Shooter's touch: High school basketball player misses free throws as a gift

**crakkajakka15** · February 23rd, 2009, 02:32 PM

pure selflessness and sportsmanship

Associated Press
In Print: Friday, February 20, 2009

It didn't matter that his DeKalb, Ill., High basketball team had ridden a bus 2½ hours to get to Milwaukee, then waited another hour past game time to play. Didn't matter that the game was close or that this was a chance to beat a big city team.

Something else was on Dave Rohlman's mind when he asked for a volunteer to shoot two free throws awarded his team on a technical foul in the second quarter. His senior captain raised his hand, ready to go. Only this time it was different.

"You realize you're going to miss them, don't you?" Rohlman said. Darius McNeal nodded. He knew what had to be done.

It was a Saturday night in February, and the Barbs were playing a nonconference game on the road against Milwaukee Madison. It was the third meeting between the schools, who were developing a friendly rivalry. The teams planned to get together after the game and share pizzas and soda. But the game almost never took place.

Hours earlier, the mother of Milwaukee Madison senior captain Johntell Franklin died at a hospital. Carlitha Franklin had been in remission after a five-year fight with cervical cancer, but she began to hemorrhage that morning while Johntell was taking his ACT exam.

Her son and several teammates were at the hospital that afternoon when the decision was made to turn off the life-support system. Carlitha was just 39.

"She was young and they were real close," said his coach, Aaron Womack Jr., who was at the hospital. "He was very distraught and it happened so suddenly he didn't have time to grieve."

Womack was going to cancel the game, but Franklin told him he wanted the team to play. And play it did, though the game started late and the team dressed only eight players.

Early in the second quarter, Womack saw someone out of the corner of his eye. It was Franklin, who came directly from the hospital to root on his teammates. The Knights had possession, so Womack called timeout. His players went over and hugged their grieving teammate. Fans came out of the stands to do the same.

"We got back to playing … and I asked if he wanted to come and sit on the bench," Womack said during a telephone interview.

"No," Franklin replied. "I want to play."

But since Franklin wasn't on the pregame roster, putting him in meant drawing a technical foul, giving DeKalb two free throws. Though it was a tight game, Womack was willing to give up the two points.

Over on the other bench, though, Rohlman wasn't so willing to take them. 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,' " Womack said. "The refs told them, 'No, that's the rule. You have to take them.' "

That's when Rohlman asked for volunteers, and McNeal's hand went up.

He went alone to the free-throw line, dribbled a couple of times and looked at the rim. His first attempt went about 2 feet, bouncing a couple of times as it rolled toward the end line. The second barely left his hand.

It didn't take long for the Milwaukee players to figure out what was going on. They stood, turned toward the DeKalb bench and started applauding the gesture of sportsmanship. Soon, so did everybody in the stands.

"I did it for the guy who lost his mom," McNeal told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "It was the right thing to do."

Franklin went on to score 10 points, and Milwaukee Madison won 62-47. Afterward, the teams went out for pizza, two players from each team sharing each pie.

Franklin stopped by briefly, thankful his team was 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."

"This is something our kids will hold for a lifetime," Rohlman said. "They may not remember our record 20 years from now, but they'll remember what happened in that gym that night."

http://tampabay.com/sports/basketbal...icle977537.ece

**Burnsie** · February 23rd, 2009, 02:55 PM

I think this was posted a couple days ago, but it's nice to know there is some semblance of sportsmanship out there.

-Burnsie

**schr8er2000** · February 23rd, 2009, 08:24 PM

And again it shows that sometimes the kids playing the sport KNOW what the game is about...NOT winning, but simply playing is what counts.

Sportsmanship is something instilled in kids, and degraded by adults. To bad there are not more kids like that to take over the world....

God Bless them, and especially condolences to the young man who lost his mother....