ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – The beautiful life and tragic death of 13-year-old Tristyn Bailey continues to have an impact on many people, especially in St. Johns County.
A middle school student designed a special pair of cleats and came up with a sticker to honor Bailey and he and his teammates will wear it Saturday during their jamboree game.
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The middle school boys, members of the Swiss Point Raiders football team, will be playing against another St. Johns County team for their jamboree, but they will also be playing in honor of Bailey.
Aiden Fucci is accused of murder in the death of Bailey. The tragedy has broken the hearts of many young and old. Though the father and son did not know the Bailey family personally, her story had an impact on their lives.
“These are young kids in middle school. This affected them significantly to have something so close to home in St. Johns County. We are only probably five miles from Durbin where she lived and I think every player on the team was affected in some way shape or form,” father Austin Smith said.
Smith’s son, Aiden Austin Smith, is a sixth-grader at Swiss Point Middle School.
Smith came up with the idea to honor Tristyn for their Saturday jamboree game.
“For the jamboree game, since it was so close to her death, we decided to wrap the cleats in the Nike logo and have a wing on it for fly high Tristyn. And then we put her initials right here for Tristyn Bailey and then with the ribbons we decided to get stickers and put them on the helmets,” Aiden Smith said.
Each player will have a teal sticker on their helmet for Bailey and Smith will wear the cleats on Saturday to honor the 13-year-old girl.