A good example of sportsmanship...
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freeagent
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The same story, from a local paper ...
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/20 … 411477.txt
Racine Journal Times
A night when everybody won
Wednesday, February 18, 2009 8:21 PM CST
It’s just a sport.
Just a ball and a hoop and some students playing.
It’s not like it matters in the course of things.For many people sports are just that. A diversion, some entertainment couched in intense competition. For participants it can be that, too, with a dose of health and conditioning thrown in for good effect.
But that doesn’t quite do justice to what happened in a recent high school basketball game between the Milwaukee Madison Knights and the DeKalb (Ill.) Barbs on Feb. 7.
As recounted by Madison High basketball coach Aaron Womack in a letter to the editor in the DeKalb Daily Chronicle, the mother of one of the his players had died that day after a lengthy battle with cervical cancer. Womack had gone to the hospital to comfort the player and upon returning to the gym, the DeKalb team was warming up. He told the DeKalb coaches what had happened and DeKalb head coach Dave Rohlman said the Knights should take their time. When Womack brought his team to the floor, the DeKalb coaches observed that Womack’s team looked like they might be too emotional to play — and offered to call off the game considering what had happened. Womack said no, that DeKalb had traveled a long way to play and the game should go on.
And it did. In the second quarter, Knights player Johntell Franklin, the player whose mother had died, entered the gym. He was surrounded by players, fans and cheerleaders in a show of support, according to a report in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. And then Franklin told his coach that he had come to play, not just to watch his team. The coach sent him to suit up and he was greeted by cheers when he reappeared. Not just from the stands, but from the DeKalb players as well.
Womack knew that he hadn’t entered Frankin in the scorebook since he had not expected him to play, and, under the rules, that meant the Knights would have to be assessed a technical foul. The referees informed the DeKalb team and, in a night that had already had it’s share of unusual twists, DeKalb’s coaches began arguing with the refs trying to refuse the two free throw penalty ... to no avail. So DeKalb coach Rohlman sent one of his players to the free-throw line.
When coach Womack looked up he saw the ball rolling out of bounds. The free throw shooter had tossed it a couple of feet and let it roll across the floor. When the second shot followed the same path as the first, according to news reports, the gym erupted as everyone — fans and players alike — stood and applauded.
The game, which had been close up to that point, ended with the Knights winning 62-47.
But the fans, the players and the coaches knew the real score.
The winners were sportsmanship, courage, empathy and integrity. They were all over the floor that Saturday night. Just a sport? Yes, it is. But sometimes, the lessons of sports are the ones that are truly valued in life.
As coach Womack put it in his letter to the readers of the Daily Chronicle: “If I am unable to coach my own son when he becomes of age, I’m moving to DeKalb to enroll him as a Barb.” They teach more than basketball on the courts in DeKalb.
http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/20 … 411477.txt
Racine Journal Times
A night when everybody won
Wednesday, February 18, 2009 8:21 PM CST
It’s just a sport.
Just a ball and a hoop and some students playing.
It’s not like it matters in the course of things.For many people sports are just that. A diversion, some entertainment couched in intense competition. For participants it can be that, too, with a dose of health and conditioning thrown in for good effect.
But that doesn’t quite do justice to what happened in a recent high school basketball game between the Milwaukee Madison Knights and the DeKalb (Ill.) Barbs on Feb. 7.
As recounted by Madison High basketball coach Aaron Womack in a letter to the editor in the DeKalb Daily Chronicle, the mother of one of the his players had died that day after a lengthy battle with cervical cancer. Womack had gone to the hospital to comfort the player and upon returning to the gym, the DeKalb team was warming up. He told the DeKalb coaches what had happened and DeKalb head coach Dave Rohlman said the Knights should take their time. When Womack brought his team to the floor, the DeKalb coaches observed that Womack’s team looked like they might be too emotional to play — and offered to call off the game considering what had happened. Womack said no, that DeKalb had traveled a long way to play and the game should go on.
And it did. In the second quarter, Knights player Johntell Franklin, the player whose mother had died, entered the gym. He was surrounded by players, fans and cheerleaders in a show of support, according to a report in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. And then Franklin told his coach that he had come to play, not just to watch his team. The coach sent him to suit up and he was greeted by cheers when he reappeared. Not just from the stands, but from the DeKalb players as well.
Womack knew that he hadn’t entered Frankin in the scorebook since he had not expected him to play, and, under the rules, that meant the Knights would have to be assessed a technical foul. The referees informed the DeKalb team and, in a night that had already had it’s share of unusual twists, DeKalb’s coaches began arguing with the refs trying to refuse the two free throw penalty ... to no avail. So DeKalb coach Rohlman sent one of his players to the free-throw line.
When coach Womack looked up he saw the ball rolling out of bounds. The free throw shooter had tossed it a couple of feet and let it roll across the floor. When the second shot followed the same path as the first, according to news reports, the gym erupted as everyone — fans and players alike — stood and applauded.
The game, which had been close up to that point, ended with the Knights winning 62-47.
But the fans, the players and the coaches knew the real score.
The winners were sportsmanship, courage, empathy and integrity. They were all over the floor that Saturday night. Just a sport? Yes, it is. But sometimes, the lessons of sports are the ones that are truly valued in life.
As coach Womack put it in his letter to the readers of the Daily Chronicle: “If I am unable to coach my own son when he becomes of age, I’m moving to DeKalb to enroll him as a Barb.” They teach more than basketball on the courts in DeKalb.
