Austin Hatch: A Storybook Ending Achieved After Unimaginable Tragedy
2/27/2018 1:40:00 PM | Men's Basketball, Features
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Austin Hatch scored just one point for the University of Michigan men's basketball team on the court, but the one point that he makes so clearly off the court is the essence of a Wolverine that will long be remembered.
That point, one that his father, Stephen, instilled in him, is that you should expect nothing to be handed to you, and that much is possible if you are willing to work for achievements and overcome obstacles.
Austin said that if his father were alive, he would be his best man when he marries Abby Cole on June 16 "Up North" in Petoskey, Michigan, less than 20 miles from the airport in Charlevoix where his father and stepmother perished in the airplane crash he survived nearly seven years ago. It was, incredibly, the second plane crash Austin survived.
"Abby is the reason I'm still here," said Austin. "I really believe that."
Hatch will walk across the stage at Michigan Stadium in April to receive his diploma for a degree in organizational studies and move into a full-time job with Domino's Pizza in Ann Arbor. Abby graduated last year after completing her All-America career as one of the finest volleyball players the Wolverines have ever had and works in development for the athletic department.
They will walk down the aisle together and have a life together that Hatch couldn't even dream of when he had to learn how to walk and talk all over again due to severe injuries he suffered in that crash.
This has been a storybook ending to college for Hatch. Not the storybook he always envisioned with basketball accomplishments, but rather one that deals with overcoming countless trials in his long, challenging journey, and being able put his life back together at Michigan.
To begin with, it took three years to go from a hospital bed with tubes coming out of everywhere to arriving on campus.
"Given everything that's happened -- it's been horrific, tragic, I've lost so much," said Hatch. "But sometimes I have to look in the mirror and say, 'Do you really have it this good?' With all the great people I have in my life: Abigail, her family, my family, all my friends, Coach (John) Beilein, the rest of the staff, everyone here. It's hard to believe.
"If you would've told me six and a half years ago when I was in a hospital and couldn't walk that I would be getting ready to graduate from Michigan, that I was getting married to the woman of the dreams, that I would've had an incredible experience in four years at Michigan ... If you would've told me that, I'd have been like, 'You're crazy.' I'm here to tell you it's been better than I even could've imagined.
"Arnold Barnett, an MIT statistician, said the odds of surviving a plane crash with one fatality involved is one-in-3.4 million. So, I survived two of those, with multiple fatalities in both. So, the odds of surviving those two crashes is one-in-11 quadrillion and 560 trillion. That's a 14-digit number."
Hatch does some math in his head and says that number is roughly 120,000 times the world population.
"So," he said, "you get the point."
There's another significant point in the Austin Hatch story. The point being that there's really no conceivable way we should be talking, that he should be walking, that he should be graduating, that he should be getting married, that he should still be breathing.
He survived two plane crashes that killed everybody else -- five loved ones -- who has ever been part of his immediate family.
"That didn't happen because it's like: 'Lucky me, I'm still here.' I believe it was divine intervention."
And he also deeply believes living to share a life with Abby is the biggest part of that equation.
What makes her that special?
Austin said: "The kind of girl she is, her faith, the way she treats people. She's a great person with great friends. She's 6-5, she's beautiful, she's the sweetest girl ever, and a pretty good volleyball player, too.
"She's a dream come true, and I'm blessed with far more than I deserve."
They met, as fate would have it, not long after Hatch arrived in Ann Arbor.
Austin said the mother of his best friend, Trent VanHorn, drove him from his hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana, to begin classes at Michigan in 2014. VanHorn, his high school teammate who played basketball at Wake Forest and now attends medical school there, is going to be his best man at the wedding.
"When I got out of the car here that first day," said Hatch, "I went to see Coach (John) Beilein and stuck out my hand for a handshake, and he gave me a big bear hug, and looked at me like, 'Man, you did it.' The mission hadn't been accomplished; the mission was just starting. But after all I'd been through, just coming here was a big deal and something to be proud of.
"It was a dream come true, and I was like, 'I'm finally here.' After being in the hospital for months, after learning how to walk again. It felt good being here because I knew I had to work for it. I was like, 'You earned this, man.' "
Hatch survived two plane crashes in the span of eight years. In 2003, he lost his mother, Julie, younger brother Ian and older sister Lindsay in a crash near Fort Wayne. In 2011, nine days after making his commitment to the Wolverines, the plane his father was piloting crashed again. His father survived the first one with Austin, but this time died along with his stepmother, Kim, whom he'd come to cherish as "my second mom."
