Virginia Tech’s Jayme Bailey Honors Her Brother’s Memory Through The Peace Rider Foundation

Today is another beautiful summer day in the world of softball, with travel ball and even international softball, being played across the globe.

Happy times for many… but not all.

Today is a painful and sober day especially for former Virginia Tech utility player Jayme Bailey and her family as they deal with the awful one-year anniversary of the death of her older brother, Tanner, who died in a motorcycle accident a year ago today—July 20, 2022.

The softball senior dedicated the 2023 season to her sibling and had a strong campaign with a .318 batting average, 12 home runs and 40 RBIs, but it’s her career accomplishments that makes her very special to Hokie softball fans… here’s where Jayme ranks on the school’s all-time Top 10:

• Total Bases: 412… 1^st all-time in Virginia tech history
• Sacrifice Flies: 11… 1^st all-time
• Runs Scored: 166… 2^nd all-time
• Doubles: 47… 2^nd all-time
• Triples: 11… 2^nd all-time
• Home Runs: 36… 3^rd all-time
• RBIs: 147… 3^rd all-time
• Hits: 235…4^th all-time
• Games Played: 243… 6^th all-time
• Career Batting Average: .330… 9^th all-time

After Virginia Tech was eliminated by Georgia on May 21, 2023, in the NCAA Athens Regional, Hokies Head Coach Pete D’Amour said this about his prized player:

“The thing about Jayme is there has not been one player that I’ve ever coached that was more like me than Jayme. She’s like a mini clone of me… when I played and how I coached.”

Check out the video clip of that interview with final thoughts to this season and Jayme’s career by both coach and player:

Less than two weeks after this tough season–and career-ending–loss, Jayme wrote a beautiful article on the Hokie’s athletic page [full article printed below] detailing a foundation that she and her family had recently created.

The proactive project, called the Peace Rider Foundation, was launched to honor her brother’s memory and also to make efforts to promote education and safety tips involving motorcycle riding and to help financially and emotionally others in their region who will go through the heart-breaking loss of a loved one as did the Bailey family.

The athlete’s father, Todd Bailey, explained on the foundation’s Facebook page the reason Peace Rider was started:

My son left this earth on July 20, 2022, from injuries received in a motorcycle accident. We have created Peace Rider to help support motorcycle victim’s families in West Virginia and Ohio.

Mission Statement: To bring motorcycle safety awareness to its peak in an effort to keep crashes, injuries and fatalities to a minimum.

Peace Rider is a nonprofit organization looking to support motorcycle victims’ families. When a biker goes down, our Board Members will seek out the families of victims and send them a $500 check to help with their expense. We will raise funds throughout the year with a theme of motorcycle safety and awareness.

Losing a loved one is hard, but remembering them is not. Peace Rider was created as a way to bring Tanner’s life and death full circle. He will be memorialized each year while raising money for a good cause.

Extra Inning Softball would like to thank Bree Williams, the Associate Director of Creative Communications for Virginia Tech Athletics, for giving us permission to run Jayme’s post while providing the photos included in this article.

Also, special thanks go out to Chip Grubb, a Hokies supporter who also provided information and the video clip used in this article.

Here, as beautifully written by Jayme, is the original article published on her school’s website and we encourage all who read her story to support this wonderful cause…

— Brentt Eads, Extra Inning Softball

*****

The Peace Rider Foundation

Originally published May 31, 2023 on HokieSports.com.

July 20, 2022.

A date that will be forever ingrained in my and my family’s hearts.

It’s the day I lost my brother, Tanner, when he was just 26 years old.

They say time heals all wounds, but I’ll never be able to forget that haunting day when I got the call from my dad after I got off work.

When he told me that Tanner died in a motorcycle accident, I broke down immediately.

And once the initial shock and denial passed, my sorrow turned to anger.

Thoughts began to circulate in my head that I couldn’t rid myself of. I had so many questions.

Why did he have to buy that motorcycle in the first place?

As a family, why did we let him buy the motorcycle?

Did we remind him enough of how careful he needed to be when driving?

At a certain point, I had to come to grips with my questions mostly being left unanswered. I found peace in knowing Tanner died doing what he loved and was passionate about, and it was his time to go.

Tanner passed away about a month before I embarked on my fifth and final year at Virginia Tech.

In my final softball season, I decided to make it all about him.

As a family, we recently created the Peace Rider Foundation in his memory. We can’t go back in time and prevent his accident from happening, but what we can do is create awareness to help limit motorcycle accidents and make sure everyone comes home safely to their loved ones.

I grew up in a chaotic household in West Virginia, and I mean that in the best possible way. I have three older brothers who were competitive in everything they did, so it’s probably no wonder that I went on to become a softball player for Virginia Tech.

My three brothers, including Tanner, are all half-brothers, but the half is in the name only. They’ve always been blood to me, and they always will be.

When you lose a brother in such a sudden and life-altering way, that’s not something you can ever imagine happening. You read about these stories and hear about them in the news, but you never think it’ll happen to you and your family.

Until it does.

That’s why I’m so grateful to have such a large and close-knit family because I never would’ve been able to properly process Tanner’s death if it wasn’t for them.

Instead of putting up barriers and grieving on our own, we all came together at my grandma’s house in West Virginia and were there for each other under the same roof.

We leaned on each other to get through this unfathomable circumstance we found ourselves in.

It was during that time that we also discovered the Richard Phillips Down Biker Fund in Florida, which was where Tanner was living and the accident occurred.

For the funeral, in lieu of flowers, we asked for donations to be sent to that foundation, which ultimately gave us the idea to start the Peace Rider Foundation.

Even in our darkest hour, we were determined for something good to come out of this tragedy and ensure Tanner’s legacy would live on.

“As I hang up my Virginia Tech helmet for good at the conclusion of the season, I’ll find a new place to put the picture. And wherever that may be, I know he will be watching over me.”

The life of a student-athlete is hectic to begin with, so once I returned back to campus, it was difficult to focus on my schoolwork and softball when I was still very much in the grieving process.

When I got through the fall semester – thanks to amazing support from my friends and family – I was motivated for the upcoming softball season.

He was always so excited to watch my games. He even came to a few games last season when we were playing down in Florida.

Looking back on it now, I couldn’t be more thankful that he got to see me play as a Hokie.

Tanner was such an integral part of my athletic career, so anytime I’m in the batter’s box or playing in the field, I’m just trying to honor his memory and make him proud.

Tanner’s accident definitely put things in perspective, too.

At the end of the day, softball is just a game.

And as much as this game means to me, life is about so much more.

Beyond the softball field, I know one of my purposes in life is to spread awareness not only during Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month in May, but throughout the entire year.

And I’m so grateful I get to be able to do that through the Peace Rider Foundation.

I’m also pleased that the foundation is based in my home state of West Virginia. With all the mountains, motorsports are a form of leisure for so many people, and I’m confident the Peace Rider Foundation is going to create a safer environment for my friends in the Mountain State.

I think about Tanner every single day, and as much as I desperately wish he was still here, I’m proud of all the lives we’re going to be able to save by honoring his memory.

Before this season started, I put a picture of the two of us in my helmet.

That way, I could look at him every time I came to the plate, and he could watch over me and have the best seat in the house.

As I hang up my VT helmet for good at the conclusion of the season, I’ll find a new place to put the picture.

And wherever that may be, I know he will be watching over me.

— Jayme Bailey