While other families were gathering to celebrate on Thanksgiving Day, Angelo State senior catcher Cameron Massengill was by his mother's side as she passed away.

Shari Massengill closed her caring eyes for the final time on November 27, 2014 after being diagnosed with colon cancer in September of 2013. She fought the disease for over a year with love in her heart for Cameron and her husband, Bo Massengill, who both gave her strength and purpose every day as she battled to remain with them.  

"She loved him more than life," Bo Massengill said. "Her biggest fear wasn't dying, it was never seeing Cameron again. That was the hardest and saddest thought she had. Everything that is good in Cameron came from Shari."

"She was full of life and always wanted to help people," Cameron said. "She would be sick and throwing up and she would still ask how I was doing. My mom was everything to me. I was a momma's boy in a lot of ways."

During Shari's illness, Cameron wanted to be there for her in Kennedale. He knew she was in pain and that his presence always brightened her day. Despite being a leader on the ASU baseball team, he was struggling in San Angelo knowing what she was going through at home. He wanted to put his life on pause and make his mom his focus. Shari was already a cancer survivor who had battled breast cancer when Cameron was 6-months-old. She was forced to have a mastectomy and then underwent six months of chemotherapy. It worked that time. She was cancer-free and living a joyful life for 20 years until she was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2013 and once again would be forced to begin treatments. Cameron, no longer a 6-month-old child unaware of the situation, knew that she needed him and he also needed her. But Cameron also knew his mother wouldn't let him come home. She wouldn't let him quit on his dreams.   

"There were a lot of times when I wanted to quit school and baseball and move back home to be with her during that time," said Cameron, who is Shari's only child. "She wouldn't let me do that though. We talked on the phone every day and I tried to encourage her, but she was really encouraging me. She was so strong that it made it easier for me."

"Shari never wanted her illness to be to be a burden or to wear on Cameron," Bo Massengill said. "I remember when she told him she wanted him to stay in school and continue to play baseball. It was what she really wanted. She didn't want what she was going through to interfere with his life's journey. He needed to go to school and baseball was the best therapy for him. She knew that."

Cameron played his entire junior season with his mom battling cancer, but somehow remained focused and productive. A transfer from Cisco College, the 2014 season was Cameron's first at ASU and he had arrived following shoulder surgery which had set him back during fall practices. After rehabbing the shoulder and regaining strength, Cameron emerged as the starting catcher and went on to earn Lone Star Conference first-team honors and was a Daktronics All-South Central selection after he finished the season with 15 multi-hit games and a .323 average. Shari and Bo travelled to San Angelo when they could to watch him play, but the daily grind and distance put pressure on Cameron who was 250 miles away from home but always had Shari on his mind while he was at school and at the field.    
 

Cameron Massengill threw out three runners last weekend attempting to steal and now has 22 on the season. Massengill... Posted by Angelo Sports on Tuesday, April 28, 2015

"Our team knew that my mom was sick and they were there to support me," Massengill said. "I'm not the type of person to ask for a lot of support though, so for the most part I just put on a smile and came out here to practice to work hard and make it through. Baseball was a getaway where I could focus on a task and try to forget about things going on. It would creep into my mind all the time though and I just had to keep going and not let the emotions take over."

"I'm very proud of Cameron," Bo Massengill said. "I think he has handled everything as Shari would have wanted him to. He was there when she passed. He was with her whenever school or baseball allowed. He was there whenever I or his mother needed him. He has been an amazing son and an amazing friend. He has so much of Shari in him."

Baseball always held a special place for Shari, Bo and Cameron, but it wasn't about the wins or losses. Cameron knew that he'd still see the warm smile on Shari's face regardless of whether he went 3-for-4 or 0-for-4. He could throw out a runner attempting to steal or make a costly error. It never really mattered because she was always going to be his biggest fan.

"Baseball was always about the memories," Bo Massengill said. "No matter what the outcome of the weekend was, she was always upbeat and positive. She knew how much Cameron loved baseball and what it meant to him. She was always positive and very complementary."

"It just happened to work out that she loved baseball," Cameron added. "I know for a fact that she would have been at all of my games even if she couldn't stand the sport. If I was an artist, she would have been just as supportive of me in that. She was 100 percent behind me in anything I wanted to pursue. She wanted me to do my best and she would help me in any she could."

Cameron's talent on the baseball field has led to many great memories for the family, including celebrating a Class 3A championship when he was a senior at Kennedale High. As a senior, Massengill hit .463 and drove in 59 RBIs before deciding to play at Cisco College. He played two seasons at Cisco, finishing his junior college career with a .326 average. Massengill has now played in 97 games at Angelo State in his career and is the all-time leader at ASU with a .995 fielding percentage that includes 696 putouts, 54 assists and only four errors. A starter in 45 of 46 games this season, he has thrown out 22 runners attempting to steal this year and had an 11-game hitting streak where he produced 17 hits. The 11-game streak, which included four games with two hits and one with three, is the longest streak of the season for the Rams.

"I'm just trying to contribute to the team in any way that I can," said Massengill, who had a 12-game hitting streak as a junior which was also the longest for any Ram during the 2014 season. "If that means I catch every inning the rest of the season then that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to try and come through with big hits and execute on defense. I love playing the game and I love this team. You're going to get a little hurt from time to time catching that many innings, but I'd much rather play hurt than watch from the dugout."

