RedHawks to Honor Teen, An Angel in the Outfield

By Doug Warner, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY - Tuesday, the Oklahoma City RedHawks are starting the game with an angel in their outfield. The team will be honoring a 12-year-old from Moore who was not just a RedHawk fan, but a huge baseball fan.

The late Ian Hudson was a lifetime sports fan, first football then eventually baseball.

His mother Jen loves looking at all of his pictures - especially the ones from one of the biggest nights of her son's young baseball career - April 30, 2009 at the Bricktown Ballpark.

"They went down on the field, hung out and visited with the players," said Ian's mother Jen Jacobs.

The RedHawks call it the Field of Dreams program. For Ian and his team The Rebels, it was truly a dream come true.

"Afterwards he just went on and on. 'Did you see the guy next to me? Did you see how huge he was?'" Jacobs said.

That was just two nights before the Rebels were to play in an Edmond baseball tournament. For Ian, a centerfielder, there was no better way to spend a Saturday but on the baseball diamond.

But as his MySpace page still shows, the rains came, so no baseball.

"Throughout the course of the morning and afternoon, getting antsy and bored, hanging around the house. He wanted to spend the night with a friend. I took him over there and that's the last time I saw him," Ian's mother said.

While visiting friends, Ian slipped and fell while crossing a busy Moore intersection and was rushed to the hospital.

"You know the mom in me kicked in first. I looked from head to toe. Then the nurse in me kicked in and I saw what I saw and I knew he was never coming home with me," Jacobs said.

Ian's mother laid his glove and rosary in his hospital bed for one final picture and one final goodbye.

"Right now, it's just so hard looking into the future because all I see is what's not there," Jen Jacobs said.

Ian Hudson, 12, passed away a day later. His room is still loaded with his love of the game. On his nightstand is a book on baseball, nearly finished, and his game bag is still packed. His teammates and coaches signed all of his baseball gloves.

Ian's Rebels' jersey will hang in the RedHawks' dugout during their game Tuesday.

"So there's a natural connection there, and when we found out he passed away, it touched us and we wanted to find some way to help them. And Tuesday night we're going to do that," said John Allgood, the Director of Operations for the Oklahoma City RedHawks.

The RedHawks have invited Ian's team back to the field and reserved a special spot for Ian. Centerfield will be left empty for their angel in the outfield.

"I just feel like this is him, his opportunity to shine and be that star he always has been," Ian's mother said.

If you would like to donate to the Ian Hudson Memorial Fund, you can do so at any area I.B.C. Bank location.