DEPEW, N.Y. — Dennis Crawley loves coaching baseball, and he won't let anything get in the way of that. Not even an ALS diagnosis.
When I met up with Dennis in his home last month, he had coached a doubleheader the previous weekend and he was preparing to coach another doubleheader in a few days all while searching for a new home.
"I’m not gonna be able to hit flyballs or throw BP (batting practice), and do stuff like that, but I can still coach the team," he says. "I can still explain to the kids what they’ve got to do. I plan on coaching as long as I can."
Dennis also works as a basketball referee, and it was during a basketball game in March that he noticed his knee would give out. An MRI confirmed that there was ligament damage from old injuries, but Dennis realized there was something wrong while undergoing physical therapy.
"I was starting to have muscle atrophy In my left leg. I told the PT guy I wouldn’t be coming back. I knew right then and there what it was," he says. "I went and got tested. Lo and behold, diagnosed with ALS. Over the years, I knew in the back of my mind I was going to get it. Praying I didn’t get it, but kinda knew I was."
While the diagnosis was devastating for Dennis and his family, it wasn't entirely a surprise. He's the 27th member of his family to be diagnosed with ALS, a neurodegenerative disease with no cure that can lead to death two to five years after symptoms first appear.
"We always hoped, me and my two sisters, that I wouldn’t get it," he says. "I look a lot like my dad, have my dad’s genes, hopefully. But I didn’t dodge that bullet."
Dennis knew his life was about to change drastically. While he can still walk with a cane and climb stairs, finding a one-story home became his new mission. Dennis was also worried about leaving his family behind with expensive medical bills; he takes an experimental drug and has to pay for injections out of pocket.
His sister-in-law started a GoFundMe to help out, much to Dennis' chagrin.
"I was against it from the beginning," he said. "I don’t want no charity. She’s like ‘you’re going to need help.’ The stuff people have been giving me, and the donations, and just people reaching out - it’s been awesome. You don’t realize how many friends you have until something like this happens, unfortunately."
Despite his early objections, Dennis' GoFundMe has brought in more than $20,000. He continues to coach at Depew High School and former players have made it a point to reach out, lend support and just have conversations.
"If anything ever did happen, he’d be there for me," says Justin Gospodarski, who was coached by Dennis on travel teams. "If you wanted to play college baseball, he’s out there getting your videos out there, recruiting you out there. He’s helping you in any way he can."
"He’s definitely like a second father to me," says Adam Scibetta, who played under Crawley in High School. "This past year, I was struggling.
My grades were slipping. Crawley calls me, ‘I’m coming in to come to talk with you.’ I was like ‘okay.’ We sat there and we just talked about what was going on, why my grades were slipping. We sat there at the facility for a few hours just talking."
Dennis was touched.
"That means more to me than anything. It really does," he said.
The GoFundMe's success and contact from former players have Dennis feeling more optimistic about the future.
"People ask me what my bucket list is. I don’t have one," he says. "My list is to make sure my family’s set when I’m gone. That’s all I care about. Hopefully, it’s not for a while, but we’ll see."