Fort Wayne Canterbury (Fort Wayne, Ind.) rising junior basketball star and Michigan commit
Austin Hatch is still in critical condition at the Munson Medical Center in Traverse City, Mich., following Friday's tragic airplane crash. But the Associated Press has reported that the brain swelling has gone down and doctors hope to reduce the amount of coma-inducing drugs.
Also, the Petoskey News reported that the family dog, a labradoodle named Brady, survived the crash without injury and was found a mile from the crash site by an animal control officer.
The Ann Arbor News reported that the pilot, his father Stephen Hatch, and his stepmother, Kim Hatch, were killed when their single-engine plane crashed into a Charlevoix, Mich., garage en route to the family cabin on Lake Michigan.
The 6-foot-6 Hatch, who chose Michigan over Notre Dame, averaged 23.1 points and 9.3 rebounds while shooting 45 percent from 3-point range as a sophomore.
The Detroit Free Press reported that Steve Hatch was the pilot of a single-wing prop plane that clipped a power pole and crashed in 2003 near Bluffton, Ind., killing his wife, Julie, 11-year-old daughter Lindsay, and 5-year-old son Ian. Steve and Austin, who was 8 years old at the time, were the only survivors.
"It is with deep sadness that the Canterbury community has learned of the deaths of Steve and Kim Hatch, parents of Austin '13, in a plane crash in Michigan on Friday evening," Karen Belcher, the director of publications at the Canterbury School, sent in an email on Saturday morning. "Please keep Austin and his family in your thoughts and prayers."
According to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, Stephen Hatch was a physician who
specialized in pain management and was the owner of Smith Field Air
Services. According to Canterbury coach Dan Kline, Hatch wants to be an orthopedic surgeon.
Kline told the Detroit Free Press that the Hatch family was flying to their cabin on Lake Michigan when the crash occurred. Family members and friends are now with Hatch in the hospital. Kline said the next 24 to 48 hours are critical for Hatch.
"It's a tough time right now," Kline told the newspaper. "The team is a tight-knit group. He's a great guy and a great player. ... He's a very mature young man. You'd never know he was 16 years old."
Michigan men's coach John Beilein released this statement:
"We
are saddened to hear about another tragedy that has affected the Hatch
family. Austin needs as much support right now as possible and I know
he will be in the thoughts and prayers of the Michigan family during
this difficult time."