Austin Grupp

SUMMIT TWP — A Butler High School graduate who died in a one-vehicle crash Friday will be remembered as a caring person who had a passion for sports, according to his family.

Austin J. Grupp, 21, of Connoquenessing Township was pronounced dead at the scene of a crash on Route 422 eastbound shortly before 2 a.m., Butler County Coroner William Young III said.

Grupp was driving a vehicle that lost control and went airborne, Young said. He was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected. An unidentified passenger in the car was also injured and was taken to a nearby hospital.

An autopsy, done later that day, found blunt force trauma to be the cause of death, Young said.

Grupp, a native of Pittsburgh, was a U.S. Army Military Police officer with the Army reserves and was a full-time student at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, according to his obituary.

He enrolled in the reserves after graduating high school, though he was unsure about whether he would eventually sign up for active duty, his mother Tammy said in an interview.

His family moved to Butler County when he was 5 years old and he attended schools in the Butler district, graduating from the high school in 2014.

He was a caring person who had a lot of friends and was passionate about sports, his mother said.

“When he was younger he would want to help the kids that were challenged. He did that and that gave me a lot of pride as a parent,” she said.

He enrolled at IUP as a business major, but was switching to sports administration. He was staying with his mother and stepfather, Larry, for the winter break at the time of the accident.

Grupp played football at Butler High School and was on the men's rugby team at IUP. He had tried out for the IUP football squad as a freshmen, but did not make the cut, his mother said.

The rugby team, in a statement posted to Facebook Friday, said: “We are absolutely heart broken and saddened by the news today. Today flanker Austin Grupp Gained his Angel wings. Please keep his family and the players in your prayers.”

Visitation for Grupp is scheduled from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday with a funeral service at 11 a.m. Thursday at Boylan Funeral Home on Evans City Road.

State police investigated the crash, though a police report or further information was not available at press time.