LAFAYETTE ― Former Benton Central pitching ace and Indiana All-Star Zach Pettet has looked back on his life and learned how much he has to be thankful for.
Good luck. Bad luck. Pettet has seen both.
Pettet’s family, the Benton County community and his love for sports have been at the core of helping him maintain hope in his life after receiving news from doctors that would alter his once active lifestyle forever a decade ago.
After being originally diagnosed with transverse myelitis in 2015, Pettet was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2020. He is now confined to a wheelchair.
A far cry from the active lifestyle he used to live as a star baseball and basketball player at Benton Central.
“I always approach my life with a lot of appreciation,” Pettet said.
Pettet can’t throw as hard as he wants, play catch with his two daughters or shoot baskets the way he used to.
What he does have however, are three lifelong friends in his corner in Trent Brouilette, Justin McCormack and Ryan Ross.
His sister Carly Butler is an assistant girls basketball coach at Benton Central. His wife, Meredith, supports him, as well and extended family members who make sure Pettet continues to play an active role in their lives.
Butler remembers how good of an athlete Pettet, was both as a pitcher and leading scorer of the Bison basketball team.
“My brother was always one of those people who was good at everything,” Butler said.
Best friends and brotherly bonds
Brouilette has known Pettet since he was six years old, playing on the same teams as children through high school at Benton Central before becoming roommates at Purdue.
It was Brouilette who started the Tee It Up Foundation to raise money for Pettet’s medical expenses. The money raised by Brouilette would allow for Pettet to travel to Panama and receive stem cell treatments.
“(Pettet) was always someone who was thinking about others and helping others first,” Brouilette said.
His spirit and upbeat mindset remain untethered despite having to rely on a wheelchair to move around.
And through the Tee It Up Foundation, Pettet is able to impact more lives in Benton County.
Pettet and Brouilette have raised over $100,000 to various charities since Tee It Up was founded. Through its annual golf outing, Pettet and Brouilette have donated funds to the Benton Community Food & Service Co-Op to feed families on Thanksgiving.
“You look at these events and you realize the impact of small community,” Pettet said. “It’s just amazing in a town like Fowler with maybe 200 people, and so many show up to this golfing event every year. It’s just pretty amazing.”
Mentoring a niece, watching her grow up on the basketball court
Pettet relished watching his niece, Harper Butler, take the floor for the first time in her green and yellow jersey.
Butler, who he had laid eyes upon as a newborn, is now a 14-year-old freshman, sinking 3-pointers to his amazement against McCutcheon in the IU Health Classic on Nov. 22.
“He inspires me, and I text him every day,” Harper Butler said. “I’m just constantly thinking about him. I’m seeing him do all these great things for his daughters and the community. He gives out money to the community after his events. He inspires me to be a great person to show it on the court as well.”
“She’s a hard worker and she’s always working and always playing,” Pettet added.
Through his troubles, he’s been a key motivator to Butler’s strong start to her high school career. He has also been a present father to his daughters Karsyn, a budding sixth grade basketball, soccer and softball player at Otterbein Elementary, and second grade daughter Della.
“The most impressive thing for me with Zach is how he has stayed so positive through all of it,” Carly Butler said. “He has put on a brave face, and he finds humor in things. He has always worked so hard to do the things he can. And through his diagnosis, he just wants to give back to a community he is a part of, a community his daughters are growing up in.”
Pettet admitted there were hard times he had to overcome mentally after being diagnosed with two life-altering diseases. Through his own obstacles, Pettet has found his way to leave in imprint on his community.
“When I first became disabled, I was angrier that it happened to me,” Pettet said. “When people would help me do stuff with the kids or at the house, I felt angrier that I couldn’t do it by myself. But now I feel nothing but appreciation.”
Ethan Hanson is the sports reporter for the Journal & Courier in Lafayette. He can be reached at ehanson@jconline.com, on Twitter at EthanAHanson and Instagram at ethan_a_hanson.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Former Indiana All-Star finds mission in multiple sclerosis battle
Reporting by Ethan Hanson, Lafayette Journal & Courier / Lafayette Journal & Courier
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