the 2015 season. He was mobbed by his teammates and given an ovation by the Crisler Center crowd when he was introduced as a part of the pregame senior day ceremony. It was time to let him go. 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