Your feel good Friday story

[Thrilla]

Well, I'm actually not being sarcastic this time.  This story got my day off to the right start.  It's good to see that amongst inflated egos, national spotlights, and competitiveness, we still have examples of good sportsmanship performed by the young athletes of our country.

Amid the Grieving, a Rare Act of Sportsmanship

Associated Press

The coach never considered any other option.

It didn't matter that his DeKalb, Ill., High School basketball team had ridden a bus two and a half hours to get to Milwaukee, then waited another hour past game time to play. Didn't matter that the game was close, or that this was a chance to beat a big city team.

Something else was on Dave Rohlman's mind when he asked for a volunteer to shoot two free throws awarded his team on a technical foul in the second quarter. His senior captain raised his hand, ready to go to the line as he had many times before.

Only this time it was different.

"You realize you're going to miss them, don't you?" Rohlman said.

Darius McNeal nodded his head. He understood what had to be done.

It was a Saturday night in February, and the Barbs were playing a non-conference game on the road against Milwaukee Madison. It was the third meeting between the two schools, who were developing a friendly rivalry that spanned two states.

The teams planned to get together after the game and share some pizzas and soda. But the game itself almost never took place.

Hours earlier, the mother of Milwaukee Madison senior captain Johntel Franklin died at a local hospital. Carlitha Franklin had been in remission after a five-year fight with cervical cancer, but she began to hemorrhage that morning while Johntel was taking his college ACT exam.

Her son and several of his teammates were at the hospital late that afternoon when the decision was made to turn off the life-support system. Carlitha Franklin was just 39.

"She was young and they were real close," said Milwaukee coach Aaron Womack Jr., who was at the hospital. "He was very distraught and it happened so suddenly he didn't have time to grieve."

Womack was going to cancel the game, but Franklin told him he wanted the team to play. And play they did, even though the game started late and Milwaukee Madison dressed only eight players.

Early in the second quarter, Womack saw someone out of the corner of his eye. It was Franklin, who came there directly from the hospital to root his teammates on.

The Knights had possession, so Womack called a time out. His players went over and hugged their grieving teammate. Fans came out of the stands to do the same.

"We got back to playing the game and I asked if he wanted to come and sit on the bench," Womack said during a telephone interview.

"No," Franklin replied. "I want to play."

There was just one problem. Since Franklin wasn't on the pre-game roster, putting him in meant drawing a technical foul that would give DeKalb two free throws.

Though it was a tight game, Womack was willing to give up the two points. It was more important to help his senior guard and co-captain deal with his grief by playing.

Over on the other bench, though, Rohlman wasn't so willing to take them. He told the referees to forget the technical and just let Franklin play.

"I could hear them arguing for five to seven minutes, saying, `We're not taking it, we're not taking it," Womack said. "The refs told them, no, that's the rule. You have to take them."

That's when Rohlman asked for volunteers, and McNeal's hand went up.

He went alone to the free throw line, dribbled the ball a couple of times, and looked at the rim.

His first attempt went about two feet, bouncing a couple of times as it rolled toward the end line. The second barely left his hand.

It didn't take long for the Milwaukee players to figure out what was going on.

They stood and turned toward the DeKalb bench and started applauding the gesture of sportsmanship. Soon, so did everybody in the stands.

"I did it for the guy who lost his mom," McNeal told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "It was the right thing to do."

Franklin would go on to score 10 points, and Milwaukee Madison broke open the game in the second half to win 62-47. Afterward, the teams went out for pizza, two players from each team sharing each pie.
Franklin stopped by briefly, thankful that his team was there for him.

"I got kind of emotional but it helped a lot just to play," he said. "I felt like I had a lot of support out there."

Carlitha Franklin's funeral was last Friday, and the school turned out for her and her son. Cheerleaders came in uniform, and everyone from the principal and teachers to Johntel's classmates were there.

"Even the cooks from school showed up," Womack said. "It lets you know what kind of kid he is."

Basketball is a second sport for the 18-year-old Franklin, who says he has had some scholarship nibbles and plans to play football in college. He just has a few games left for the Knights, who are 6-11 and got beat 71-36 Tuesday night by Milwaukee Hamilton.

It hasn't been the greatest season for the team, but they have stuck together through a lot of adversity.

"We maybe don't have the best basketball players in the world but they go to class and take care of business," Womack said. "We have a losing record but there's life lessons going on, good ones."

None so good, though, as the moment a team and a player decided there were more important things than winning and having good stats.

Yes, DeKalb would go home with a loss. But it was a trip they'll never forget.

"This is something our kids will hold for a lifetime," Rohlman said. "They may not remember our record 20 years from now, but they'll remember what happened in that gym that night."

Johntel Franklin scored 10 points in the game following the loss of his mother.

http://highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=914609

[Snaggletiger]

That's pretty cool right there. 

