I wrote on Twitter yesterday that I had a great story to share.  Well, being busy sometimes keeps you away from the computer.  So, here’s the story I promised yesterday.

We had two games in Tuskegee to officiate Monday night. I ran the clock for the first one, but umpired the second.  The two teams were Tallassee and Booker T. Washington.

Tallassee had a special needs player during my game, so the coaches told us when he’d be on the field.  It was our jobs to remind the BTW team he was out there and not be rough with him.  Our referee, Miller, told BTW, “He’s out here, and you can tackle him.  Just don’t do it hard.”

Well, Tallassee’s QB hands the ball to him, and wouldn’t you know one of the BTW kids plowed right into him.  Not hard, but it was quite the thump.  Corey (I think that’s his name) jumped right up with a big smile on his face.  He didn’t even get back to the line of scrimmage, but he was so happy just to have the ball.

That was before the end of the first half, and the teams played on without Corey on the field until the end of the game.

BTW was up 24-0 with about :30 left in the game.  Tallassee put Corey back in, handed him the ball and he ran probably 15 yards before he was tackled.  It’s clear that BTW was going to give him a shot a scoring, but one of the players accidentally knocked him down.  He jumped up shaking his head saying, “Man, I tried to miss him.”

The clock ran down to :10, and they gave Corey the ball one last time.  He took off down the field, and the BTW players were running behind him and diving off to the side as they pretended to try and tackle him.  The final buzzer sounded as Corey ran into the end zone.  Touchdown!

All of Corey’s teammates, as well as the players from BTW all gathered around him in the end zone to celebrate his score.  Corey even spiked the ball as the fans, players and coaches cheered.  We all went over to him and congratulated him on making the final TD, and the coaches told us how grateful they were for everyone giving him that moment.

That really touched me, and I can now say I’m happy I decided to officiate games this year.  That one moment made the whole season worth it.