Only Austin lived through the two tragedies that claimed five family members. But he almost didn't make it. Austin suffered brain trauma, fractured ribs and a broken collarbone. And after coming out of a two-month-long coma, he had to learn all over again how to talk and walk. Doctors feared he might be confined to a bed for the rest of his life.
Hatch prepares to shoot and then makes a free throw against Coppin State in 2014. It symbolized the achievement of his three-year comeback after surviving a plane crash with serious injuries that killed his father and stepmother in 2011. Teammates Sean Lonergan (No. 20) and Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman (No. 12) look on.
But not only did he learn to walk -- he learned to run. He learned to play basketball again and came to Michigan with encouragement from Beilein to take a shot at his life-long dream. Austin played in five games and made one free throw against Coppin State.
"It was a big story all over," recalled Hatch, "but all I did was make a free throw. But if I had 30 (points) my first game back, I would've kicked some butt. I should be in stories everywhere. But I just made one free throw, and it's not a big deal. I get that it's a powerful story and a unique situation, and it was cool, and I'm glad I made it.
"But I got fouled taking a three, and missed the first free throw, made the second and missed the third. I'm still mad about that. That's nothing to be proud of. But it is cool that I got to score one official point."
Hatch, a dynamic 6-foot-6 player at Fort Wayne's Canterbury School, where he averaged 23.3 points and 9.3 rebounds as a sophomore before committing, also considered offers from Notre Dame and Virginia. He was coming to the Wolverines in the same class as Zak Irvin and Derrick Walton Jr. and his playing future was bright. But -- despite all of the unbelievable progress he made physically and mentally -- Hatch and Beilein agreed after one year that he should concentrate on school and stay with the team as a student assistant. He went on a medical scholarship, and took part in practices and assisted coaches on a regular basis.
His friendships with teammates and everyone around the program flourished, and he grew particularly close to Beilein, the coach who had impressed his father so much beyond his coaching abilities.
"My dad fell in love with the man Coach Beilein was in addition to the school," said Hatch. "He said, 'I know this is a place where my son will be coached hard, but he'll be loved.' "
His mother graduated from Michigan in 1987. His grandfathers received degrees in software engineering and medicine at Michigan, and his father, who played football at Alma College and earned his medical degree at Wake Forest, also took some classes and worked at Michigan.
"Michigan is in my blood," said Hatch. "It was the dream to play here. When Michigan offered me the scholarship -- that was it. Coach Beilein said, 'You're a good fit for our program. You're big and you can shoot.' At least I could shoot at the time; I can't shoot anymore."
Hatch aspired to become a doctor before suffering a head injury in the second plane crash.
"My head injury doesn't allow me to do all the work in medical school," said Hatch. "I could've done that before, but my head injury was so severe. It set me back. I still do pretty well in school, but I just think differently. I can't memorize everything I need to for a chemistry or anatomy exam. I do better with problem solving. They didn't have to surgically remove any parts of my brain. So, I'd like to think I'm not any less intelligent than I was.
"Even though I didn't go into medicine, I went to one of the best business schools in the country. A Michigan degree is a Michigan degree. Medical school doesn't have to be the benchmark. There are a lot of brilliant people in business. Life threw me a curveball, and I'm still going to find a way to hit it out of the park."
Hatch said his parents were his greatest influences, and it was the way he saw them deal with problems and challenges that he relied upon when staging his comeback.
"My dad didn't give me much," said Hatch. "He could have, but didn't believe in that. He said, 'You're going to have to work for it.' From an early age, he instilled in me the work ethic that would be valuable to me for the rest of my life. And little did I know, he was instilling the work ethic in me that would be a part of what saved my life.
"I believe I'm here for a reason. I believe in a higher power, but I had to do my part, too. And it was almost like my dad was preparing me. We go through the first accident together, and I wasn't really hurt that bad physically. The emotional pain was obviously tough, with losing my family -- my mom, brother and sister. It was so tough for him, too, losing his wife and his two kids. Getting ready to get married now, I can't imagine what it must have been like for him.
"But he set an example for me, and pressed on and pushed through it for me. My dad was telling me the whole time, 'Hey, Aus, watch everything I do because in six to eight years, you are going to have to do this on your own. So, take good notes and be prepared.' That was what I did was based on."
Austin said his father no longer is on this Earth, but he remains in his heart, mind and soul.
"Obviously," Austin said, "I was doing all this for me. But to honor my dad, even though he's not here, that's been big for me. He was my best friend and we were as close as anyone. He probably would've been the best man in my wedding.
