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BEHIND THE STRIPES

The Klemme Family

By Atlanta United FC

September 1^st, 2022

There’s a saying in the Klemme family. When the dad, Adrian, asks his kids, “How do you win?” they know the answer:

Try hard.

The saying applies when they watch Atlanta United games, as they often do. When the team wins, the family cheers along with the rest of the 17s. When the outcome wasn’t as favorable, Owen, the youngest son, would say “Oh well, at least they tried hard.”

Owen was diagnosed with neuroblastoma at just the age of three, and he had a special relationship with Atlanta United as one of the club’s Conquer Kids. He was a beloved member of the team, a shining reminder of how to face hardship: with a beaming smile. After facing years of treatment, he passed away in 2021 with his family by his side.

Through his journey, Owen lived out his family values. He tried hard – and did so much more. He loved, he smiled, he made a lot of new friends along the way. And now, he’s impacting other families and giving them a chance to live out the experiences he had with Atlanta United during his final years.

Owen was introduced to Atlanta United in 2019 when he was welcomed to Atlanta United’s Training Ground for a VIP Day. He was just three and a half years old at the time and was undergoing treatment for neuroblastoma, a cancer that develops from immature cells found in several areas throughout the body.

The day he visited the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Training Ground, he fell in love with the club. His parents say that he fell in love with the players first because of the compassion they showed him that day. They greeted him out on the pitch and played games with him. The players embraced him, and Owen quickly became one of their own.

“Adrian and Owen came home, and Adrian just raved about the connections that Owen had made with the players on the team and what an amazing experience it had been,” Owen’s mom, Kate, said. “And then the Atlanta United group just kind of kept opening their arms to us over and over.”

Owen’s obsession with soccer soon followed. He got to know the game, and his relationship to Atlanta United grew. Owen had a jersey that the players autographed that he wore so often the signatures began to wash off. He was invited to be Honorary Captain for the match against Minnesota United on May 29, 2019. Going onto the field at Mercedes-Benz Stadium for an MLS match in front of a large crowd might be overwhelming for a small toddler – but Owen was in a class of his own.

“He walked out and he was just beaming,” Kate, said. “He wasn't shy. He wasn't afraid. He was just beaming.”

After serving as Honorary Captain, which entails walking out onto the pitch with the players for the National Anthem and pre-match traditions, Owen joined his family to watch the game. The family said they were given the royal treatment and watched from Arthur Blank's main suite at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Owen was able to meet the club owner and chairman Arthur Blank and enjoy all the splendors that go with the owner's suite. Even the corndogs were made special for the occasion. They were named “Owen’s Favorite Corndogs” because he loved corndogs so much.

After the final whistle, the Klemme family joined the players on the field. Owen took the hand of Julian Gressel, who played for Atlanta United from 2017-19 and is now with the Vancouver Whitecaps. Together, the two of them walked around the field. The Atlanta United photography team captured the moment. Both his parents remember fondly, and the image is one of their favorites. Owen’s mom, Kate, has it as a screensaver on her computer.

“It’s interesting because I can see in him this confidence, but I feel like the confidence was rooted in the relationship and the trust he had in that player who was willing to stand with him, and he just walked out and was just in his own element,” she said. “It really was amazing to watch him just light up. And people were really drawn to him. I think they saw something special in him and connected with him in a way a lot of us don’t get to connect at all.”

“Owen loved adventure,” Adrian said. “He loved adventures, anything new. And so, to do things like this, come to the facility, go to the games and interact with the staff and the players and even have some of them in our home, it was always an adventure for him. It was something new to experience and he just lived for those moments.”

There’s a reason why Owen had such a monumental impact on Atlanta United and why players such as Brad Guzan, Josef Martínez, Miles Robinson and Emerson Hyndman were drawn to him. Owen carried an optimism about him that uniquely prepared and equipped him for the battle he went through. He had magnetic personality – and he wasn’t afraid of anything.

“His personality was larger than his life,” his dad, Adrian, said. “And I think the thing that was really fun to watch was when he’d interact with these players and the staff, he could hold his own. He could hold his own and he was just a gregarious and social creature. And it was always fun to watch him. I don't know if it's through its disease or just who he was. He was a special, special soul.”

Hanging out with Atlanta United players became a normal part of Owen’s life. When there were hospital visits, Owen would be in his hospital robe playing Legos accompanied by some of biggest stars in MLS. To Owen, that was normal. When he visited training in Marietta, players like Michael Parkhurst and Jeff Larentowicz would talk with Owen to learn about his day. Even after he left the club, Gressel wore a “Team Owen” shirt into the locker room while he was on the roster at D.C. United.

