Austin Nace, left, with his best friend Jimmy Mulvaney, made Diamond Nation a better place.
No batter likes an 0-2 count, so you can only imagine what it feels like to be forced to continually foul off pitches to extend your at bat from the very first day of your life.
The irrepressible Austin Nace was born with a genetic disease called Mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) that his parents Jennifer and Ryan quickly learned came with a life expectancy of 10 years. In Austin’s case, his specific affliction was MPS Type 1-Hurler’s Syndrome, the most aggressive form of the disease.
Many of us believe we are put on this earth for a reason. That reason can be slow to emerge. In Austin’s case, we learned rather quickly that he was put among us to make us all better people, to show us what true courage really looks like and to remind us how our daily challenges often are minuscule by comparison.
Austin beat the heck out of those MPS odds for 21 amazing, inspiring years and none of us at Diamond Nation will ever forget him. Austin died peacefully on July 17, surrounded by his family, after having taken his battle with MPS to an extraordinary length.
No, Austin wasn’t just fouling off the difficult pitches life had to offer, he was driving those offending offerings into the gaps for extra-base hits and hauling his Diamond Jacks teammates along for one heck of a ride.
Austin joined the organization as a 10 year-old in 2016 at the behest and grace of the Mulvaney family and goodness of his best pal, Jimmy Mulvaney, at the time a member of the Diamond Jacks Super 11U team. Austin quickly became a rallying point, source of energy and a beloved friend to teammates he followed from the 11U level straight through until many of those original team members graduated the program as seniors in high school.
Upon Austin’s first appearance in uniform for the Diamond Jacks, he was immediately named the organization’s Player of the Week. And by the time his Diamond Jacks career ended in 2022, his number 61 had been retired, the first and only such designation in an organization rife with players who have ascended to the Major Leagues. Neither Mike Trout nor Rick Porcello have had their numbers retired here. Austin sits alone in that distinguished category. His own personal Monument Park.
Austin Nace, center with teamamtes, has his No. 61 retired at the end of his Diamond Jacks career.
Austin was much more than a member of the Diamond Jacks team. He embodied the traditions and values we strive to instill in every player: that a winning culture is built on teammates who lift each other up, support one another, and rally together through every challenge.
A 2023 Hunterdon Central High School grad, Austin touched the hearts of his teachers, aides and the student body during his four years at the Flemington, N.J. school, as well as during his years at the lower schools in Readington. All along, unseen to most, Austin battled daily with the intrusive treatments needed to manage his disease and to fend off those persistent curveballs.
We detailed in the first story we wrote about Austin back in 2016 that, aside from undergoing an assortment of surgeries during his first 10 years of life, he had absorbed the discomfort of 485 intravenous infusions. At the time, he was going to physical therapy three times a week and speech and occupational therapy twice a week. Over the next 11 years of his life, Austin’s challenges and treatments did not lessen. On the contrary, his battle with MPS intensified.
It all started with two 10 year-olds enjoying each other’s company.
Through it all, Austin’s joy for life and love for his friends, family and the many caregivers administering his treatments, shined through like a beacon of good.
Austin is survived by his parents, Jennifer and Ryan, his sister, Amanda, and brother, James, grandparents Ted and Kathy Nace and his nephews, Quinn and Devin Danner.
Family and friends will gather in Austin’s memory on Monday, July 27, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. in St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, 201 State Highway 31, Flemington, N.J.