Ray Gaddis made his 200th career MLS start when the Philadelphia Union clinched a spot in the MLS Is Back Tournament Knockout Stage, presented by Audi, and players around the league showered him with praise.
One match earlier, when the Union defeated NYCFC, Gaddis came out for the second half a message of praise of his own:
Both Gaddis’ grandmother and grandfather contracted the disease and the Union right back visited them - always from a safe distance - as they struggled to overcome it. His grandfather, James Darty, survived. Aletha Mae did not.
Now James is adjusting to life without his other half, and Gaddis is playing on without someone he describes as one of his pillars of support, a warm and welcoming presence he returned to every time he was in Indianapolis.