A Father's Day to cherish
By Tom Dodge
You will have to forgive Ava Grace for not buying her dad a present today.
But for St. Edmund head baseball coach Tre’ Brown, she is the greatest present as he celebrates Father’s Day as a dad for the very first time.
Ava Grace was born April 16 to Tré and his wife Lauren - right in the heat of a District 6-1A title season for the Blue Jays.
The bundle of joy weighed eight pounds and was 21 inches long, a fact that didn’t slip past her father.
“Both Lauren and I are tall, so Ava Grace should be tall too, perfect for playing golf.
Tré admitted he would love a son to carry on the family name, but he wouldn’t trade his beautiful daughter for anything in the world.
“She is a blessing and a wonderful baby,” he said.
Lauren brought the youngest Blue Jay Backer to the April 24 opening-round playoff game against Oberlin.
Ava must have been a good luck charm as St. Eds won 12-2 to advance to the second round.
“I rarely miss a ball game,” Lauren said. “We had talked about bringing her to her first game, but I think the fans were excited and surprised when we came.”
Tré grew up in Zachary near Baton Rouge before moving to the Atlanta area.
Lauren is a Georgia native.
The couple and new daughter now proudly call Eunice home.
“Eunice is a great community and the St. Eds family has been wonderful to us,” Tré said. “I love doing what I am doing helping shape young men’s lives and build on the great baseball tradition built here at St. Eds.”
Tré played baseball at Newnan High, went on to Gordon Junior College and graduated from Georgia Southwestern College in Americus, Georgia.
He then returned to Newnan for his first coaching job and it was also were he met Lauren in 2002.
The couple was married on April 2, 2005 and then moved to Eunice in 2006 as he became a head coach for the first time and Lauren teaches at Eunice Junior High.
“It made it a lot easier that he was a coach when I met him,” Lauren said. “I knew about the time away at the ball field and all the things he had to do.”
But she is Tré’s number one fan and young Ava has years of ball park fun ahead of her.
Brown said that while as a coach he was a mentor, he now has to improve on his parenting skills - a skill that he will reflect on his father’s influence to help him improve as time goes on.
“My father was always at the field with me,” Tré said of his dad Jim Brown.
“He coached me in the summers through Babe Ruth and American Legion.
“He is the most wonderful man I have ever known,” he said of his father. “He may have shown tough discipline, but he also gave me tremendous support.”
Hopefully one day, Ava Grace will say the same thing about her dad.