Cecilia coach loses his Most Valuable Bulldog
Apr 17, 2018Shae Stelly and his senior teammates pose with the Cecilia High baseball coaching staff on Senior Day 2015.(Photo: Courtesy of Glen Clark)It’s always a big deal in St. Martin Parish when Breaux Bridge and Cecilia square off.No one was looking more forward to this week’s three-game baseball series between the two arch-rivals more than Bulldogs assistant coach Shae Stelly.During one of their daily texting sessions last Thursday night, Stelly told Cecilia head coach Jamie Calais he wouldn’t be able to make any of the team's weekend games at the Ascension Episcopal Tournament in hopes of getting better for Breaux Bridge week.“He told me he wasn’t feeling well,” Calais said.For the 20-year-old Stelly, preparation involved going to the hospital.“I might be going in the hospital because I want to get myself better for this coming week against Breaux Bridge,” Stelly told Calais.Initially, the coach wasn’t overly alarmed. Stelly was born with congenital muscular dystrophy, so occasional hospital visits were necessary.“I told him, ‘My man, you know I love you to death. That’s totally understandable. I just want you to get yourself better,’ ” Calais slowly retold the painful memory.Shae Stelly's job during field preparation was to drag the field while on his wheelchair. (Photo: Submitted photo)By Friday night, Calais got a text from Stelly’s mother, Dana, that read, “Coach J, not good.”On Saturday, Stelly died.Naturally, Calais and the entire Cecilia High community were devastated by the news.“Right now, I’m still kind of more in shock,” said former teammate Kutter Berard. “It hasn’t hit me fully right now.”But while Stelly touched so many lives during this seven years as a player and coach at Cecilia High, at the center of his experience was his friendship with Calais.“Jamie meant the world to Shae,” Dana Stelly said. “It’s hard to explain. Jamie always told me that Shae saved him and Jamie did the same for Shae.”They first met Stelly’s freshman season when Calais was coaching running backs for head coach Terry Martin’s football team.Shae Stelly, a 2015 gra... (The Daily Advertiser)
