LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- There's that phrase -- you don't really know what you have until it's gone.
It doesn't normally apply to parents. They seem to get their love, and deservedly so. Usually, a high school student can appreciate mom and dad without worrying too much about losing them.
That wasn't the case with the children of Ty Scroggins, who died on Feb. 10 after a battle with COVID-19.
"He was always in the middle of the stands. Front and center," Jordan Scroggins said of her dad.
"Loud," she added, smiling. "That coach's voice. Yup."
Jordan was shocked when her dad Ty was hospitalized in January with COVID-19, and devastated to learn just a couple of weeks ago he wouldn't be coming out alive.
"Never in my life did I think it would hit so close to home," Jordan said. "He impacted too many people, and it's just hard without him here."
A Louisville football staple, Ty played at Fairdale and U of L. As a coach, he won multiple state titles at Central, and most recently was an assistant at DeSales coaching his son Jayden. Scroggins was also known for helping young minority coaches across Kentucky.
The community knew him as a coach and mentor. The Scroggins siblings, Mikayla, Jayden, and Jordan knew him as Dad.
"He was so loving," Jordan said, then fought back tears. "I'm sorry. He always wanted the best for us. We were athletes. And that's what he wanted us to do, he wanted us to play at the collegiate level."
"There's not much to say, he was the best dad," Mikayla, a sophomore at Male, said of her father. "He did everything he could. He tried his hardest, he pushed us no matter what."
Mikayla is two grades younger than her twin siblings Jayden and Jordan. They're all talented multi-sport athletes. Their dad didn't miss an event.
"Basketball was our dream, it was something we always did together, he's always been in the stands, it's our thing you know," Jordan said.
Now his absence is felt on court, on the sideline, or behind home plate.
"I guess that will be my first realization that he's not here anymore," said Mikayla who is becoming a standout softball player. "So it will be hard but he's taught us forever go get it no matter what, so that's what we have to do."
The three kids push on. Jordan hasn't missed a game since her dad died, and says that has not been easy. He wanted her on the court, and Jordan is honoring that. She hopes to play in college, because her dad told her she could.
"He believed in me," Jordan said.
Belief. That's a father's gift that can live long after he is gone.
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