As the Grant High School baseball team plays in their spring 2026 season, many spectators may wonder about the number five painted on the back of the dugout.
On Jan. 29, 2021, the Grant baseball community was struck with tragedy when former player Grant Fisher was killed in a car crash caused by a driver who was under the influence.
Grant Fisher graduated from Grant in 2015, and was a pitcher for Grant’s varsity baseball team. After graduating, he attended Clark College, where he continued his baseball career before getting recruited to play for Western Oregon University (WOU), a Division II school.
He began playing baseball when he was 5 years old, following in the footsteps of his older brother, Alex Fisher. “We were only two years apart, and so we did a lot of stuff together all the time growing up,” Alex Fisher says. “We did the same sports, same activities and had the same interests, had shared friends … We lived in the same bedroom our whole life together, so about as close as you can be in that way.”
In every community he was a part of, Grant Fisher was a beacon of friendship and kindness. “If you’ve heard any … other people talk about him, they would say he was their best friend, and always available to them,” says Laura Fisher, his mother. “He was just … the most sweet person you would have met.”
Laura Fisher recalls a phone call she received from him when he was in college, telling her about how he befriended a fellow student who was feeling homesick and lonely. “He just saw everybody,” she says. “He saw people’s needs.”
His coach at Clark College, Mark Magdaleno, remembers his time with Grant Fisher fondly. “Playing for me is a tough thing,” Magdaleno says, noting that Grant Fisher maintained his “sense of humor” the whole time. “I don’t have one negative thing I can remember about Fish.” He describes Grant Fisher as a leader who was always respectful and courteous.
While in college at WOU, he started his relationship with his soon-to-be wife, Caitlin Fisher. They met on Tinder, and soon began a relationships she describes as being like a movie: “We knew we were the ones for each other from the moment we met,” she writes. “From road trips where we would sing together and have the best time, to going to church together, to dates at the nickel arcade, whatever we were doing, we were smiling and laughing together.”
Although he was offered the opportunity to sign up for the Major League Baseball draft, he decided to stay in Oregon, finish his degree and pursue his relationship with Caitlin Fisher. They married in June 2018, after a year of dating and right after Grant Fisher completed his junior year of college. Laura Fisher recalls being hesitant about the speed of the relationship at the time, but is thankful that she came around to it. “We fought the battle for a while and then we gave in,” she says. “And we’re glad we did, because he had a short life (after) that,” she says.
On Sept. 28, 2020, the couple welcomed their daughter, Ellagrace Fisher. Four months later, on Jan. 29, 2021, Grant Fisher was killed in a car crash on his way to work.
Laura Fisher saw a story about the car crash on the news right after it happened. “In my brain, Highway 26 is Hillsboro 26, not Mount Hood 26,” she says. “I didn’t think anything of it.”
Alex Fisher received the news first, and then reached out to his parents to tell them they needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible. “We didn’t know anything at that point,” he says. “They don’t give you details over the phone.”
Caitlin Fisher called her parents for a ride, knowing she wouldn’t be able to drive herself. She recalls falling to the floor sobbing when she reached the hospital. “I couldn’t believe he was gone,” she writes. “I just sat there, in shock, thanking God for Grant’s life and who he was and praying for a miracle.”
Laura Fisher connected the dots on the way to the hospital at Oregon Health and Science University. “As we’re driving up I-5 to get to Oregon Health, I pull up my phone and I look at the KPTV 12, and it’s already on the phone before I got to the hospital — says the driver has been pronounced deceased,” she says.
The rest of Laura Fisher’s day was spent on phone calls, delivering the worst news of her life. “It’s unfathomable,” she says. “You sit there and you’re just numb.” Caitlin Fisher felt similarly, writing that the day was like “living a nightmare.”
Trever Lee, the driver who caused the accident, was under the influence of several intoxicants at the time of the crash, and had previously been accused of many offenses related to unlawful driving, including a charge of driving while under the influence of intoxicants.
Lee received an eight-year prison sentence, which will be over in three years. “How it happened to this day angers me,” Magdaleno says. “The sentence that was given to the man who killed Fish angers me.”
Grant Fisher’s legacy has carried on through the continued work of his family and friends. Clark College and WOU retired his baseball jersey numbers — 27 and 29, respectively. Laura Fisher eventually hopes to start a foundation in his name in order to share his story. She wishes that schools had better education surrounding driving under the influence. “There’s a lack of awareness of what that does to people and how it affects people’s lives,” she says. “Students don’t realize, and adults don’t realize, that they shouldn’t be driving. They shouldn’t be behind the wheel.”
Driving while under the influence of many kinds of drugs impairs reaction time, judgement skills and overall awareness, making the likelihood of accidents much higher. According to the Governors Highway Safety Association, around 44% of drivers in fatal car crashes tested positive for one or more drugs. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that in the U.S. alone, about 34 people are killed each day in car accidents caused by drunk drivers — one person every 42 minutes, on average. The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia found while teenagers were less likely to drive while impaired than older age groups, their crash rate is much higher than adults when they do, even when their blood alcohol level is lower. Arranging a ride or having a designated driver can save lives, particularly for teenagers.
Laura Fisher is immensely grateful for the support of the Grant community as she and her family have gone through the grieving process. Friends brought over meals, formed traditions to honor him and raised over $100,000 to help Caitlin Fisher build a house for her and her daughter.
According to Laura Fisher, Grant’s varsity baseball head coach Matt Kabza honors Grant Fisher by chanting “five-on-five” at the end of team huddles. Magdaleno does 127 pushups every week day “because there’s always going to be only one number 27,” he says. “He’s always in my mind. But most importantly, he’s always in my heart.” At the time of his death, Grant Fisher was working on a construction project, hanging street signs in Gresham. Caitlin Fisher points out these signs to their daughter.
Despite the years that have passed, Grant Fisher’s legacy has been carried on through those he had an impact on — a list that extends to all who knew him. He lives on in admiration and love. “As a parent and as a coach, you want to help influence young men so that they become better people than you are,” says Magdaleno. “And there is no doubt in my mind that Grant Fisher became a better man than I’ll ever be.”
Caitlin Fisher hopes that Grant Fisher is “remembered as the fun, kind, gentle, loving person that he was, the person who included everyone and saw the best in people,” she writes. “My prayer is that (others) see the man that he was and it encourages them to be the best version of themselves just as he was and treat others the way he treated people, because now more than ever we need people like him.”
Laura Fisher hopes that her son’s story can help prevent future accidents by discouraging others from driving under the influence. “It gives me joy when people remember him,” she says. She writes that “if sharing Grant’s story prevents even one person from making that choice, his legacy is further honored.”
