The Spirit Of Christmas

From the Pantagraph:

NORMAL -- Grant Glowacki and his fellow students at Epiphany School are guided by one question. It applies day or night, rain or shine, on or off the basketball court.

“It’s always, ‘What would Jesus have done?’ ” Glowacki said of his Catholic education.

The answer was clear to him on Dec. 16 in Epiphany’s eighth-grade basketball game against visiting Heyworth.
Epiphany led comfortably with less than three minutes to play when Heyworth coach Lyndon Jason inserted Mitchell Hancock into the game.

Hancock, who has Down syndrome, was celebrating his 14th birthday, a fact relayed to the officials and, in turn, to Epiphany’s bench.

“Coach (Caleb Washburn) said, ‘Let’s try to get him a bucket,’ ” Glowacki said. “I knew that meant get him on the (free-throw) line so he could score on his birthday and make that really special for him.”

The first trip down the floor, Glowacki lightly fouled Hancock, who missed both free throws. The next possession, Hancock lost the ball briefly. Glowacki pushed it back to him and fouled him on a shot again.

“The clock was winding down and I wanted him to score really bad,” Glowacki said. “The ref said it was a two-pointer. I told him, ‘That was a three.’ I wanted him to shoot three.”

The official acquiesced and Hancock made the second of his three free throws.

The gym erupted.

What would Jesus have done?

“He would have got that kid to score,” Glowacki said, smiling. “I know he’s never really going to forget that. He’ll have that in his mind forever that he scored on his birthday.”

Dana Hancock called it her son’s “best birthday ever.”

It was a special night for her as well; overwhelming, in fact.

Steve and Dana Hancock simply hoped the oldest of their three children could be part of the team. They never envisioned this.
“We can’t say enough about the parents, coaches and players from Epiphany,” Dana Hancock said.

“As we were leaving, so many Epiphany people were telling Mitchell ‘happy birthday’ and ‘great shot’ and how proud they were of him. I have a hard time talking about it without getting choked up. Everybody left that game with a smile on their face.”
The biggest belonged to Mitchell Hancock, who has scored in three games this season. Only one was on his birthday and involved such a collaborative effort.

Give the assist to Glowacki, whose teammates voted unanimously to award him the game ball … not for points he scored, but the one he gave up.

“It’s not always about winning,” Glowacki said. “Just making people happy is really what matters. That was one of the best days of his life. I know it for sure.”

Most everyone in Heyworth knows Mitchell Hancock, whose siblings, 12-year-old brother Brett and 8-year-old sister Morgan, tell their parents he is “like the president” because he is so well-known, Dana Hancock said.

He is particularly popular among the basketball players, who Jason said make sure he gets to the bus and work to get him shots when he is in a game. Early this season at Lincoln, teammate Matt Galivan helped in another way.

“Mitchell’s shoe was untied and (Galivan) goes over and ties it for him during the game,” Jason said. “That’s the way the kids are. They are so good to him and he has a smile on his face all the time.”
Epiphany’s treatment of Hancock prompted Heyworth Principal Jeff Asmus to submit a good sportsmanship nomination to the Illinois Elementary School Association.

“Everyone involved recognized it was a tremendous act of sportsmanship,” Asmus said. “I don’t think players take away the specifics of too many games they play, what the score was at the end of the game. Who’s going to remember that years down the road?
“I think those kids will remember what happened that night with Mitchell.”