Hey sports fans, this coach "gets it."
By John Ryan
San Jouse Mercury News
We get enough stories of athletes behaving badly. Here's one about a good deed that's sure to warm the heart.
Saturday night in Milwaukee, Madison High was set to host a boys basketball game against DeKalb (Ill.) High. Earlier in the day, tragedy struck Madison when the mother of Johntell Franklin died after a five-year battle with cancer. Franklin and several teammates were at the hospital, and Coach Aaron Womack Jr. went to check on them.
The game started almost two hours late. DeKalb Coach Dave Rohlman, whose team had driven 21/2 hours, offered to cancel the game, but Womack insisted on playing even though he had only eight players available.
In the second quarter, Franklin showed up and wanted to play. Womack told officials he would accept the mandatory technical foul because Franklin hadn't been listed in the scorebook. When officials informed DeKalb coaches, they protested vehemently, but the officials made them take the free throws.
"I gathered my kids and said, 'Who wants to take these free throws?' " Rohlman told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "Darius McNeal (a 5-foot-11 senior point guard) put up his hand. I said, 'You realize you're going to miss, right?' He nodded his head."
On each shot, McNeal threw the ball two feet in the air and watched it roll past the end line. After the second, the entire crowd gave McNeal a standing ovation.
The rest is here: http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_11734843