Skip to main content

They Passed the Test!


Photo credit: Eric Sucar, The Daily Messenger / AP

Excerpts from article by: BEN DOBBIN, AP

Autistic Team Manager Makes Hoop Dream Come True
High School Senior Scores 20 Points in Waning Moments of His Only Game

GREECE, N.Y. (Feb. 24) - Jason McElwain had done everything he was asked to do for the Greece Athena High School basketball team - keep the stats, run the clock, hand out water bottles.

That all changed last week for the team manager in the final home game of the season. The 17-year-old senior, who is autistic and usually sits on the bench in a white shirt and black tie, put on a uniform and entered the game with his team way ahead.
McElwain proceeded to hit six 3-point shots, finished with 20 points and was carried off the court on his teammates' shoulders.
"I ended my career on the right note," he told The Associated Press by phone Thursday. "I was really hotter than a pistol!"
In recent days, McElwain's phone has hardly stopped ringing. When his family went out for a meal, he was mobbed by well-wishers. A neighborhood boy came by to get a basketball autographed.
McElwain, 5-foot-6, was considered too small to make the junior varsity, so he signed on as team manager. He took up the same role with the varsity, doing anything to stay near the sport he loves. Coach Jim Johnson was impressed with his dedication, and thought about suiting up McElwain for the home finale.
His performance was jaw-dropping: 20 points in four minutes, making 6-of-10 3-point shots. The crowd went wild.
"It was as touching as any moment I have ever had in sports," Johnson told the Daily Messenger of Canandaigua.
McElwain didn't begin speaking until he was 5. He lacked social skills but things got easier as he got older. He found many friends and made his way through school in this Rochester suburb, although many of his classes were limited to a half-dozen students. And he found basketball.
On the varsity, he never misses practice and is a jack-of-all-trades.
"And he is happy to do it," Johnson said. "He is such a great help and is well-liked by everyone on the team."
Even though McElwain was in uniform for the Feb. 15 game, there was no guarantee he would play - Athena was battling for a division title.
The fans, however, came prepared. One section of students held up signs bearing his nickname "J-MAC" and cutouts of his face placed on Popsicle sticks.
The Trojans opened a large lead against the team from the nearby Spencerport. With four minutes left, McElwain took the court to deafening cheers.
"The thing about Jason is he isn't afraid of anything," his father told the newspaper. "He doesn't care what people think about him. He is his own person."
"As soon as the first shot went in that's when I started to get going," he said.
On the next attempt, he got another 3-pointer. Then another, and another. In fact, he would have made one more 3, but his foot was on the line, so he had to settle for 2 points.
Greece Athena won 79-43, and pandemonium reigned. McElwain signed autographs, posed for pictures and was hoisted by his teammates.
The Trojans begin sectional play Saturday and McElwain will be on the bench again, wearing his usual shirt and tie.
It doesn't bother him. More important, he said, is "trying to win a sectional title for the team."
McElwain will soon be done with high school basketball, then enroll in business management this fall at Monroe Community College.
"I'll go on to college and I'll try to hoop there," he said. "I just love it, it's one of the greatest sports in the world."

Comments

Willie Baronet said…
I loved that video clip. I watched it many times. :-)

Popular posts from this blog

Father's Day 2006

My father Wellesley Alexander was the best father a girl could ever have. He was raised by John and Elizabeth, two parents with stately confidence. John was an artist who started a cemetery monument business with his art ability and Elizabeth did well in the stock market, taking the boys back to their roots in Scotland... trips Dad never forgot. Dad had one brother Ian. I never heard either brother say anything unkind about the other. Dad worked in the family business most of his life. His health declined in his early 70's...heart problems, depression, and many other problems that my mother tried to cope with, using up her health. He spent his last years in three different resthomes. It will always haunt me how sad his last years were on this earth. In his bitterness, he lashed out at my brothers and sister, but never at me...I guess I wasn't there as often, living out of state. He was human and made mistakes. He opened an Edsel dealership which was to be the downfall of his fi...

If friends were flowers, I'd pick you !

Left to right: Matilda Wren, Malissa, Malissa's husband Jeff, Linda, Michael, Mackenzie, Mitchell, Grandma Besse, (family friend) Monica, George Oliver. (Friend Linda used to write reminders on her hand, so the tattoo artist who did her image included a message on her hand...this is so Linda. Linda died due to a tumor or cancer in the brain...we have not been told what happened.) How do I say good-bye to my friend Linda? For 13 yrs. we shared our highs and lows. And in that time her five kids Malissa, Michael, Monica, Mitchell and Mackenzie, her 90 yr. old Hungarian mother Besse , her son in law Jeff and two grandchildren Matilda Wren and George Oliver were family to me. Linda had been divorced since her children had been toddlers. She had raised them all by herself in a Bohemian household filled with love and artistic creativeness. All of her kids had been on Homecoming Courts, all beautiful and each a part of Linda. Malissa had her mothering skills and was nurturing to the grand...

NOVEMBER 23RD, 2006

Today was my 59th birthday....Wonderful Day! Woke around 9, showered and put my hair up in rollers. Ran into town, where they don't care what I look like, to buy lemon juice for the Waldorf Salad, gas in the car, coffee etc. Bob was perfecting the two hams for his dinner entries. We arrived at RC and Lindsay's before noon. Beth was stubborn and didn't want to leave the car, but we finally coaxed her inside. The kitchen was filled with smoke...the turkeys weren't done, despite their being cooked by directions. Dinner wasn't for another hour (did they tell me the wrong time to make me show up in time?). RC gave me cards from them and said Jake originally picked one with a sexy guy on it for me. They gave me a beautiful pair of white gold earrings that RC mentioned were worth far more than they paid, so I should be careful not to lose them. I feel so loved by them all the year through. Dinner was great...everything you could ever want. Tables were set up in the living ...