“A lot of young players don’t really know much about the history of the game and a lot of them are missing out on what the game is all about, especially the whole concept of sportsmanship and teamwork.”~ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
This story completely moved me when I read it. Thanks to YouTube sensation, Michael Buckley. These kinds of stories are the ones that I love to share. And I believe that they should be!!
It was Senior Night at Coronado High School in El Paso, Texas. And it will be a night that senior Mitchell Marcus will remember for the rest of his life.
Mitchell had serving as the manager to the boys’ varsity basketball team and had been since his freshman year.
Coach Peter Morales kept Marcus by his side for those four long years on the bench. But for one night, Morales had Mitchell dress for the game.
Finally in the fourth quarter of the game, Coronado High had a lead over their rival Franklin by double digits. Within the last two minutes of the game, Coach Morales put Marcus in… TO PLAY!
What happened next will go down in history. Not only in El Paso, but throughout the WORLD!
After several unsuccessful attempts to get Marcus to score, Franklin had possession with 13 seconds remaining. Franklin’s Jon Montanez, in an act of great sportsmanship, passed Marcus the ball and allowed him score.
At the end of the game, Coronado High had beaten Franklin still by double digits. And the audience rushed on to the court and treated Marcus as if he had thrown in the game winning goal. They lifted him high and carried him around.
In a sense I know how it must have felt for Mitchell Marcus to get that opportunity to say that he had scored in a high school basketball game. That he had scored in sports at least once in his life.
Growing up I was a part of a wheelchair basketball team during the summer. It was mixed with wheelchair and able-bodied people. But I never got the chance to even try to shoot the ball. I would be able to deflect passes and almost cause turnovers, but never got that opportunity to actually be in possession of the ball.
Until one day at the end of the summer, playing the last game of the day. The inbounds pass was given to me.
I was thrilled to death in my young mind. .
I’m so glad that I came across the story of Mitchell Marcus and his high school basketball coach. Even that, will make memories for me.
http://nesn.com/2013/02/special-needs-student-mitchell-marcus-scores-on-senior-night-in-act-of-great-sportsmanship-video/
Dambreaker 