In Memory: Oxford Golfer Justin Shilling

By Keith Dunlap

When it comes to describing teammate Justin Shilling, members of the Oxford boys golf team don’t hesitate to come up with the right words.

Positive. Upbeat. Not one to complain. 

All that certainly applies to what Shilling was as a golfer, a teammate and person. And it’s clear that as the boys high school golf season gets underway this spring, their team will be missing — yet will be honoring along the way — its biggest supporter. 

“Justin’s best qualities were being positive, easy-going, and enjoying playing golf,” said senior George Pill. “He always had a smile on his face when coach (Chris) Papas had everyone chip with their 8 or 7-iron, which most players struggled doing.”

Oxford senior Benjamin Hepp echoed those sentiments.

“I remember Justin coming out and playing at Oxford Hills, and every time I would see him, he always had a great attitude,” Hepp said. “I could tell other players would gravitate toward him because he had such a great presence to him.” 

As much as players gravitated to Shilling on the golf course, they did the same in the school.

“He was someone you looked forward to seeing in the hallway,” Hepp said. “Sometimes he was doing a video or rehearsing for a Chinese speech, but he always had a big smile and he always tried to include everyone around him.” 

Even though Shilling is no longer with physically with the team after his life was tragically cut short on Dec. 1 following the Nov. 30 tragedy at Oxford High School, the Wildcats are making sure his presence is still felt all spring. 

Oxford head coach Tony Frias said the team has been wearing patches to honor all four students whose lives were lost in the tragedy, including Shilling. 

Players have bags, towels and head covers that will honor Shilling, who also was a captain of the bowling team who was about to enter his senior season. Frias said those items were donated to the team by Kyle Sharpe, who owns Sharpe Golf Customs, and Andy Renshaw, a 1996 graduate of Rochester Adams High School who owns the Winston Collection. 

But that won’t be the only ways the team will honor Shilling’s memory. 

“I will also be creating an award to one of our players that demonstrates the qualities of Justin, which will be the Justin Shilling award,” Frias said. “This will represent the player that has the best leadership qualities, positive attitude and determination.”

Pill said he also plans to honor Shilling in a personal way.

“This year, every golf ball I play will have ‘JS’ on it, so every birdie I get Justin will get it with me,” Pill said. 

The surrounding golf community has already done, and still have more planned, tributes to Shilling’s memory as well. Troy Athens coach Dan Cooper said on April 22 at Oxford’s first league tournament within the Oakland Activities Association — which also included 11 other teams — a moment of silence was held before the tournament started and the day was dedicated to Shilling. 

“He was a really great kid and he was special,” Cooper said about Shilling. “He had a wonderful attitude; he was very positive and he was a positive influence on his teammates and his friends. As a coach of an opposing school, he made a very positive impression on me and I enjoyed being around him.”

It’s fitting that Shilling’s impact has been felt on the links this spring, because it was already felt soon after his passing.

Shilling’s organs were donated to Gift of Life, and hospital staff lined the halls for a walk of honor to clap for Justin as his body was being wheeled to an operating suite. 

Outside the hospital, hundreds of people from the Oxford community gathered to show support during the honor walk, waving to family and hospital staff from underneath an overpass to pay tribute to someone who might save lives because of the organ donation. 

That selflessness and regard for others, to put in golf terms, was par for the course for Shilling every day of his life, according to those that new him best. 

“He cared about everyone on the team,” Pill said. “He was just overwhelmingly positive. It was always fun to play with him on the golf course. I won’t forget that at ‘Oxford Gives Back,’ (an annual community service project event) when most of us were hesitant to start working. But Justin instantly started working and giving back to his community.”