For Michigan State cornerback Josh Butler, it’s tough to imagine how difficult Senior Night could have been. Butler lost both his parents — his father to a heart attack in 2017 and his mother to breast cancer this year — during his college career.
In an event where players are typically joined on the field with their parents, Butler made sure that he wasn’t alone ahead of Saturday’s game against Maryland.
He walked out of the tunnel with his dogs, Roxy and Remi, and shared a hug with Spartans head coach Mark Dantonio before making his way onto the field with his pups.
This was the scene at Spartan Stadium:
Butler’s mother, Ladrida Bagley, died in April after being diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer. He made an 18-hour drive to be by her side when she died.
His parents had split long ago, but now he was the fifth-year cornerback at Michigan State who had lost them both. He was also the man of the family, and it was up to him to organize the funeral, so he chose a pink and white suit for his mom to commemorate the battle she fought. He threw rose petals onto her pink casket and watched it lowered into the ground.
After the game, Butler shared a photo from the night and thanked the Spartan family for the support.
