Family Visits Big East Tournament To Honor Son Killed 1 Year Ago

I was roaming outside Madison Square Garden prior to the UConn/Syracuse faceoff looking for a few UConn fans to interview about their trip.

Why I walked up to Fred Klorczyk first, I have absolutely no idea. But I’m glad I did.

The story I heard was both inspirational and heartbreaking:

Klorczyk was a Pitt grad decked out in UConn gear heading into the Garden with his family to commemorate the one year anniversary of the death of his son Christian, who was studying at UConn.

According to this New London Day article, the 21-year-old died while he was working on his car. He decided not to go to the tournament with his family and when they pulled up after the game on March 11, 2011, they found him under his BMW.

Despite their sad memories tied to the tournament, Fred’s spirits were high as he has been to many sporting events both college and professional, but this is the “best single event I’ve ever been to in my life” as he put it.

Thank you to the family for taking time to share this story with us.