The gauge doesn’t exist that can measure the loss of a young person: the devastated potential, the days that should have but will not come, the depth of loved ones’ pain.

Such is the story of Doug Henderson III, but his passing is only part of his story.

The oldest son of Doug and Bev Henderson, the brother of Ashley and Justin, Doug Henderson III was a young man full of life. He played for the Valdosta High Wildcats, and though he injured his knee early in the season, young Doug was still part of the 1992 national championship team. Doug attended the University or Georgia, studying accounting, earning degrees in accounting from UGA and from Valdosta State University. He worked at South Georgia Medical Center, where his mother also works. He studied for his CPA while working.

Then with a life already being well lived and well loved, Doug’s potential for the future changed. He was diagnosed with synovial sarcoma, a rare type of cancer.

And that’s when Doug’s life began teaching, by example, others how to better live their lives. He did not complain about the diagnosis. Instead, he underwent the treatments and endured the pain with a positive outlook. He faced his cancer diagnosis as a challenge that he planned to overcome. His spirit did not quit, though, eventually, his body did.

Eighteen months after his diagnosis, on Sept. 6, 2003, Doug Henderson III died. He was only 27 years old.

But the spirit of his life, the essence of that lost potential, lives on in the Doug Henderson III Memorial Golf Tournament scheduled for Thursday afternoon at the Valdosta Country Club.

The tournament and the year-round Doug Henderson III Memorial Fund have already awarded $1,000 scholarships to 24 area students, sent $2,000 to the Boys & Girls Club building campaign, given approximately $9,000 to the local Partnership Cancer Fund, helped the Sheriff’s Boys Ranch, and donated $75,000 to Langdale Hospice House.

Doug Henderson III was taken away from his family and the community far too young and far too soon, but the example of the life he lived, this example lives in the good works his potential inspires and the lives his memory helps.