Jay Bilas of ESPN.com shared the obituary from the Mercer Island Reporter that Quin Snyder’s father Gary Snyder passed away at the age of 80 after a battle with cancer. Gary is survived by his three kids Quin, Matt, and Nate. Gary made the University of Washington Hall of Fame for baseball for his time on scholarship at the school. He played some time in the minors for the San Francisco Giants until he decided to return to Seattle to coach youth teams and eventually become a teacher and head baseball coach at Shorecrest High school.

He soon became an associate principal then AD for Mercer Island High School. Quin’s brother Matt said his favorite memory of his father was playing on the Pony league baseball team with his brother Quin—who now is the head coach for the Utah Jazz—that his father coached.

Of all his memories with his father, Matt Snyder recalled a season of pony league baseball spent alongside his brother and dad. He grew up watching his dad coach and idolizing the players on his teams.

By the time he was old enough to play under his dad, his father was no longer coaching. But, he agreed to coach Matt and his older brother Quin, who were in sixth and eighth grades at the time. Typically, sixth and eighth graders weren’t allowed on the same team. But after Gary Snyder spoke with the person in charge, an exception was made. “‘And when I looked him right in the eye, he changed the rule,’” Matt Snyder recalled his dad saying. “It’s a small thing, but when I think of my dad and the belief that he had in us as kids, the recognition that this was an opportunity for his boys to play together and for him to coach us and our friends… he understood it was going to be a special year.” And it was. The team went undefeated (20-0) and won the league championship.

Our condolences are with the Snyder family. We give you our thoughts and prayers. Hopefully our energy as fans give you the aid you need to carry on.