WINDHAM, Maine — In Windham on Monday, dozens of people could be found playing basketball at the town's outdoor courts. Many of them were wearing shirts that read "Moody for President."
You'd be hard pressed to find another town with the same man's name on so many T-shirts, but as Geoff Grigsby shared, you'd also be hard pressed to find another town with a guy like Pat Moody.
"He's always just opened up his court, his house, his arms to people all the time," said Grigsby, as he was standing on the courts that wouldn't be there without Moody's impact.
Moody spent a lifetime dedicated to improving the community. The Windham youth basketball organization is one of the largest in the state because of him.
Sports were Moody's specialty, but his efforts didn't stop there. When he wasn't coaching basketball, he was likely volunteering somewhere else, or trying to make the roads a safer place through his job at AAA Northern New England.
The names of people he mentored was a list that never stopped growing. "So many people have expressed they believe they can do things because Pat believed they could do it first," Grigsby said.
Many of those people Moody inspired were at the courts Monday to leave Moody one last message after he passed away from cancer on Sunday night.
"Sometimes you don't realize how much of an impact somebody has until they pass, but I think we all knew how much of an impact Pat had on all of our lives," said Erik Bowen, who is good friends with Moody's son, AJ. Bowen said he saw Moody as a second father figure.
Family friends said Moody had been diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer last year, but recovered. However, over the summer the cancer reappeared in his liver with a much more severe prognosis.
Well before he died, those who loved Moody began planning ways to celebrate him and help his memory live on.
On the Sunday before his death, the Windham community dedicated the town's basketball courts to Moody in a surprise ceremony, permanently naming them the Patrick Moody Basketball Courts.
"I'm so thankful that we did this last Sunday, so he could experience it before passing away," Jeffrey Duquette said, one of Moody's best friends.
More than 1,000 people showed up to the ceremony. Another longtime friend, George McCrillis, said they had to bus people in from the high school because there wasn't enough parking. McCrillis believes the turnout was a testament to his leadership.
"If you could put your finger on it, you'd want to bottle it and you'd make a bazillion dollars selling it because it's such a unique quality, just to be that outgoing and loved by so many different people," said McCrillis.
Moody's loved ones might not be able to bottle it, but they can spread out what's left of it, as they already have been doing with the creation of the Pat Moody Foundation. The non-profit will be focused on giving back to the community, especially in areas of youth sports and activities.
"We're gonna make sure that everything he cared about and was working towards continues to be done," Grigsby said.
Every bounce and every basket is another reminder of that work.
Right now proceeds for the Pat Moody Foundation are being collected through a GoFundMe.