Joey Slye's face was flushed and dripping with sweat, having just shed a few layers of clothes to cool down despite the chill in the October air last month.

The kicker wasn't practicing with the New England Patriots or even in the weight room at the time, but the pickleball tournament set up between the Patriots Foundation and cancer survivors at the Hockomock Area YMCA's LIVESTRONG program was being taken almost as seriously.

"Part of it is that I'm using my position that I'm in now to help give back to the community, but a lot of times, those visits are me trying to feel like I'm going to see my brother, honestly," Joey said, in reference to the YMCA visit and the occasions he visited local hospitals with the team this season.

"My brother was able to meet a couple of football and basketball players when he was at Saint Jude who came by to spend time with him. I understand how important it was for him to be able to have those moments. Whether it's for a couple minutes or a couple of hours, just donating that time back to them honestly makes it feel like I get to go see AJ for a little bit."

Long before Joey Slye was an NFL kicker, he was a little boy who idolized his older brother. Andrew John Slye, known as AJ to everyone, was just two and a half years older than Joey.

With a father in the United States Army, the Slye family moved all over the country before settling down in Virginia. With no other siblings and a handful of school changes, Joey and AJ found built-in best friends in each other.

And fortunately for Joey, his big brother served as a perfect role model.

"He was someone that I looked up to," Joey said. "Everything I did was essentially trying to meet the expectations that were set before me, by him, or trying to exceed them in any way. My brother succeeded in a lot of different things. He was great in the classroom, he was great on the field in multiple sports, and he was also a leader in the community. For me, my benchmark was to at least do what he was doing. It was hard but also good for me to have a goal to reach to."

The Slye brothers played the same sports and both excelled in the classroom. In the weight room, their relationship reached another level.

When their father would bring AJ to the gym, Joey would get upset that he was too young to tag along. As Joey got older, eventually lifting became something the boys bonded over even more. AJ even went on to Salisbury University in Maryland to study sports medicine. Joey followed a similar route, majoring in human nutrition, food, and exercise at Virginia Tech.

That background has served Joey well in his NFL career, and is an industry he hopes to dive into when his playing days are over, but Joey's biggest draw to lifting is more mental and spiritual than it is physical.

"I got really into the weight room when I was younger," Slye said.

"My brother and I used to go to the gym all the time. When he got sick, the weight room for me was like an oasis to get away from a lot of just the chaos that was going on while my brother was sick. So I spent a lot of time there. It was kind of a place I could also go with my friends. I could contribute back to sports and all that stuff, but it was also just a very good mental blockage for me."

AJ came home from his first semester at Salisbury complaining of neck pain. What was supposed to just be a trip to urgent care resulted in a diagnosis right before the holidays.

For over two years, AJ bravely fought acute myeloid leukemia. He passed away on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2014 at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Though AJ didn't get to see his little brother go on to Virginia Tech or the NFL, Joey credits his influence for shaping his life.

"For a long part of my life I had my head down just kind of following in his footsteps, so once he passed, I had to look up and realized I had to forge my own path," Joey said. "I was lucky enough to play at Virginia Tech and now the NFL, so I feel like the path that he set me on is what got me here."

Finding his own way wasn't easy.

A 2018 NFL undrafted free agent, the journeyman bounced between the New York Giants, Carolina Panthers, Houston Texans, San Francisco 49ers, Washington Commanders, and Jacksonville Jaguars in the last five seasons before winning the starting job with the Patriots in 2024.

In any opportunity he had, never knowing how long it would last, he represented his brother on the NFL's stage through My Cause My Cleats. This year is no exception.

The Slye family's support system in Stafford, Virginia rallied around them during AJ's treatment, and long after that. About a year after AJ's passing, conversation with family friends sparked the idea of starting a foundation to give back to the community that poured into them and keep AJ's legacy alive.

From there the SlyeStrong#6 Foundation was born.

Every year, they host a handful of events and charity drives to benefit hospitals and families trying to navigate their cancer diagnoses, as well as raise money for six $2,000 scholarships. The scholarships are awarded every year to six students in Stafford and four other surrounding towns. Five go to kids who represent themselves as AJ did in sports, the classroom, and the community. The sixth to someone impacted by cancer.

"God gave me my brother to mentor me growing up, and AJ left at a time that was very difficult, but He was able to change my brother's faith while he was going through his fight and inspired my family to get back into our faith – and honestly – inspired a large part of our community in Staford to find their faith as well," Joey said.

Following his Faith, life led Joey to the New England Patriots. He won the starting kicking job after a good training camp and the timing was a huge relief for him and his wife, Brittaney. He and his "middle school crush" had been experiencing difficulties while trying to start their family, but in hindsight, greater forces were at play.

This past February, 10 years to the date of AJ's passing, Brittaney learned she was pregnant.

The timeline would have her due in the fall, just after her husband was already established with his new team in New England. After their daughter was born on Nov. 1, the kicker was awarded the game ball for a win following the Patriots win against the bears.

The new baby girl, Palmer Memphis Slye, was named in tribute to her uncle AJ and his time at St. Jude in Memphis, Tennessee.

"We were trying to get pregnant and having some issues at certain points, so the fact that we found out on that day was just insane," Joey said.

"There was also just the shock of like, are you serious? I couldn't believe that we were pregnant to begin with but to find out on that day was almost eerie. You can question things a lot, but when things like that happen it just restores your faith."