Written by Jeff
Fifteen year old Matt Ziesel had been bugging his freshman high school football coach to let him into a game and had been unsuccessful for the first few games of the year. It wasn’t that Matt lacked work ethic, showed up late for practice or was a troublemaker. He was none of the above. Coach McCamy was worried that Matt would get hurt. Matt was a 5’3” 110 pound running back with Down Syndrome.
Finally, in the 3rd game of the season, with the score 46-0 against Coach McCamy’s St. Joseph Benton’s boys, the coach surprised everyone in the stadium by calling timeout with 10 seconds left and sprinted across the field to talk to the opposing coaches. He asked them for a special favor: Please allow his special player the opportunity of a lifetime and let him score a touchdown.
The opposing players loved the idea and Matt scored on a long touchdown run of over 60 yards. A standing ovation ensued and Matt was a hero. You can read more about this story here.
Watch the you-tube video and try not to tear up. Every time you hear of a pro football player complaining about playing time, or his salary or the rough “travel-schedule” think of Matt and the pure joy he shows by scoring a meaningless touchdown in a 46-0 freshman high school game.
Loading ...
Comments
5 Responses to Sports Still Show The American Spirit
I loved this! It put a smile on my face.
Thanks for sharing!
I enjoyed this post and the video. I worked with high school sports programs for over 17 years and am not sure if all coaches would agree to this. I am talking about the coach from the other team who agreed to allow Matt to score a touchdown. Some coaches would have wanted to have the shut out. So kudos to the opposing team.
This is something that Matt will look back and have fond memories of for the rest of his life. It will stand out. I am a huge supporter of high school sports and it is stories like these that remind me why.
I’m now a football fan.
What a wonderful thing for all involved.
Okay, that was wonderful to see the other boys run up to congratulate him. Beautiful moment. Pam, I agree, kudos to the opposing team. This one made me more than tear up, it’s really a great thing to see the cooporeration it took to make that happen for him.