A black belt signed by martial arts star Chuck Norris will be auctioned to benefit the foundation of a Martin County teen killed in a July plane crash.

Fifteen-year-old Tyler McLellan had volunteered to fly with family friend Patty Snyder, 49, to Tampa where she was headed for cancer treatments. But the two and the pilot of the small plane died in the July 17 crash during takeoff from Vandenberg Airport east of Tampa.

McLellan, who would have been a sophomore at Martin County High School this year, played center on the junior varsity football team last year. In his memory, his family created a foundation to help low-income kids pay for items needed to participate in youth sports groups.

Kevin McLellan, the teen’s father and martial arts instructor for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Wellington, reached out to his contacts to find something to auction off as way to collect money for his son’s foundation.

The signed belt is displayed on a plaque that also includes a photo of the actor. It will be sold in an email auction with the starting bid set at $500, according to a news release sent out by Kevin McLellan. The auction is set to start Saturday and run 10 days.

For more information on the auction or the Tyler McLellan Foundation, call 561-740-8272 or email tyler-mclellan-foundation@comcast.net.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 31st, 2008 at 12:47 pm and is filed under Martin County, Schools. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.