[Tiger Wench]

Despite my bitchy exterior... I actually got a little misty eyed.  What a great story.

I saw something like that happen once.  I was at a high school basketball game and the home team had a blowout lead.  It was the last game of the season.  One of the home team players was a senior, and had a learning disability.  He was a lousy basketball player, but he came, practiced, and dressed for every game. 

So this night, in the fourth quarter, the coach decided to put him in.  Everyone knew him, and started cheering for him.  All the guys on his team passed him the ball at every opportunity, and he took shot after shot, and missed them all.  Time was winding down, and he still hadn't made a basket.  The crowd was cheering "Shoot, Bill, Shoot!!"  He took another shot, and a guy from the the opposing team rebounded. 

Then the opposing player passed the ball directly to Bill.  Another shot, another miss, another opposing team rebound, and another pass directly to Bill. 

This time, he shot and made it.

Both benches jumped up and cheered, and the crowd on both sides went wild.  What a show of sportsmanship.

Awesome.  I will never ever forget that.

[Tarheel]

Great story, indeed.

Thanks for posting it, Thrilla.

[Snaggletiger]

I had something very similar happen myself.  I was pitching for Jeff Davis H.S. and the team we were playing had this guy on the team that I believe was Downs Syndrome.  They let him dress out and be bat boy but of course, he never played.  We were killing this team like 15-0 and in the last inning, they put him on deck to the delight of the fans.  When he got up to bat, I lobbed him a couple, which he missed badly.

So on the next pitch, I let one fly and smacked the sumbitch right in the face.  Knocked his ass out.

[Tiger Wench]

You are such a humanitarian, Steve.  Way to treat him like a normal kid.

[Saniflush]

You are such a humanitarian, Steve.  Way to treat him like a normal kid.

Hey.  Steve got him to base didn't he?

[lifesapplepie]

I had something very similar happen myself.  I was pitching for Jeff Davis H.S. and the team we were playing had this guy on the team that I believe was Downs Syndrome.  They let him dress out and be bat boy but of course, he never played.  We were killing this team like 15-0 and in the last inning, they put him on deck to the delight of the fans.  When he got up to bat, I lobbed him a couple, which he missed badly.

So on the next pitch, I let one fly and smacked the sumbitch right in the face.  Knocked his ass out.

Jeff Davis in Montgomery?

[Snaggletiger]

The very same.

(I did pitch there but I didn't really bean a retarded kid)

[Saniflush]

I didn't really bean a retarded kid)

What about that time you hit the dugout and it bouced back, beaming you in the head?

That should count.

[Thrilla]

I had something very similar happen myself.  I was pitching for Jeff Davis H.S. and the team we were playing had this guy on the team that I believe was Downs Syndrome.  They let him dress out and be bat boy but of course, he never played.  We were killing this team like 15-0 and in the last inning, they put him on deck to the delight of the fans.  When he got up to bat, I lobbed him a couple, which he missed badly.

So on the next pitch, I let one fly and smacked the sumbitch right in the face.  Knocked his ass out.

That chortle made the co-workers wonder about my sanity.  You are a model sportsman.

[Snaggletiger]

What about that time you hit the dugout and it bouced back, beaming you in the head?

That should count.

Hardee Har Har, Mr. Funny man.  The tests never showed anything conclusive so just keep it up.

[AUTiger1]

That chortle made the co-workers wonder about my sanity.  You are a model sportsman.

Glad I wasn't the only sorry bastard to laugh at that.

[Saniflush]

Hardee Har Har, Mr. Funny man.  The tests never showed anything conclusive so just keep it up.

[lifesapplepie]

The very same.

(I did pitch there but I didn't really bean a retarded kid)

I graduated from JD in '98....My dad was a coach there...

[Snaggletiger]

I grew up on Warrenton Road that runs right behind the track.

Most of the coaches that coached me are probably either dead or in prison now.  I'm just a few years older.

[AUTailgatingRules]

Does this quailify for a feel good BBall story?

[Ogre]

I had something very similar happen myself.  I was pitching for Jeff Davis H.S. and the team we were playing had this guy on the team that I believe was Downs Syndrome.  They let him dress out and be bat boy but of course, he never played.  We were killing this team like 15-0 and in the last inning, they put him on deck to the delight of the fans.  When he got up to bat, I lobbed him a couple, which he missed badly.

So on the next pitch, I let one fly and smacked the sumbitch right in the face.  Knocked his ass out.

I LOL'd for about 5 minutes. 

[Saniflush]

I grew up on Warrenton Road that runs right behind the track.

Most of the coaches that coached me are probably either dead or in prison now.  I'm just a few years older.

Charles Lee is still hanging tough.

[Snaggletiger]

Charles Lee is still hanging tough.

Charles kicked my ass my junior and senior years.  I have some seriously funny Coach Lee stories.