Tyler Vietti Celebration from A News Cafe on Vimeo.
The same ballpark where Tyler Vietti enjoyed some of his happiest days as an all-star high school athlete was where his community gathered Sunday to remember and say goodbye to one of Shasta Lake City’s best and brightest.
A soldier with the U.S. Army, Vietti was killed Aug. 31 in Afghanistan during his first tour of duty, a stint that had begun about one month earlier.
He was 21.
Hundreds of people filed into Wynne Price Field where they opened folding chairs, spread blankets upon the grass and settled in to honor a young man everyone agreed was an extraordinary person.
Many people held small American flags on sticks. Others wore T-shirts with Vietti’s name and his No. 7. Some young people snapped photos with cell phones, others with cameras.
Paul Vietti, Tyler’s father, led the celebration dressed as he’d encouraged others to dress – casual, as if attending a ballgame.
The elder Vietti was joined on the field by others who also spoke: his son’s coaches, family friends, best friends, buddies, one brother and Tyler’s wife. All took turns sharing their favorite thoughts and stories about Tyler, someone they agreed left an indelible impression upon nearly everyone he met.
They remembered Tyler Vietti and his nearly ever-present grin.
They remembered Tyler Vietti, a true leader, positive role model and mentor.
They remembered Tyler Vietti the lefty and Tyler Vietti who liked his baseball uniform pants a bit on the saggy side.
They remembered the namesake “Vietti Special” – a play created as a joke by a football coach at Vietti’s urging — one taken more seriously after the Vietti Special led to a touchdown.
They remembered Tyler Vietti who glared at his aunt when she allowed his baby brother to cry.
They remembered Tyler Vietti who only confirmed the saying, “Only the good die young.”
They remembered Tyler Vietti who chose to remain at Central Valley High School, even after he was courted by a bigger, rival school that rolled out its “red carpet” in hopes Tyler would join that school’s athletic program.
“He stayed here because of you guys,” Paul Vietti said.
Tyler’s father said that in the last few weeks many people have described his son as a hero. He said that with Tyler, that title wasn’t so much about being an American hero, or even being part of the military.
“He was just a good human being,” he said.
Tyler Vietti’s wife spoke, too. She carried the couple’s baby daughter in one arm and a pink stuffed toy monkey in the other. She handed off the baby to Paul Vietta so she could read the letter her husband wrote for their daughter’s baby book, a message in which he promised, among other things, a lifetime of fun, sports and “stinky” garlic fries.
She told how Tyler had purchased the stuffed animal especially for their daughter before his deployment, just in case he didn’t return. The toy had a mechanism that allowed Tyler to record a message, which was then played, broadcasting the young father’s voice throughout the field. Tyler’s said hello to his daughter, then said her daddy loved her.
As the sun faded and darkness fell, the ballpark’s bright lights illuminated a flag at half mast inside the same field in which Paul Vietti, a career media broadcaster, and his son, Dan, routinely announced games. Many times Tyler on the mound.
With that in mind, the father-and-son Viettis moved in close to the microphone for one final, simultaneous announcement.
“Now pitching – number 17 – Tyler Vietti.”
