The hospice patient had waited for years to meet his favorite baseball player, the Washington Nationals' Bryce Harper. And when his moment came July 5, he wound up on the dirt and curved the ball right over home plate, into the waiting hands of Harper.
Harper later called Rupp "my hero." While Harper had long been Rupp's favorite player, the 20-year-old Nationals star said Tuesday it was the teen who inspired him, along with many others in Ashburn, Loudoun County and the greater Washington area.
Those thoughts were echoed by Rupp's friends and family Tuesday evening, as tributes — many of them with the message #CANCERSUCKS or #RIPGAVIN — flooded Facebook and Twitter.
Rupp, 13, was first diagnosed with brain cancer in the fifth grade; he was a rising eighth-grader at Eagle Ridge this summer, according to friends of the family.
Stone Bridge High School's Bulldog baseball account Tweeted a picture of Rupp winding up at the mound; with it, a message that read they "mourned the loss of Gavin Rupp. RIP Gavin."
Rupp was an aspiring shortstop who three times was named a Dulles Little League All-Star .
His number, 15, was printed on jerseys and tributes in his honor throughout his treatment. A Facebook tribute page is named "Gavin Rupp #15," carrying that tradition forward.
"I am just so very sad to hear the news of Gavin's passing. And yet, I am so inspired by what an amazing young man Gavin was. Heaven certainly gained an amazing Angel that will undoubtedly be watching over his family and others," one woman wrote on that page.
"Cancer didn't win this battle, you did," read another tweet Tuesday night. "Because you touched ppls hearts everywhere."
Memorial and burial information were not available at press time. Ashburn Patch will update this story as soon as more information becomes available.
