St. Pete apparel designer honors memory of Rays' late broadcaster

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - A lifelong Tampa Bay Rays fan and apparel designer is combining his passions to honor the late Rays radio broadcaster Dave Wills.

"Everyone loves t-shirts," Matt Shapiro says. "Every sports fan you know will buy a new shirt for every season."

This year, however, Shapiro is doing some of his finest work.

When Shapiro, who owns 1771 Designs, heard about the passing of longtime Rays radio broadcaster Dave Wills, the St. Pete native wanted to honor the voice he grew up listening to.

"I listened to Dave from 2005 and on," Matt recalls. "When suddenly he passed, I knew I had to do something."

With the Wills family's blessing, Matt created a shirt for charity using one of Dave's most iconic calls printed on the front.

"He brought us so many memories from 2008 on," said Matt. "He impacted the Rays community in so many ways."

Now, Shapiro is updating his design with the help of Dave's daughter, Michelle. 

"She kept telling me what she wanted, what her mom wanted and what the family wanted," said Shapiro. 

Only this time, Michelle and Matt decided not to feature just one of Dave's iconic calls, but all of them.

Inside the outline of home plate on the back of Matt's design, he and Michelle Wills selected phrases Rays fans have come to love over the years.

"I want people to see the shirts and say 'Oh yeah! I remember that call.' Or ‘Gosh, I can hear his voice just reading the shirt,’" said Shapiro.

The point of the shirt, however, isn't to further Matt's business, but to help another while honoring Dave's memory.

That is why all proceeds from the shirt sales will go directly to an organization Dave loved, Buddy Baseball.

"My dad loved it, and my mom and I want to keep it going. It's a great organization," Michelle Wills said.

Last year, Shapiro and the Wills family raised around three thousand dollars for Buddy Baseball through the shirt's sales. This year, they are trying to double that.

It might be a t-shirt printed for a good cause, but it also reminds many of what Dave Wills meant to the community.

"That was my biggest fear: that all of Tampa Bay would forget Dave," said Liz Wills, Dave's widow.

Now, thanks to a few mouse clicks, and some printing presses, Dave Wills' memory continues to live on with every shirt purchased.

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