Former Blue Jay Roy Halladay Dies Doing What He Loved

The news of former Cy Young winner Roy Halladay’s death on November 7th was absolutely crushing to hear for anyone who played with him or knew him. The 40-year old father of Braden and Ryan was the only occupant in his ICON A5 sport aircraft that crashed off the coast of Florida in shallow water.  The Sherrif’s office said they received a 9-11 call saying that a small plane had crashed but there were no distress calls made prior to that.

Icon A5’s are considered light, amphibious airplanes. They can land on water or land, have folding wings and can be transported by trailers.

It was only last month, that Halladay took delivery of his A5 at the company’s headquarters with his wife Dana.

In a statement following the crash, ICON called Halladay a “great advocate and friend” and said the company “will do everything it can to support the accident investigation going forward and we will comment further when more information is available.”  Toronto baseball fans remember Halladay as a 21-year old who started his career with the big club back in 1998 after he was drafted in the 1st round pick of the 1995 draft, 17th overall.

Five years later he chalked up 22-wins and won his first Cy Young award as the top American League pitcher, a honour he received in 2010 while pitching for the National League’s Philadelphia Phillies. His nickname, Doc was coined by Toronto Blue Jays announcer Tom Cheek  and was a reference to Wild West gunslinger “Doc Holliday.”

While a member of the Blue Jays, Halladay and his wife invited children and their families from the Hospital for Children into “Doc’s Box” at the Rogers Centre during Blue Jays games. The remodeling of the suite to be more kid-friendly was documented in an episode of  Design Inc.  As part of Halladay’s contract with the Blue Jays, he also donated $100,000 each year to the Jays Care Foundation. Halladay was also the Jays’ nominee numerous times for the Roberto Clemente Award for his work with underprivileged children. For the same reason, he was also the Blue Jays’ nominee in 2008 for the Players Choice Awards Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award