Sometimes, even in these peewee games, I feel the old competitive feelings start to surface... and I have to fight against them so I don't make a fool of myself. I am not always successful... sometimes I make an ass of myself in spite of myself!
But I heard this story yesterday on Mike and Mike in the morning, and I simply had to pass it on... it is the most wonderful story of sportsmanship I have ever heard:
Johntell Franklin is a 18 year old senior at Milwaukee's Madison High School, a captain on the Basketball team....and very sadly his 39-year old mother passed away from cancer on February 7. It was somewhat unexpected as she had been in remission for 5 years...
His team had a game scheduled for that night. His coach originally intended to cancel the game, but Johntell said "no, I want my team to play... tell them to do their best."
The game was in the 2nd quarter, when Johntell walked into the gym... the coach recalled: "A few seconds after I spotted Johntell, all the people in the stands did, too. They surrounded him. The players, his friends in the stands, the cheerleaders..."
Then came another surprise: Franklin didn't just want to watch. He wanted to play. "I'm a competitor. I can't just sit there and watch," he said.
Womack sent Franklin, a 6-foot-2 forward, into the locker room to suit up. He returned to the cheers of the crowd - including the coaches and players from DeKalb, whose amazing display of fellowship and sportsmanship had just begun.
But Franklin's desire to play created another problem: The referees were required to call a technical foul against Womack for failing to list Franklin into the official scorebook.
but to their everlasting credit, the coach and players on the other team argued that they didn't want the 'T'
"We argued, but the referees said those were the rules, even if there were extenuating circumstances," DeKalb's Coach Rohlman said.
After a 7-minute discussion, 5'11" senior point guard Darius McNeil from DeKalb took matters into his own hands. He took the ball and went to the free throw line to shoot the technical free throws.
...so what he did was roll the ball
- on the floor -
across the end line ...to make it an official shot...
twice
He purposely missed both free throws... didn't even shoot them, just sort of rolled the ball across the end line...
and turned around to find the entire place - including all the Madison players and coaches - standing and applauding the gesture of sportsmanship.
DeKalb won the game 62-47...
and Johntell Franklin matched his season average with 10 points...
Darius McNeil said later "I did it for the guy who lost his mom, it was the right thing to do."
Coach Rohlman said later "I gathered my kids and said, 'Who wants to take these free throws?' and Darius put up his hand. I said, 'You realize you're going to miss, right?' He nodded his head. Darius set up for a regular free throw, but he only shot it two or three feet in front of him," Rohlman continues. "It bounced once or twice and just rolled past the basket."
"Just being in the game was a good feeling," Franklin said. "I knew my Mom would have wanted me to play. She was always proud of me playing basketball."
what a wonderful reminder of what is really important.
Blessings!
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