"Yeah, he's not here. But I know what made him proud before. He wasn't proud that I was a good basketball player or the fact that I did well in school. He was proud of the fact of how I worked for both of those things. I know that's what he's proud of now -- how I made the most of my time at Michigan by working and doing well in school by shifting my focus from the court to the classroom."
He's already working part-time at Domino's Farms, and when classes end he will be full-time, rotating into different job facets of launching new franchises -- real estate, development and construction. He's also going to continue working as a public speaker, sharing his story at schools, businesses and churches.
"I share how my faith's been impacted," said Hatch, "and how my faith helped me get through everything I faced. I encourage people to be better versions of themselves."
Austin and Abby attend church in Ann Arbor, and their shared faith has been central to their relationship. They were introduced to one another on campus, and then ended up having a class together. She was late for Political Science 101 one day, and Austin had a seat open right next to him. So, when she came through the door, he made eye contact and waved her over.
Austin said, "I thought, 'She's cute. I've got a seat right here.'Â She came over and sat next to me, and we talked and didn't pay much attention to the lecture class, which is bad. But I'll admit that I did it. I asked for her number after class and she gave it to me."
They texted back and forth, sat together in class the next time, and she offered him a ride after class. "The rest is history," he said with an ear-to-ear smile. Three years later, they were engaged.
Hatch gets down on one knee at Cliff Keen Arena to ask Cole to marry him.
Cole reacts to accepting Hatch's marriage proposal.
Moments after Cole says yes to Hatch's wedding proposal.
Hatch schemed with Wolverine volleyball coach Mark Rosen for his unique proposal after her graduation last year. Rosen invited Cole to Cliff Keen Arena after the ceremony for a supposed senior gift, and what she found there on the volleyball court was Hatch.
He said, "I told her that I loved her and wanted to spend forever with her -- wanted to be teammates for the rest of our lives. I got down on one knee and said, 'Will you marry me?' She actually didn't respond the first time.
"She was expecting me to propose 'Up North' in a nice restaurant after a long walk on the beach at sunset. She went blank, and I said, 'Ab, will you marry me?' She said, 'Yeah' and it was all good."
Abby held his hand as they walked out on the court for a Senior Day presentation before the Feb. 18 win over Ohio State. Austin was cleared to dress for one last game, and she joined him along with his grandfather, Jim Hatch, and his mother's parents, Ron and Rita Siwik. He received a framed jersey along with fellow seniors Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman, Duncan Robinson and Jaaron Simmons.
The Wolverines piled onto Hatch in a wild ending to the ceremony.
"That was cool," said Hatch. "It was exciting. Obviously, it was a heck of a journey to get to this point. I'm incredibly blessed to have such great people in my life, from my fiancee, Abby, to my family, to my teammates, to the coaches here.
"Michigan basketball, it's family, too. You become a brotherhood, and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I could no longer deliver what I could when they signed me -- to help them to shoot, pass and play defense. I can't do that anymore. It's not my fault that I can't. Obviously, that plane crashing down was out of my control. But it shows what kind of a man Coach Beilein is, that he's treated me virtually exactly the same even though I couldn't play basketball like that again.
"I could go all day about how in awe I am of Coach Beilein for the way he's treated me. I don't think that it's an accident that I committed to play at Michigan nine days before (the first plane crash in 2011). What if I had taken two weeks later to commit? I was on my death bed. There's not a better place I could be given the circumstances. And even if nothing had happened, there's not a better place I could be, not a better man I could play for. Coach Beilein talks about what I've given to him and the impact I've had on the team, but that's nothing compared to the way he's impacted me."
Austin noted that he was treated just like the program's superstars even though he scored just one point.
"He serves his players' hearts -- not their talent," Austin said of Beilein. "Everyone who comes here, leaves here a better man. When I am 63 or 64, I hope I am the man that Coach Beilein is."
We finished our conversation and Hatch headed down the corridor to the basketball team weight room "to work on my beach body" for their honeymoon in Barbados.
"My dad always told me that when you meet 'that girl' you'll know," said Austin, 22. "When anyone asks why I'm marrying Abby, I say, 'When you know, you know. Why wait?' And it will be nice to be young when we have kids.
"We're blessed. I'm blessed more than I deserve. I shouldn't have it this good."
Come to think of it, Hatch made more than one enduring point in his four years here. He did persevere, but he also loved every minute of it, loved the people, loved the teamwork, loved learning, loved growing, fell in love.
Any positive point there is to make, Austin Hatch swished it -- literally and figuratively.
Not to be rude and correct you, Austin. But you deserve it all.
