Rubama: Donovon Lynch was killed last year. His father is healing by carrying on his mission to help others.
The inaugural Donovon Wayne Lynch Foundation Military Basketball Showcase took place Saturday — less than a mile from where Wayne Lynch’s son was shot and killed last year.
Donovon Lynch was involved in community outreach and wanted to help those who didn’t have a voice, his father said.
“That was his mission and the mission continues,” Wayne said. “It’s just that it was tragically interrupted.”
Lynch was killed by a police officer during a violent night at the Oceanfront in March 2021. Last week, the city of Virginia Beach settled a wrongful death lawsuit, reaching a $3 million settlement with Wayne.
“I feel pretty good, to be honest with you,” Wayne told me on Saturday morning about the settlement. “It’s a long journey finally coming to some closure, but not all the way. I can finally start the healing process. But it just never should have come to this point.”
Part of that healing came Saturday. The basketball tournament at the Virginia Beach Sports Center brought together seven active-duty teams along with another bracket made up of Donovon’s friends who played at or attended at Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
“It’s about honoring the military servicemen and women, who fight each day to protect our freedom,” Wayne said. “I don’t think they get enough accolades and praise for what they do. I want the community — including businesses — to become more aware.
“I also wanted to have this event to celebrate Donovon’s life and legacy,” he said. “I want to make sure people know that and celebrate that as well.”
Donovon played both football and basketball, but his first love was basketball.
He started playing when he was 10 years old and he and his father traveled across the country for AAU tournaments.
The basketball court also is where former NFL player and Virginia Tech star Bucky Hodges and Donovon became friends, even though they began as rivals.
“I didn’t like Donovon at first, but he was so good,” said Hodges, who played in the inaugural Donovon Wayne Lynch Foundation Military Basketball Showcase on Saturday.
They faced each another in AAU, middle school and for a short time in high school when Donovon started at Landstown and Hodges was at Salem. But when Donovon transferred to Salem, they became instant friends.
“That’s when I really got to know Donovon, and we got real close,” Hodges said. “I could talk about that dude for days.”
Their relationship went beyond sports.
“After I stopped playing football, I went through some dark times,” Hodges said. “But he was always in my corner reaching out to me. He would just pick me up and talk to me.”
The two went out to dinner at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront just two weeks before Donovon was killed. They talked about Donovon’s various business ventures.
“He explained them all to me and how he wanted me and my cousin to be involved,” Hodges said. “I was so proud of him.”
That’s why it hurt Hodges to hear those who were trying to tarnish Donovon’s name following the shooting.
“Anybody who knows him knows what kind of person he was,” Hodges said. “So, when I was hearing that and I was like, ‘You can’t tarnish his name.’
“He was a great man and his name shouldn’t have ever been tarnished. Everybody should inspire to be like him.”
That’s also why he was glad to participate in the basketball tournament.
“Seeing his name, it’s amazing just seeing what his father is doing,” Hodges said. “How he’s still investing in the community. Now he’s taking it to another level. He wants Donovon’s name to be remembered. That was a great man and I love him and miss him forever.”
Wayne’s work doesn’t stop with the basketball tournament. He started a golf tournament three years ago. He’s planned a youth orchestra concert for sometime in March — around Donovon’s birthday — for students ages 12 to 17. He has 40 musicians, but hopes to grow it to 100. He’s planned a Shark Tank Pitch Competition in the spring for adults and children who want to be entrepreneurs. And he will have a symposium at Norfolk State for diverse groups to talk about opinions and ideas.
“It keeps me busy. It keeps me occupied,” he said. “And it keeps me honoring Donovon. It keeps me restoring my son’s reputation and character that they tried to destroy.”
Wayne said his faith in God has kept him going.
“If it wasn’t for that, I’d be all to pieces,” he said. “But I kept believing that God was going to work it out.”
As he prepared to walk into the gym to get the first games started, Wayne was asked what he thinks Donovon would say to him.
“He would say, ‘You did it, Dad. You did it,’” he said. “And he would say, ‘Thank you and I love you.”
Larry Rubama, 757-575-6449, larry.rubama@pilotonline.com Follow @LHRubama on Twitter.
