'Charismatic, kind, confident.' Parents of Ryan Hendricks of Mashpee help others

MASHPEE — Shea Eaton delights in recalling the memory. It was "Senior Night" at Mashpee Middle-High School, and Eaton was playing in the last varsity boys basketball game of the year against Carver. The score was tied with 10 seconds left on the clock. Friend and teammate Ryan Hendricks passed him the ball.

"The ball bounced right off my head. The game ends. And we lost because of me," said Eaton. "I went up to Ryan, and he just laughed and gave me a hug.

He said, 'It's all good, Shea. Don't worry.'"

That's just who Ryan was, he said.

"I thought I was going to get backlash. Instead, he was there for me," said Eaton.

That's how many people remember him, said Kelley Hendricks, Ryan's mom.

"He was charismatic, kind, confident, and funny," said Kelley Hendricks. "Whether he knew you for five minutes or five years, he would always give you a hug."

Ryan Hendricks, 20, died in a car crash Oct. 20, 2022. A sophomore at East Carolina University, he was traveling to visit his cousin Julian Hendricks, who was attending college in Tampa, Florida.

To remember their son, Kelley and Robbie Hendricks last year established the Ryan Michael Hendricks Scholarship Fund, which annually provides three $500 scholarships to Mashpee students, and the Ryan Michael Hendricks Foundation, which gives donations to families who have lost a loved one.

On March 5, the couple will hold the second annual Ryan Michael Hendricks "I Got You" Scholarship Dinner to benefit both. The event, which will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Siena Restaurant in Mashpee, will help the scholarship fund award $500 to three Mashpee students in May.

On Nov. 23 Mashpee Middle-High School dedicated an engraved memorial boulder that includes the catchphrase "I got you" — Ryan's mantra.

"When Ryan said, 'I got you,' he really meant it," said Kelley Hendricks.

Throughout the Hendricks' home are photos of Ryan. In each image, including hundreds of smaller pictures that make up a large mural situated in the couple's den, Ryan is almost always captured with a wide smile across his face.

Shea Eaton's mother, Cara, said the scholarship and the foundation fall exactly into line with who Ryan was.

"Everything he did, he did with 100% of his heart," said Eaton, who employed Ryan at the Marketplace Cafe, her family's seasonal restaurant.

"He influenced so many other kids, and the scholarship and the foundation can help him continue to do that," she said.

Basketball was Ryan's groove, says dad

Robbie Hendricks, who is a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, thumbed through a photo album containing newspaper clippings of Ryan's high school sports achievements. When Ryan was 7, his dad said, he was allowed to walk out onto Gillette Stadium football field in Foxboro with his older brother Robbie Hendricks Jr., who was playing in a 2009 state championship game.

As a high school freshman, Ryan would help his own team win the state championship at Gillette in 2017.

"It was cool watching him go back for his own Super Bowl," said Robbie Hendricks.

Throughout high school, Ryan was captain of both the boys varsity basketball team and the boys varsity football team. While he loved all sports, basketball was "Ryan's groove," his dad said.

Mashpee Middle-High School Athletic Director Matthew Triveri was Ryan's football coach. He said Ryan caught his eye at a young age for being "a terrific athlete and a natural leader."

During a Thanksgiving football game early in Ryan's high school career, a few of Ryan's teammates "got banged up" on the field, he said. Triveri asked Ryan to play quarterback, and Ryan had "no qualms about stepping in."

"It was a lot of pressure but it didn't faze him," said Triveri.

From kindergarten to eighth grade, Robbie Hendricks said he and his cousin Carlton "Carlo" Hendricks coached Ryan and his friends in local basketball leagues and for Pop Warner flag football.

"We called ourselves the wolfpack. Wolves reminded us of family — and family always sticks together," said Robbie Hendricks. Coaching Ryan was an honor, said Carlton Hendricks.

"He didn't realize it but so many people looked up to him," said Carlton Hendricks, who is also the vice chair of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. "Ryan was one-of-a-kind."

Ryan Hendricks was known for being an all-around student

Ryan also excelled academically and consistently landed in the Mashpee Middle-High School chapter of the National Honor Society, his mom said. The society's membership, according to a certificate provided by the school, is based on scholarship, leadership, service, and character.

As a sophomore, Ryan represented Mashpee Middle-High School at the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership seminar; and in college, he was recognized by the Mu Alpha Theta National College Math Honor Society, she said.

Ryan worked hard to earn top grades, she said. He also helped others reach their academic goals, she said. In second grade, Kelley Hendricks recalled, Ryan won about six medals during an academic awards ceremony at Kenneth C. Coombs Elementary School. Another boy, though, was crying because he didn't win anything, she said.

Ryan took an award off his neck and gave it to the other boy, said Kelley Hendricks. "He was always holding people up. He never left anyone behind."

Ryan was 'always grinding' at work, on the field, and as a friend

Ryan worked multiple jobs during his summers, including at the Marketplace Cafe, the Moonakis Cafe in Falmouth, and as a landscaper alongside his dad.

Ryan was "always grinding and doing his thing," his father said. This is why his parents decided to divide the scholarship into three categories: sports, academics, and the workforce.

The couple is incorporating Ryan Michael Hendricks I Got You Inc., a nonprofit intended to streamline fundraising for the scholarship and the foundation.

All of the events give the community an opportunity to support Ryan and his family, Carlton Hendricks said.

"We always need to keep his name ringing — from a tribal and community standpoint," he said.

Ryan is never far from his father's mind.

Every Sunday, Robbie said he visits Ryan's grave and leaves fresh red roses. Red was Ryan's favorite color, he said.

"He was a friend of a friend of a friend for life," he said. "He was always there. Now it's our turn to continue to be here for him."

The Hendricks family will also hold a cardio boxing event on April 13 at Sweat Studio Cape Cod and the second annual Ryan Michael Hendricks I Got You three-on-three Basketball Tournament on May 25-26 at the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Government Center.

"We want these events to be big like Ryan's personality," said Kelley Hendricks. "We don't want his name to ever be forgotten."

Rachael Devaney writes about community and culture. Reach her at rdevaney@capecodonline.com. Follow her on Twitter: @RachaelDevaney.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Mashpee athlete who died in 2022 crash is inspiration for scholarships