Sportsmanship

This post is about a series of Daily Herald stories about the sportsmanship lesson that a couple of local high school football coaches delivered this week. The Elgin (IL) High School junior varsity team includes an autistic senior who doesn't get much time on the field.

Lake Park coach Nana Agyeman .... talked to Elgin's head coach, Dave Bierman, about it. He learned the player, Winfred Cooper, has severe autism.

"Well," Agyeman told Bierman, "if you want to throw him the ball, just let us know."

The result was truly amazing. With the game tied, Elgin called a specially concocted play (The Driver Driver, named for Green Bay Packer's wide receiver Donald Driver) and threw the ball to "Coop." He caught the ball and ran 67 yards for a touchdown and the memory of a lifetime. Both teams joined in cheering him on.

Coop caught the ball, and even though the plan had been to push Coop gently out of bounds, the Lake Park players called an audible: Instead, they flailed away in trying to tackle him, while Coop scampered 67 yards for the score. Both sides erupted in cheers.

Both coaches and teams should be very proud of themselves for the display of sportsmanship that, sadly, too often is absent from athletics. The lesson delivered by the coaches was not lost on the members of the two football teams. Kudos to all of them.

This is a link to the initial article in the Daily Herald. This link is a follow-up article involving contacts with the Packers. Finally, here's a link to the editor's explanation of how the story made it to the front page.

It's enough to bring a tear to your eye.