LAME DEER — In recent years, Journey Emerson would spend his summer nights at Stewart Park in Billings, lighting up the softball complex late at night with his big smile and smooth play.
That infectious spirit is noticeably absent this summer, as Emerson died tragically in a car accident just outside his hometown of Lame Deer nearly one year ago.
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The Lame Deer community has spent the past two weekends putting on memorial softball and basketball tournaments to pay homage to one of their legends with the two sports he loved most.
“It's really hard. I'm tearing up right now just talking about it. That was my brother. We played baseball growing up together. The team that we're on right now, our men's team, that was created by him," said Latrell Littlebear, a former teammate of Emerson's.
"I'm proud to wear this for Journey. I'm proud to play. It gives me a reason to play. I'm playing for Journey," said Kendall Russell, who also played basketball and softball with Emerson.
"That's how I met (Emerson). I (played him one-on-one). I was the best baller, I thought. He came from Busby and I was already at Lame Deer. Man, this kid was just wicked, man," said David Wick Jr., another of Emerson's teammates. "There's usually tournaments that go on all through here and we usually take them, our team. This men's tournament that is here, we took it twice in a row already and this was going to be our third year."
A coed softball tournament featured six teams and a basketball tournament was filled a 12-team bracket. Banners and signs around the softball complex showed pictures of Emerson from his days wowing crowds around Montana, and odes to his Montana high school boys basketball single-game record of 82 points set in February 2022 littered the grounds.
Emerson was never one to gloat about his accomplishments, and his family shared stories of him signing autographs for kids from rival Lodge Grass. He was a gracious young man who always made time for those around him, and his impact will be felt for generations.
“I just want people to remember him for his hard work and dedication on the field, and even after the games. He still wanted to hit around. Even after the games were over he still wanted to go shoot around or catch. It never stopped, man," Wick Jr. said.
“I looked up to him. I know all the other kids looked up to him. He was a good-hearted person. He loved being outside and loved (softball tournaments). He loved it so much and loved being outside," Russell said.
"Man, he was a superhero. He was our Michael Jordan. No cap, man, he was Michael Jordan around here. Mr. 82, he was known," Littlebear said. "If it wasn't a home game, if it was an away game, there was a whole family behind us just to see Mr. 82. Even before he was Mr. 82 he was lighting up arenas.
"Every time he was on the court, no matter what, if he was in Crocs, Jordans, Kobes, whatever he played in he lit up that floor."
Ultimately, that 82-point outburst on a cold winter night will live on in the record books, but it’s what he did off the floor that those around Lame Deer will remember most.
"The fireworks light up the sky, but more than everything it's the sunset. (Emerson) lights up the sky, man, with the sunset. Every time you look down this valley and see that sunset, it's the most beautiful thing ever," Littlebear said.
"That kid was different, man. Nobody's going to forget about Mr. 82 here. Nobody," Wick Jr. said.
Emerson is not with us anymore, but his spirit lives on through his 3-year-old daughter Kaislee, who has that same happy-go-lucky spirit that Journey possessed.
It really is true when they say the best leave us too early, but legends never really die.
