Thursday, Jun. 03, 2004
Sports Banquet, posted at 10:30 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com The Athletic Banquet was long, but not that bad. I was the second to last presenter, and I gave my three awards and said about three-quarters of what I wanted to say and forgot the rest. I think it went alright. I decided to give awards only to kids that attended the function, which was a bit of a drive and $10. I was especially disappointed not to be able to give James an award; he would have been my unsung hero and I had a great speech for him. But it would have been meaningless to say the long speech and not have him there.Here's what I would have said:
"For my Unsung Hero award, I want to talk about a young man who almost didn't make the team. In fact, I came close to cutting him, but decided against it, partly because he's a senior and partly because he's got a positive attitude. I never regretted the decision, and by the end of the season, the young man had shown me a great deal of maturity, selflessness, and true leadership. He's someone never missed a practice despite getting only two at-bats all season. He's someone whose attention never wavered, even when we were up ten runs or down ten runs. He was always quick with an encouraging word to a teammate, and quick to do whatever it was the I needed him to do - whether it be a pinch-runner, a first base coach, or a scorekeeper. I gained a great deal of respect for him this season, and he is someone whose attitude will propel him to soaring heights in his life. He's an inspiration, and I hope he thinks about becoming a teacher, because he's got what it takes. Please come on up here, James _____."
Unfortunately, I'm going to have to say this speech to James on graduation day, and temper it with an "I'm disappointed that you didn't come to the banquet."
I ended up giving that award to "Little Bill," who runs like the wind and his heading to the University of Miami to study Mathematics. He deserves it, too, but he'd won two other awards that night in other sports and I wanted to recognize James.