On Wednesday morning, former Blinn College coach Kyle Van Hook will donate his kidney to his 20-month-old grandson, Briscoe, at St. Luke's Health at the Texas Medical Center

Briscoe was born with polycystic kidney disease, an inherited disorder in which clusters of cysts devlop in the kidneys, and spends around 11 hours daily hooked to a dialysis machine.

"Hopefully it is a successful kidney transplant and he can lead a more normal life because he really hasn't had a normal life to this point," Van Hook stated.

Van Hook was the Blinn head baseball coach from 1991-96. His son, Clay Van Hook, father of Briscoe, is currently an assistant baseball coach at the University of Oklahoma.

Clay's dream is for Briscoe to enjoy all aspects of growing up a baseball coach's son, something he hasn't fully been able to do because of risk of infection.

"Number one I want him to be able to know how great this game is and that it is a game about relationship building even if you aren't on the field," Clay said.

Clay grew up a bike ride away from Leroy Dreyer Field on the Blinn-Brenham campus and served as the Buccaneers bat boy during the years his dad was the head coach.

"You couldn't even log the amount of hours that I spent at that field rather it was for practice or a game," Clay said.

He often took road trips with the team, especially looking forward to when the Buccaneers traveled to play Laredo.

"It was a really neat situation; we had quite a bit of bonding time," Kyle said. 

In 1992, Kyle took the Buccaneers to the NJCAA World Series for the first time in 24 years with Clay serving as bat boy.

"We didn't win the national championship, but it was probably my most special time there," Kyle said.

"It is experiences and memories like those that you really appreciate and the time that I had with my dad when he was coaching at Blinn," Clay said.

The kidney transplant is a major step in Briscoe's journey to make more baseball memories with his dad and granddad, who is now a scout for the Cleveland Indians.

"He is definitely going to be around the game, so I am hoping that in a couple of years I see him running around here in Norman carrying those bats because it brought so many good memories to me," Clay said "I've seen guys 10-15 years down the road and we reminisce about all the good times at Blinn and that's what I want for him."

About Blinn College

With an enrollment of 19,422 students, Blinn ranks among the nation's leaders in transferring students to leading four-year universities and has received national recognition for affordable educational excellence. For more information, visit www.blinn.edu.