Kraig Andre Diggs Memorial Scholarship keeps a son's legacy alive

As a world welterweight champion in the 1990s, Kip Diggs was known for his elusive style and the ability to slip punches from many of the most formidable fighters of his era. But the ex-boxer from Hyannis suffered his most devastating blows outside the ring at the hands of two impaired drivers that nearly destroyed his family decades apart.

Diggs was just 12 years old when his older brother Kraig, 19, was killed by a drunken driver while driving Kip home from hockey practice in 1978.

An accident like that is tragedy enough for any family, but Diggs and his loved ones would be forced to endure even more pain.

In 2016, Kip's son Kraig, 20, his deceased brother's namesake, was killed along with his cousin and two friends when a woman driving the wrong way with her headlights turned off on Interstate 495 in Middleboro slammed into Kraig Diggs' Mercury Sable, engulfing it in flames.

Kraig Diggs and the other victims, his cousin 19-year-old Jordan Galvin-Jutras, 19-year-old Jordan Fisher and 18-year-old Corey Licata of New York, were traveling back to college at the time.

Diggs, Galvin-Jutras and Fisher had all grown up on Cape Cod, where they attended high school and played sports. The deadly crash tore into the fabric of the community but also brought it closer as the outpouring of love helped sustain the families during the darkest of times.

"Our friends and even strangers were truly amazing," says Kip Diggs. "Their love and support reflected the way our boys felt about each other and the place they called home."

Now Diggs and Kraig's mother, Carmen DeBarros, are keeping their son's legacy alive through a scholarship fund for college-bound students from the Cape. The Kraig Andre Diggs Memorial Scholarship will award two $1,500 scholarships this year to students from Barnstable High School, where Kraig graduated in 2015, plus a $500 scholarship to selected students at other public high schools across the Cape.

The parents raised $35,000 last year through a dodgeball and cornhole tournament, Kraig's two favorite games, held at Barnstable High School.

The scholarship deadline is May 31, and Diggs tells me applications are pouring in.

"We want to help other students pursue their dreams," Diggs said. "Our Kraig and the other boys had their whole lives ahead of them, and they were working to achieve their goals."

Spring is always bittersweet for Diggs as he remembers a more innocent time when Kraig was trying on tuxedos for his senior prom and beaming with pride when opening his college acceptance letter.

"He told me, 'Dad, I'm gonna make you proud," Diggs remembers. "I hope he knows just how proud of him I truly am."