With an infectious smile, Brian Shaw left a lasting impression on everyone
They called it the "annual putt-putt game," a group of three close friends getting together each summer for a bonding, yet competitive game of miniature golf.
The winner at Stoney Creek Golf Center in Plum always signed a golf ball as a trophy. The loser always bought the others milkshakes, or tacos, or beers.
This past summer marked the first time in five years that Brian Shaw couldn't catch up with his buddies, Merle Bouchat and Tyler Singer, for the mini golf game. His new job as an officer with the New Kensington Police Department kept him too busy.
"He was the new guy on the force, so we completely understood that he couldn't make it," Singer said. "He really loved that job."
Singer, now a doctoral student at Kent State University in Ohio, returned to the Alle-Kiski Valley region Sunday to reunite with Bouchat and mourn the loss of their charismatic friend with the vibrant personality. Shaw, 25, who joined the New Kensington Police Department in June, was shot and killed Friday during an attempted traffic stop in New Kensington.
The true bond between the three friends began with their love of sports. They were all football kickers at their respective high schools: Shaw kicked at Burrell High School; Bouchat at Highlands High School in Natrona Heights and Singer at Freeport Area High School.
They met at an instructional camp for kickers at Highlands run by Bouchat and his father, Jon. Merle Bouchat was a couple of years older and played at Edinboro University.
"We all meshed pretty well, our attitudes and behaviors," Merle Bouchat, 28, said. "Brian was the most outgoing for sure. He loved to laugh, and he was an extremely loyal friend."
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Shaw still returned each year to volunteer at the kicking camp.
"He had a smile on his face constantly. Without a doubt, he had a great sense of humor. There was never a dull moment," said Jon Bouchat. "The kids looked up to him so much when he came to practice. He'd come and do kickoffs after not kicking a ball for six months, and it would be through the end zone. They were all in awe."
Sunday afternoon, Singer arrived at Merle Bouchat's Tarentum home where they later had dinner. Jon Bouchat also came over.
"We talked about how Brian would always be the one to make everybody laugh," Singer said.
They talked about trips together to Myrtle Beach, S.C. and all the accompanying antics. They all kept waiting for Shaw to walk in and crack a joke.
"We expected him to walk through the front door and start making fun of us," Singer said. "That was Brian. If someone was down, he had something witty to say and made everybody loosen up."
When Singer was a junior kicker at Freeport, he and Shaw faced each other in a football game. Shaw, at Burrell, nailed two field goals. Singer matched him, but his second kick was the game winner.
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Years of friendly trash talk followed, and Shaw always countered that he was first-team all-conference that year in high school and Singer, who went on to play at the University of Mount Union in Ohio, was second team.
Singer, 25, originally from Sarver, headed back to Kent State Sunday night with a lonely, empty feeling. He called his girlfriend and cried.
"It was such a long drive home," he said, adding he planned to return for Shaw's funeral Wednesday.
A few years ago, Shaw's friends said he was in a serious car crash in Lower Burrell that resulted in a head injury. For the first time, Shaw's demeanor changed as his hair grew back over a large scar on his head.
Jon Bouchat, 58, of Natrona Heights is close with Shaw's parents, Stephan and Lisa, and spoke to them daily on the phone in the days after the crash.
"It was really touch and go at the beginning," he said. "But Brian came around and made a 100 percent recovery."
The younger Bouchat, a health and physical education teacher at Knoch High School in Saxonburg, said he and his friends could truly tell Shaw was back to normal when he got the full-time job with the New Kensington Police Department.
"When he got that job, he was so happy," Merle Bouchat said. "He went back to being the old Brian. I hadn't seen him that happy since before the accident."
Shaw was also back in strong physical shape.
"He was a hulk," Merle Bouchat said. "The last time he stopped over, I needed help moving a love seat upstairs from my basement. He just picked it up by himself and carried it up the steps."
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To illustrate Shaw's fierce loyalty to his friends, Merle Bouchat recalled a season-ending injury when he tore a groin muscle during his sophomore year at Edinboro. Coaches there began recruiting Shaw, then a senior at Burrell, to take the position. They offered Shaw a scholarship, Bouchat said.
"He told them to get lost," he said of Shaw. "He said he would never do that to a friend. That's pretty mature for a high school kid, but I never forgot it. He was one of the most loyal people I have ever met."
Shaw wound up becoming a kicker for the Slippery Rock University football team.
"The main thing I want people to know is that he was so willing to give back to the sport and to the kids," Jon Bouchat said. "He volunteered his time every year at my camps."
Not long before the shooting Friday evening, Shaw spoke on the phone with Jon Bouchat, who works as an insurance agent for Nationwide. Shaw had pulled over a woman for a traffic infraction. She didn't have her proof of insurance card, but told Shaw that she was insured by Nationwide. Shaw told her to have Bouchat get in touch with him.
Bouchat called and emailed an image of the woman's insurance card to Shaw.
They chatted for a few minutes.
"We just made small talk," Jon Bouchat said. "I asked him how the job was, things like that."
A few hours later, he got a call that Shaw had been shot dead.
"I said that was impossible," he said. "Brian's dead? I just talked to him."
RELATED: Community remembers fallen New Kensington Officer Brian Shaw
Sunday morning, John Bouchat took another phone call from Shaw's father.
"He said, 'I know you have probably wanted to reach out. I wanted to reach out to you,' " Jon Bouchat said. "He talked about all the time we had spent together. It was the hardest call I've ever taken in my life."
Singer, who is getting a Ph.D. in human physiology, said he left campus to dine with both Bouchats Sunday, searching for closure.
He realized afterward that it wasn't that easy.
"This is still sinking in," Singer said. "I guess I was kind of thinking out here in Ohio that it wasn't really happening. It hurts so much more now, seeing my friends and feeling how much everyone is hurting."
Ben Schmitt is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 412-320-7991, bschmitt@tribweb.com or via Twitter at @Bencschmitt.
