Applauding Sportsmanship

There are still stories in sports that inspire, that rise above who wins or loses, that move your soul because the right thing was done.

Yes, these types of stories are rare and only sprout to the surface of headline news only so often.

But when they do arise, I want to promote those stories. I want to create environments were these stories thrive.

Thanks to two of my board of directors, Jeremy Deering and Scott Reynolds, for bringing a new story to my attention (that’s why you are on my team, good job).

Check out the entire story here: Amid the grieving, a rare act of sportsmanship.

For those who don’t make the jump, I’ll summarize this great story here.

Two high school basketball teams, that had developed a friendly rivalry, were set to play a non-conference game and then gather after the game to have pizza and soda.

Well, the game almost didn’t happen. One of the players from the host team lost his mother to a five-year fight with cervical cancer, just hours before tip-off.

The coach wanted to cancel the game, but the son insisted that they play. The game continued as scheduled, and then to everyone’s surprise, the son arrived straight from the hospital to cheer on his team.

The game stopped. Players and fans came over to embrace him. Coach asked if he wanted to sit on the bench with the team. He said, “No, I want to play.”

The only problem was that he was not on the pre-game roster, thus if he entered the game it would result in a two shot technical for the other team.

The other coach, who knew of the other players situation, rejected the idea of the technical free-throws. But the referees insisted because it was in the rule book.

Coach reluctantly asked for a volunteer. A player stepped forward and the coach said, “You realize you’re going to miss them, don’t you?” The player was in agreement and purposefully missed both free-throws.

It was so obvious that he missed the free-throws that the other team took notice.

They, along with everybody in the stands, stood and turned toward the opposing bench and started applauding the gesture of sportsmanship.

The grieving son went on to score 10 points and his team pulled ahead for the victory, but much more was accomplished that night.

The son said, “I got kind of emotional but it helped a lot just to play. I felt like I had a lot of support out there.”

The free-throw shooter said, “I did it for the guy who lost his mom, it was the right thing to do.”

The opposing coach commented on the evening: “This is something our kids will hold for a lifetime. They may not remember our record 20 years from now, but they’ll remember what happened in that gym that night.”

Well said. This story is a great example of losing well and in keeping a right perspective in athletics and on life.

C.Harv