Winter Garden Squeeze to honor memory of Ian Supra with SupraStrong Saturday

WINTER GARDEN Winter Garden Squeeze is planning its first SupraStrong Saturday, an event that will honor the life of Ian Supra, a Dr. Phillips High School student known for his kind personality and his athleticism as a swimmer and captain of the water polo team at Dr. Phillips High School. 

Supra died in November after a battle with stage IV esophageal cancer. He was 20. 

Zac Holbrook, an intern with the Squeeze, came up with an idea for the June 25 event to remember Supra and keep his name going. 

“We thought, let’s help out in any way we can, get people to the game and just get more people to hear about his story that haven’t heard about it,” Holbrook said. 

A portion of ticket sales will go to the Ian Supra Memorial Foundation, aka SupraStrong, which raises money to support youth with cancer. A tailgate party will start at 5 p.m., with a cornhole tournament to raise money. Some of Supra’s favorite music will play from the loudspeakers, and the tailgate will include burgers, one of Supra’s favorite foods. 

Supra’s mother, Jackie Supra, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch.

Matthew Mayorga, board member and founder of SupraStrong, felt honored by the Squeeze’s support. 

“It’s amazing,” Mayorga, who was one of Supra’s best friends, said. “There’s no other way to put it.” 

SupraStrong is working on making a T-shirt as well as selling other merchandise at the event.

Supra played baseball until eighth grade, so his mother is honored that the Squeeze would choose to celebrate his life.  

“It’s so overwhelming and heartwarming to see all these kids and players helping him,” Jackie Supra said. “It’s really awesome to see that camaraderie in this crazy world that we’re living in, to know that there’s still a lot of good people out there and there’s just kids that want to help his cause and help other people.”

Ultimately, the Squeeze would like to make SupraStrong Saturday a regular event. 

“Our whole goal with this is using this to do other SupraStrong Saturdays, be it cleaning up a church or helping community serve — having this morph into more than just two Saturdays in the summer,” said Adam Bates, Winter Garden Squeeze general manager.

Contact Jennifer Nesslar at [email protected].