The memory of Sam Berns will live on at Foxboro High School.
The Foxboro school committee voted Monday, according to The Sun Chronicle, to name the town’s new turf field after Berns, a 17-year-old junior who died in January after a long battle with the rare disease progeria.
Berns, the subject of the acclaimed HBO documentary “Life According to Sam,” was an inspiration to many around New England, including several members of the Boston Bruins and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
Berns was the Bruins’ guest of honor on Progeria Awareness Night in November, dropping the ceremonial first puck, and his death came the day before he was slated to be the Patriots’ honorary captain for their divisional-round playoff game.
Both teams held moments of silence in his honor.
“I loved Sam Berns and am richer for having known him,” Kraft said in a statement after Berns’ death. “He was a special young man whose inspirational story and positive outlook on life touched my heart. I am so lucky to have had the opportunity to spend time with him and to get to know his incredible family. … Words cannot express the sadness or the depth of sympathy I feel for them today.”
The new field bearing Berns’ name is scheduled to open this fall at Foxboro High.
Photo via Twitter/@NHL
