school sports for the bristol press. >> aaron did track in addition to football he also did basketball. he was described in any sport he played as a man playing with children. >> hernandez's athletic ability was partly genetic, partly parental influence. >> his father was pretty strict. he told me his father used to make him shoot 500 shots sometimes before he went to play with his friends. >> that father/son relationship comes up in jail conversations between sheriff thomas hodgeson and hernandez after his arrest. >> his dad clearly kept him anchored. i saw a closeness with them that i had never seen before. there was something about dennis and aaron, the way they intertwined. it was just -- it was magic in my eyes. >> magic that didn't last, ending when hernandez was just 16 years old. brad mcmillen and andrew rigali were on his basketball team. >> coach walks in and he says dennis has passed away. >> dennis hernandez, aaron's father, his anchor, died unexpectedly after routine