GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. -- Atlanta Braves bobbleheads stand tall beneath the television in Matt Klug’s bedroom. Other Braves and Georgia Bulldog memorabilia plaster the walls around him. Klug’s smile widens when he talks about his love of Georgia sports, but Chicago has a new, irreplaceable place in his heart - a place his parents helped create before they passed away.
“The first thing I thought when I was getting drafted is how happy my dad would be and how happy he is,” Klug said, “My mom too.”
Jeff and Julie Klug were high school sweethearts married for 36 years before Julie passed away. Matt said his mom was always sick but she constantly supported him.
“I would get home from games and she would have like the window paint written on our front screen door like ‘Good job #33’,” he said.
His dad supported Matt through his own cancer treatment. Jeff Klug came to games and practices whenever he could and he didn’t let people see his sickness.
“He was the toughest person I’ve ever met in my life,” Klug said, “I had people come up to me when he passed away like, ‘I didn’t know your dad was sick.’ That’s how he was.”
Both of his parents passed away while Matt was a student at Brookwood High School. His team and the Brookwood community brought him meals, collected gas cards, and opened their homes according to Titus Martin, Matt’s baseball coach.
“It’s these bonds that really stick out and last a lifetime for these guys. I’m proud of the way our guys handled it. I’m proud of Matt especially,” Martin said.
That pride inspired the coach to nominate Klug for several local and state character-based awards and share Klug’s story with the world. White Sox scout Kevin Burrell read Klug’s story in the Gwinnett Daily Post and made a decision that would go on to change Matt’s life.
“‘We saw your story, we wanted to do something special. You can be in the history books forever.”
“‘Hey Matt this is Kevin Burrell with the Chicago White Sox,’” Klug recalled from his conversation with the scout, “‘We’re going to select you in the 38th round...You can be in the history books forever’.”
His immediate reaction was disbelief. Klug said that the White Sox wanted to do something special for him after everything he’d been through over the past few years. Even though his parents aren’t with him physically, Matt is confident that they are still supporting him.
“I’m just really, you know, hoping to make them proud. And I think I’ve done a good job of that.”