Massengill enters this weekend's regular-season finale against Eastern New Mexico with 92 career hits, 40 RBI, 27 career multi-hit performances and is second in program history by throwing out 33 runners attempting to steal in his career. He is coming off a series against Texas A&M-Kingsville where he threw out three runners and needs to catch only three more runners attempting to steal to match Andrew LaCombe (2012) for the single-season record at 25.

"His position is inheritably the toughest to play every day, but he's done a great job being tough back there and preparing himself to play at a high level throughout the season," ASU head coach Kevin Brooks said. "He's a steady player who doesn't need to draw attention to himself, but at the end of most games you know who he is because of the way he played the game. He's been incredibly steady and productive for us despite everything that he's had to go through. I know his mom would be really proud of how he's responded and the person he is. His parents did a great job of raising him."

"Cam's a really strong person and has handled this the best way that anyone can," said ASU senior pitcher Hayden Elrod who was also teammates with Massengill at Kennedale High and Cisco College. "I've seen him struggle at times, but I think he's doing pretty good with it all. If he's hiding something, he's doing a good job of keeping it from everyone. His mom wanted him to get an education and get his degree. I know that him finishing school was one of her goals for him and he's going to do that for her. I think he's been able to stay focused and driven in school and baseball because she was so supportive of him when she was alive."

Massengill has built up a reputation of being a clutch hitter for the Rams to go along with his defensive prowess at catcher. Whether he's driving in the game-winning run with a hit, laying down a squeeze bunt to score the winning run or getting innings started like last Monday with a ninth-inning double in a 4-3 comeback win over McMurry, Massengill is a player the coaches want to see come to the plate when everything is on the line in tough situations.

"I think he gets more focused and driven the worse the situation is," ASU assistant coach John Anderson said. "It has seemed like the past two years that if he's struggled for the first eight innings, that he is going to come through in the ninth. You want him up there at the plate when there are two outs and your team needs a hit. He got knocked down really hard with his mom passing away, but I'm proud of him because he's held it all together and has really been strong in school and out here at the field. He's been a really stable leader for our team despite everything that he's been going through."

"Cam has been workhorse for us ever since he got here," ASU senior Brett David said. "You couldn't ask for a better teammate than he is. We see him get beat up almost every game, but we never see him complain."

Angelo State has one of the most dominant pitching staffs in the country with a variety of different pitchers who have amassed 407 strikeouts. Massengill has caught 367 of 373 total innings this season and only has three passed balls for the pitching staff which owns a conference-leading 2.92 ERA. Steve Naemark leads the LSC and is in the top-5 in the nation with his 101 strikeouts and a 0.73 ERA. Naemark is a left-hander who throws hard, but also thrives when he has a catcher like Massengill who can block pitches with runners on base. Blake Bass and Bryce Zak have been just as dominant as starters this season with 79 and 74 strikeouts, respectively, and Graylon Brown, Dillon Becker, Matt Shannon, Kellen Rholl and Trae Davis have entered games from the bullpen to throw to Massengill and record outs. Each pitcher has their own delivery angles, approaches and challenges for a catcher, but each pitcher is confident that Massengill is ready for them.

"He's been nothing but incredible for me this year," Naemark said. "I can spike a pitch with confidence knowing that he's going to block it. It's been huge for me to be able to strike batters out because I know that I can throw off-speed pitches into the dirt and he's going to stop them. I can't remember one time that I was worried about the pitch I was about to throw because of him. That's been a pleasure that most pitchers don't get to have every time they're out there."

"He calls a good game because he's such a smart catcher," Bass said. "He always understands the situation and what we need to do. He's made me a better pitcher by the way he works back there on every pitch."

While the Angelo State pitchers have learned over the past two years of how reliable Cameron is, his father has seen that level of maturity and steadiness from him his entire life. They have been bonded through baseball throughout their lives and have been steady for each other through their grieving processes. 

"We are best friends," Bo Massengill said. "I love watching him play baseball. I always have. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."

"We've always been close, but we are trying even more now to help each other through this," Cameron said. "Neither one of us show too many emotions, but we both know that we are there for each other no matter what."

Massengill is a life science major at Angelo State University and plans on teaching biology and coaching high school baseball. He will graduate next May and then set out on his next journey, one that will still revolve around the game and helping others. His mother's impact on his life will never fade and will guide every decision he makes. Her influence instilled in him to treat others with respect and kindness, and her final lesson was to never give up.  

"Shari had a wonderful saying that really explained her and Cameron's outlook on life," Bo Massengill said. "'Be kind always, you never know what the other person is going through.' This really explains why Shari was such a big part of molding Cameron into the man he is."

Thanksgiving Day and life itself will never be the same for Cameron, but he will always cherish the time and love he shared with his mom who will always be with him.

"I was lucky to be her son," Cameron said. "It was the toughest day of my life but also a blessing to be there with her. It was a holiday and everyone was celebrating with their families and we were there with her as she passed away. It was hard, but I know she's happy now and is no longer in pain. I miss her every day."