Christian "Crunch" Regulski passed away on Thursday. His struggle with brain cancer is over.
Too often when someone dies from a disease - especially cancer - it is written that they "lost their battle." That wasn't the case with Christian. When an individual can bond people together and make them laugh like he did, the only losses are for those who knew them and those who never got that chance.
The 11 year old Crunch was a regular on the Princeton sidelines over the last year, and the Tigers were undefeated with him on the bench, including the previous weekend's games versus Harvard and Dartmouth.
Watching the way the team and the coaching staff interacted with Christian at Jadwin before, during and after games was heartwarming, heartbreaking and genuinely funny.
After his team's overtime victory against Siena in late November, Kareem Maddox carried Crunch off the floor like a human trophy.
Thinking of the gregarious Regulski chiming in from his perch at Princeton's annual postseason banquet with bona fide disappointment when one of the staff cleaned up their language in the presence of a minor brings a smile to my face - as does this picture of the energetic Crunch with the stoic Lawrence Schuler at Jadwin.
You wouldn't know it by merely looking at it, but the image was captured during an exceptionally tense moment late in the 2010-11 season opener. Mack Darrow - who had never attempted a free throw in college - is about to go to the line with Princeton up two on Rutgers at the end of overtime.
Schuler is anxious.
Crunch is Crunch.
Regulski was first "adopted" by the Tigers in March of last year through the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation, an organization that matches a child who has a pediatric brain tumor with a nearby sports program. He lined up with the team for the national anthem before Princeton defeated Harvard and the Tigers won every one of the many games they played with Crunch by their side.
The players' interactions with Crunch weren't just limited to basketball. Video games were played (with Crunch winning most of them, I'm told). Texts were exchanged. Birthday BBQs were attended.
As head coach Sydney Johnson said to me back in March: “Our team’s connection with Friends of Jaclyn stemmed from our players wanting to connect with people in our community beyond the basketball court...we couldn’t have guessed that Christian and his family would touch us so much. He’s a really good kid, a funny kid and he’s got a ton of courage.”
A visitation for family and friends will be from 6:00 pm ET to 9:00 pm ET on Tuesday at the Saul Colonial Home - 3795 Nottingham Way in Hamilton Square, NJ.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to:
The Robbinsville Lacrosse Association (please mention Crunch)
P.O. Box 491, Windsor, NJ 08691
The Ronald McDonald Camp
3925 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
An obituary can be found in the Trenton Times.
