Saturday 23rd November 2024,
The Hoop Doctors

Watch: Boy With Autism Makes Shot Of A Lifetime

beau howell rt float 1The world is slowly becoming more empathetic and understanding to those student athletes that suffer from a disability.

Caution…for anyone who is a parent of a child with an affliction or disability, the following story may cause a tear to come to your eye, possibly even a tidal wave.

We once brought you the story of 6’11 Cali hoops sensation Kevin Laue, who despite missing a left arm secured a Division I scholarship to Manhattan College.

Recently there was another feel good story to come out of California, as freshman Beau Howell from Trinity Classical HS in Santa Clara, CA, scored his first ever basket in live game action during Trinity’s victory over Desert Chapel in a State Title game.

What makes the story so emotional was not only that Howell is autistic but the sportsmanship that both teams displayed in making sure Howell realized his lifelong dream of scoring at least once in a game.

With a 20 point victory securely in hand, Howell was inserted into the game and got off several close mid range shots that failed to see the bottom of the net.

After the losing team Desert Chapel secured the rebound, their head coach surprisingly called a time-out and huddled around his players as it appeared that Howell’s dreams would never come to fruition.

To his surprise, an opposing player in-bounded the ball and promptly turned the ball over to Howell and guided him to the hoop so he could score his first basket ever.

Howell’s reaction was priceless as he raised his hands to the air and gave emotional hugs to every teammate and opposing player alike, a touching moment he will surely never forget.

I give the opposing team a tremendous amount of credit and respect, especially considering the blowout loss, to put a young man’s dream ahead of their misfortune and obvious frustration of losing the championship game.  In my estimation, despite the final score, both teams are winners in my book

Tissue please….

Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen has also provided content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, Cleveland.com, CSN Philly.com, Buckets Magazine, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.

 

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