Sad but awesome story!

I don't know how many of you heard or read about the high school basketball player. Wes Leonard, that died of a heart attack shortly after hitting the game winning shot, but after reading that story my heart went out to all of his family and friends. I want to share the story because it let me know that even in tragedy there is good and human nature really does prevail.

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The game winning shot put Fennville High School in the playoffs and their first playoff game would have been held at Lawrence High School because Lawrence had home field advantage. Lawrence High agreed to give up their home field advantage so that the game could be held at a larger venue closer to Fennville High so that more family and friends could come to honor Wes. Hats off to the Lawrence High School basketball team because that was a huge gesture of sportsmanship!!

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It sounds cliche to call two teams in an elimination playoff game "winners," but it's even harder to label the team which finished on the short end of Monday night's touching game between Fennville (Mich.) High and Lawrence (Mich.) High anything less than that.

Days after star basketball player and beloved student Wes Leonard died of a heart attack immediately following a high school game, Fennville returned to the court to play its first 2010 playoff game against Lawrence, a team which had passed on its own home court advantage to move the game to a larger, neutral site closer to Fennville.
Eventually, Fennville emerged victorious despite playing without its irreplaceable star in a tight, 65-54 game. Amidst hugs and tears from both sets of players, the Blackhawks continued an unbeaten streak that was once pushed on by Wes Leonard, but now continues as an ongoing memorial to his legacy at the school.

Fittingly, reminders of Leonard were everywhere. Both teams wore warm up shirts that read "Never Forgotten" on the front and had Leonard's name and number on the back. There were dedicated signs all around the interior of the basketball arena at fittingly named Hope College, with large swaths of Fennville's black and orange school colors throughout the crowd.

When Fennville's team took to the court, it do so arm-in-arm, with players entering the arena in groups of three. They were led by Mitchell Leonard, Wes' younger brother, who is currently an eighth grader at Fennville middle school, who is pictured in the white t-shirt above.

The Blackhawks entered to a thunderous standing ovation, a reception from fans who bought the entire allotment of 3,300 tickets within an hour of their release earlier on Monday. The town of Fennville has a population of just 1,400, yet it sold 2,000 tickets to the game in an hour. A second rapturous reception greeted the entrance of Leonard's parents, who soaked it all in while hugging and crying, surrounded by some 100 other members of the extended Leonard clan.

And then, after a moment of silence, Fennville's starters took to the court for the opening tip off, fittingly down one man. With Leonard irreplaceable, the team began the game with four men.

While Fennville may have prevailed, both teams could take something from the game, and the painful but touching circumstances that led up to it. From Lawrence's readiness to move the site of the game to help Fennville fans travel to and attend it, to a combined dinner with both teams attended by former NBA star Bo Kimble, who lost his friend and collegiate teammate Hank Gathers in similar fashion 21 years ago, the entire event made it impossible not to focus on something besides the game on the court.

For once, that's exactly how everyone involved wanted it, too.

Story is courtesy of rivalsHIGH from Yahoo!Sports. To read the complete story click here.

Stiletto,

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