Special touchdown called for special effort to tell
One of our best stories in recent memory might not have seen the light of print.
"Magic in the End Zone," an emotionally stirring piece, ran as our "centerpiece" on Wednesday's front page. It detailed the touchdown scored by Elgin High School senior Winfred Cooper, "Coop" to his friends, in a recent junior varsity game against Lake Park High School in Roselle.
Coop, who has severe autism and doesn't get to play much, had been lining up as a receiver well off the line of scrimmage. The Lake Park coach noticed, and asked the Elgin coach to give a heads up if they wanted to throw to Coop. They did. Coop caught the ball, and even though the plan had been to push Coop gently out of bounds, the Lake Park players called an audible: Instead, they flailed away in trying to tackle him, while Coop scampered 67 yards for the score. Both sides erupted in cheers.
Lake Park head football coach Andy Livingston, who helps with the JV games, was so moved by what he saw, he wrote up an account of the day's events and how proud he was of his team. It was passed on to us by a Lake Park parent through one of those ubiquitous news tip lines that are dispensed among about 900 editors here.
My initial thought was Livingston's essay was so profound, we should just publish it verbatim, perhaps preserving the anonymity of "No. 80," as the coach called Coop, so as not to cause any embarrassment to him or his family. Others said, no, we ought to pursue this as a full-blown story, but to make sure we contacted Coop's family to see if they were OK with us writing about Coop's touchdown and all its trappings.
Enter reporter Jamie Sotonoff. She knew that our sports writers knew about Coop's feat, and being good journalists and all, they asked the Elgin coaches about the touchdown. The coaches asked that we not write about it, worried Coop would see the story and it would taint his accomplishment.
"I could totally see where they were coming from," Jamie said, "but it was clear that 'everyone knew' except Coop."
So, she asked Coop's dad (and his grandma). Three or four times, in fact.
"Are you SURE this won't ruin it for him? Are you SURE he's not going to read this and feel bad?" Jamie asked. "And they kept saying, 'No. He'll be excited to be in the newspaper.'"
The timing couldn't have been better. We were just going through a run of bad sportsmanship - Milton Bradley's meltdown, Michael Jordan's rather ungracious hall of fame acceptance speech, Serena Williams' profane tirade at a line judge in the U.S. Open and the melee among players and fans during a North Chicago High School football game.
Judging from the readers' letters, e-mails (even the sometimes-snarky online commenters enjoyed this story; in fact, they pounced on one poster who suggested Coop's touchdown wasn't authentic), people were ready for an inspiring story. Even as I write this, the positive fallout continues.
A trophy shop owner offered to provide a free acrylic case with an engraved plate for the game ball Coop was given. The owner has a son with similar challenges, and said, "I have witnessed this 'kind side' of people. It's a very inspirational story - worthy of the front page."
The older brother of Mike Schenone, Coop's would-be tackler, wrote an online post to let all know that when he and other family members heard the story, they gave Mike the business, jokingly, for missing the tackle. But after reading the full story, Mike's sibling said, "I truly realized how blessed I am to say, 'This is my brother.'"
And we are truly blessed that Winfried Cooper Sr. was comfortable with letting us tell his son's amazing story.