Owen impacted more than the team, however, he also had a special bond with the Atlanta United staff. When Owen visited the facility, the staff made it a special experience for him. Thomas Videki, the facilities manager, allowed Owen to use “The Force” from Star Wars to change the lights in the locker room. The team chef, Steve Yearwood, made Owen custom pancakes with blueberries. For lunch, Owen and his family sat at a VIP table on the cafeteria balcony. The digital team gave Owen so many scarves, he looked like he was ready for a blizzard.

“It adds a human element, right?” Adrian said. “These players who are the face of the organization, right they get so much attention and visibility with the community for their level of involvement with not only the United & Conquer Cancer month but just outside of that. And another thing is, it adds a human element to this that we’re all just people. We all have our own challenges and struggles and it's a great way for them and the families to connect with one another.”

“The individuals we get to see every time we come back to Atlanta United are many individuals who have seen us through Owen’s entire journey,” Kate said. “They were with us when he was diagnosed or shortly after diagnosis. And every time we see this group, it's a celebration. Even after Owen’s passing, we still get to celebrate him with people who knew and adored him just like we adore him… we get to continuously celebrate Owen as a collective."

Owen’s family was there by his side, through the good moments and the difficult ones. Going through pediatric cancer puts an unbelievably heavy burden on the family. There are doctor’s appointments, hospital visits, hospice nurses, chemotherapy treatments. The patient has many needs and understandably receives so much of the attention and focus. Most of the family conversations are about the illness. Often, the family members who get lost in the mix are the siblings.

Aurora Day Camp is a non-profit organization in Atlanta, Ga. that brings the simple pleasures to children with cancer and their families. It’s an organization the Klemmes participate in because the day camp opens up its activities to the whole family – siblings of patients with pediatric cancer can attend and participate also. While dealing with cancer can bring loneliness and isolation, the Day Camp creates an environment of joy and laughter. It allowed the Klemme family to make memories as a whole family.

“To make them feel a part of it because they're a part of the bad stuff that happens at home and when we were going through it, these kids were largely single parented for a long, long time,” Adrian said. “And for them to feel like they can not only just have to endure the bad stuff that they get included in fun stuff is important.”

Owen made lasting memories with both of his older siblings, London and Henry. To London, her little brother was the sweetest snuggler. One time, Owen ran to his parents’ rooms because of a thunderstorm. London was awake and heard him in the hallway. She invited Owen into her bedroom to snuggle and took care of him until the storm passed.

Another memory was from when Owen was in hospice during the later months of his life. The nurses would come to visit and check on him when he was well. One time, a hospice came by the house – but Owen wasn’t home. He and Henry were climbing a tree in the cul-de-sac.

“The hospice nurse was like ‘You don't see hospice patients climbing trees,’” Kate said. “And here these kids are just running around the neighborhood. The weight of his disease didn't always show, even though his disease burden heavy.”

Through the relationship he and his family built with Atlanta United, Owen’s legacy will live on. To honor Owen, Atlanta United’s Conquer Kid program was renamed the Owen Klemme Conquer Kids (OKCK). Starting in 2021, the Conquer Kids will be selected by Aurora Day Camp, bringing together the two organizations that meant so much to Owen.

This year, the Conquer Kids were invited by Atlanta United on August 24 for the Owen Klemme Training Ground Experience. Participants got a tour through the facility, including the locker rooms, fields and training rooms. Then, they were invited to watch the first team training and have lunch on campus, similar to the special experience Owen had when he visited.

The Conquer Kids will also live out Owen’s experience of attending an Atlanta United game in-person. The club’s annual Unite & Conquer Cancer match will be September 10 when Atlanta United hosts Toronto FC at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

The Klemme family will continue to be involved in the program. They attended this year’s activity at the Training Ground even though it was a weighty day – August 24 was Owen’s birthday. The family also was selected to debut the MLS Kick Childhood Cancer pre-match tops for Atlanta United. The four Klemmes visited the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Training Ground to tell Owen’s story and get their pictures taken in the shirts. The family is featured in all the photos and marketing materials promoting the top for Atlanta United.

Through the Conquer Kids program, the Klemmes hope that other families will be allowed to experience what they did: moments of joy and rest during one of the most difficult times of their lives.

“It was genuinely magical for us, and it was for the whole family,” Kate said. “Owen’s events especially, as he got to know the players and have those experiences, they became magical events. And I just hope these other kids and these other families that they get to experience a little bit of that awe-inspiring kind of magic that we got to experience. There's a lot of routine for cancer families and a lot of it is hard. And so to break up the monotony of the independent trauma of the treatment with something like this, it just provides respite. So I hope that many families get a respite from what they’re going through.”