RAPID CITY - The Rapid City Post 22 American Legion baseball team remembered an aspiring Post 22 player who's life was cut short.

The team had Richard Fenhaus History Night on Thursday at Fitzgerald Stadium in Rapid City.

Fenhaus loved Post 22 baseball and he always dreamed of playing for Post 22, but his dream was cut short when a cancerous brain tumor was found in January 1998. Fenhaus fought a courageous battle against the disease for 10 months before finally succumbing to the disease. He passed away on Nov. 1, 1998, just a few days before his 16th birthday.

"Post 22 supported us and our family when Richard was sick," said his father Harold, "so for them to remember him is just amazing. Especially 10 years later, it just means so much to our family. Richard loved coming to Post 22 games."

Every year Post 22 baseball honors Fenhaus with a baseball history night at Fitzgerald Stadium. Fenhaus had a knack for answering sports trivia questions.

"We've made this into a family event. Every year our family comes here and we watch Post 22 together, and we really have a lot of fun here," Harold Fenhaus said. "For us, it is about Post 22 and coming out and support them."

Richard Fenhaus' mother, Gwen, echoed the sentiments of her husband.

"For me, it is just such an honor that they remember Richard. It really means a lot to me that Post 22 remembers him, because playing for Post 22 was Richard's dream, and playing for (Post 22 head coach) Dave Ploof was his dream. He absolutely adored coach Ploof and Dave was very, very good to him."

Ploof said he and Richard a good relationship and that Post 22 honors him because he had such a passion for baseball and for life.

"I met Richard when he was 14 years old and he was a baseball nut," said Ploof. "He was an Atlanta Braves fan, and I told him no one is an Atlanta Braves fan. We had a good time heckling each other. He had a real passion for the game of baseball. He never got the opportunity to play for Post 22, so we honor him every year with baseball trivia night because he knew things that few people did. He was a great young man."