Sportsmanship at Its Finest.

In these times of sports celebrities in the news being busted for drugs, DUI, assault charges, I read something this morning that renewed my faith in the next generation and mankind in general. And it also shows what true sportsmanship is about.

Recently the DeKalb (Illinois) High School basketball team was on a road trip to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for a game against Madison High School. The two schools have been developing a friendly rivalry and the teams planned to get together after the game and share some pizzas and soda. But the game itself almost never took place.

In a sad turn of events, earlier in the day, the mother of Madison senior and Co-captain Johntel Franklin died at a local hospital. While Johntel was taking his college ACT exam, his mother Carlitha, who had been in remission after a five-year fight with cervical cancer, lost that fight. Johntel, his coach, Aaron Womack, Jr., and several of his teammates were at the hospital when she died.

Coach Womack was going to cancel the game, but Johntel told him he wanted the team to play. So they played, and early in the second quarter Johntel entered the gym directly from the hospital to root his teammates on. Coach Womack called a time out. His players went over and hugged their grieving teammate. Fans came out of the stands to do the same. The coach asked Johntel if he wanted to come and sit on the bench, but Johntel said he wanted to play.

Here is the problem. In basketball if a player is not on the pre-game roster it costs you team a technical foul and you have to give the other team two free throws if the player enters the game. But even though it was a tight game, Coach Womack was willing to give up the two points. It was more important to help his senior guard and co-captain deal with his grief by playing. Over on the other bench, though, DeKalb’s coach, Dave Rohlman, wasn't so willing to take the points. He told the referees to forget the technical and just let Franklin play.

"I could hear them arguing for five to seven minutes, saying, `We're not taking it, we're not taking it," Coach Womack said. "The refs told them, no, that's the rule. You have to take them."

That’s when Coach Rohlman asked for a volunteer to shoot the two free throws. His senior captain, Darius McNeal, raised his hand, ready to go to the line as he had many times before. Only this time it was different. "You realize you're going to miss them, don't you?" Coach Rohlman said. And Darius nodded his head. He understood what had to be done.

He went alone to the free throw line, dribbled the ball a couple of times, and looked at the rim. His first attempt went about two feet, bounced a couple of times and rolled toward the end line. The second barely left his hand. The Madison players stood and turned toward the DeKalb bench and started applauding the gesture of sportsmanship. Soon, so did everybody in the stands.

Milwaukee Madison broke open the game in the second half to win 62-47 and Johntel Franklin would go on to score 10 points. And afterward, the teams went out for pizza, two players from each team sharing each pie. Johntel stopped by briefly to thank them for being there for him. "I got kind of emotional but it helped a lot just to play," he said. "I felt like I had a lot of support out there," he said.

Yes, DeKalb would go home with a loss. But it was a trip and life lesson they'll never forget. A team and a player had decided there were more important things than winning and having good stats. This is something these kids will hold for a lifetime. They may not remember their record 20 years from now, but they'll remember what happened in that gym that night.

Carlitha Franklin's funeral was last Friday, and the school turned out for her and her son. Cheerleaders came in uniform, and everyone from the principal and teachers to Johntel's classmates were there. Even the cooks from school showed up. Coach Womack said it lets you know what kind of kid Johntel Franklin is.

I congratulate the teams and coaches involved in this great "teachable moment". There are real heroes on both teams that truly know what integrity is. Too bad this didn’t get as much media coverage as all the bad things we hear about sports. We all can learn from guys like this. This is why we should never give up on our youth and start being the village we are meant to be. The example set forth by these young men helps to renew my faith in our youth.