Weeks ago, when Doug Drenth got the phone call that his Charlevoix varsity boys golf team was invited back to this year's Traverse City Junior Golf Association tournament at Arcadia Bluffs, he had to think about it.

His players — four of them in particular — well, they did not. It was, if you will, a gimme.

"It's amazing, the resilience and optimism of kids," Drenth said. "I don't even think there was an ounce of hesitation about going back. As an older person, I would've thought about it more. But, OK, we're going back.

"They just love being together. Just the chance to go back and stay together and eat together and be in one of the cottages together ... as much as I'd love to say winning is the most special thing in a season, I think that their togetherness has become that. And I love to see that, as a coach.

"Their whole life, they will remember those things and those trips as much as anything."

One year ago this week, the Charlevoix boys golf team took what seemed like one of those dream trips, to play one of the top golf resorts in the state. But that dream trip turned into a nightmare, when, on their way to a hotel in splitting up the drive back home to northern Michigan after two days of competition, their team van was struck head-on by a driver in a stolen SUV. All seven golfers in the van and their coach, Drenth, who was driving, were transported to area hospitals, and, miraculously, all of them survived. The driver of the SUV, a 32-year-old man from Cedar who was also suspected of a felonious assault and who had earlier been chased by police, died.

The crash occurred just before 9 p.m. on April 27, 2025, in Joyfield Township in Benzie County, not far from Crystal Mountain resort, where the boys and their coach were scheduled to stay the night before returning home to Charlevoix the next day. The driver of the SUV crossed over the center line on M-115.

Drenth and one of the players, Joe Gaffney, were in the hospital for weeks — Drenth with significant injuries to his left leg and foot, among many other injuries, and Gaffney with extensive damage to his hip, among many other injuries. Both underwent multiple surgeries (and might still need more), followed by months of intense physical therapy. Another player, Maxwell Drenth, Doug's son, suffered a broken arm. And everyone in that van suffered emotionally, not knowing, at least in the immediate wake of the crash, if their coach would live or die, having taken the brunt of the collision after police believe he split-second positioned the van to try and shield his team.

"Emotionally, it was a roller coaster," team member Bryce Boss said.

"It's been a long year," Gaffney said.

"Awful, obviously," Maxwell Drenth said. "It's hard to remember. I just remember being in the hospital not knowing if my dad was going to be OK, or if he was ever going to be the same ever again."

There are certain things the Charlevoix boys golf team is OK talking about, starting with their coach, a man they call "everything," "hero," "winner," "mentor" and "role model." It was brutal watching him go through what he went through, but inspiring watching him get to where he is today, a veteran runner — he also coaches cross country, and last fall saw that team win a state championship — walking again, albeit with a limp.

And they can't say enough about the rallying of the community, particularly the local golf and business community, but also strangers from all over the country, who came together to raise more than $200,000, much of that used to pay for some of the physical and neurological therapy expenses that weren't covered by insurance, such as travel and hotel costs. Drenth and Gaffney both spent weeks in Florida working alongside Mike Barwis, a former strength and conditioning coach with the Detroit Red Wings and Michigan football.

There were "Rayder Strong" signs all throughout Charlevoix — a nod to the high school's mascot — and, one year later, some of them are still standing.

"It meant a lot," team member Landen Whisler said. "The extent of it did catch me by surprise."

There were countless cards and messages and gift baskets and food deliveries — and, of course, there was all the money, collected in a drive led by board members of Charlevoix County Junior Golf, of which Drenth is the executive director, as well as the director of Charlevoix Municipal Golf Course.

Just about anything the community in northwest lower Michigan, just northeast of Traverse City, could do, it did — in the low moments and in the high moments.

There were few higher moments than Dec. 2, when Gaffney, who long had aspirations of playing college basketball, returned to the basketball court for his team's season opener. The team wore "Team Joe" warm-up shirts. Gaffney wore a "Team Doug" warm-up shirt. Gaffney, a guard, was in the starting lineup. Nobody knows just how many people were in the stands at Charlevoix High School that night, but the city has a population of just over 2,000, so that's probably a pretty good starting point. Gaffney hit two 3-pointers and had two rebounds in two quarters. His recovery was supposed to take 24 months, if he ever fully recovered at all.

"A year ago last night was terrible," Aaron Gaffney, Joe's dad, said earlier this week. "But there's been a lot of good that's come out of the last year."

That's what the players want to talk about. They don't like talking about the actual crash, in part because some of them don't remember much, if anything, about it. Doug Drenth doesn't remember anything about it. And, in part, because they don't want to be defined by that. They've spent much of the last year just trying to be kids again, trying to get back to normal — or as normal or the new normal can be.