Sportsmanship
About This Billboard

Though Western Oregon senior Sara Tucholsky often dreamt of what it would be like to hit her first home run, she never imagined it would end with the opposing team carrying her around the bases. In fact, her home run almost didnt become a reality, except for the sportsmanship of Central Washington players Mallory Holtman and Liz Wallace.

Saras home run came in the second inning of the second game of a double header between the two teams. At stake that weekend was a bid to the NCAAs Division II playoffs. Central Washington needed to win the second game to keep its postseason dreams alive.

When Sara hit the home run, there was a girl on second and third, both of whom ran to home in a celebratory fashion. Sara, in her excitement, over-ran first base. When she turned quickly to go back, her right knee gave out. Sara went down in agony just a few feet from first base.

Sara was clearly injured and unable to walk on her own. Her coaches and teammates were trying to decide what to doif the Western Oregon trainers, coaches, or teammates touched Sara or helped her up, she would be out. If they substituted in a pinch-runner for Sara, her home run would be counted as a two-run single.

Central Washington player Mallory Holtman was also a senior. After four years, she knew the rules of the game and quickly realized that for Saras home run to count Central was going to have to help.

Mallory ran over to the umpires and to Westerns coach. Excuse me, Mallory interrupted, would it be OK if we carried her around and she touched each bag?

Though surprised, they said yes. Mallory and teammate Liz Wallace promptly picked Sara up, gingerly letting her left foot down to touch each of the bases to get her home run.

This act of sportsmanship contributed to Centrals loss. Still, there were no regrets or angry words from Mallorys teammates. They all agreedhelping the opponent was simply the right thing to do.

OK, just saw this tonight & thought of your thread.  A lot of people really went out of their way to help this sick girl make the concert.  Inspirational, indeed. 

For a silent girl, Hanson speaks
Big hearts enable her to make concert
By JENNIFER CHANCELLOR World Scene Writer

Published: 10/6/2009  2:22 AM


Thomas Stiff sits with his granddaughter Lindsey Easton in this 2008 photo.
It took a lot of help and some nice people to arrange for Lindsey to
attend a recent Hanson concert.  Tulsa World file

But the Tulsa trio of Zac, Isaac and Taylor know her well because she's been
coming to their concerts since she was a young girl.  "My daughter's unable to speak," said Lindsey's mom, Laurie Easton. "We go see Hanson every year when they're in town we've even traveled to Oklahoma City."  In fact, the first thing Lindsey got for her birthday last month was a Hanson concert ticket the day they went on sale. But this year's visit was unlike any other. In fact, Lindsey almost didn't make it to the concert date last Wednesday at Cain's Ballroom.

"I tell people, 'You know Christopher Reeve? That's what she's got,' " Laurie told the Tulsa World in 2005, after Lindsey graduated as co-valedictorian at Glenpool High School.  Though her mother uses the analogy to make her daughter's
condition more easily understood, Lindsey has Pompe disease a rare and debilitating version of muscular dystrophy. (Reeve suffered a spinal cord injury.)

"Lindsey was in the ER last Monday. She coded twice," her mother said calmly during a phone interview last week. "She had a pneumonia and heart failure. She was so, so sick."  But Lindsey fought back with quiet determination, like she always has. In fact, she was diagnosed with the disease as an infant and wasn't expected to live past toddlerhood. She's now 23.  "She's bright. She's all there. She was so afraid she wouldn't make the show. But we were afraid she wouldn't make it," Laurie said soberly. After 10 days in the hospital, Lindsey was still on oxygen and monitors. But she was feeling better.  "It's a testament to the power of music," Laurie said. "She was determined to go to that show."

Backstage pass

It started simply.

"I was approached by her sister," said Brad Harris, Cain's Ballroom production manager. Lindsey's sister Shannon is a "runner" who does errands for the concert hall before and during concerts, he said.  "She told me that Lindsey was a huge Hanson fan."

The venue often accommodates all sorts of needs, but this was a first, said Harris.
First, Lindsey's mom called the ambulance service in their home town of Glenpool. Due to Lindsey's weakness, an ambulance ride on a full gurney bed with heart monitors, oxygen tanks and paramedics would have to accompany her to the show. Two Glenpool paramedics volunteered their time, equipment and expertise.

Next, Laurie called Cain's Ballroom. Management agreed to let her daughter enter through the back door, with a prime view from just beside the stage. Lindsey's grandfather Thomas Stiff was also impressed by the generous offer of friendship and support.   "They said 'Don't worry, we will do whatever is necessary to get her there.' They not only transported her to Cain's, they had two attendants stay with her the entire time she was there, and brought one very happy girl back home."

Meet and greet

Hanson even played her favorite song their first hit, "MMMBop." They also played a cover tune that rocked the mother and daughter to their cores, said Laurie. It was Journey's hit, "Don't Stop Believing."  From there, Lindsey with help from her new paramedic friends and family was wheeled out back to visit.

"After the show," Harris said, "Hanson's tour manager stopped me and said the guys wanted to meet her. She was alert; she was so happy. It was so emotional, I couldn't watch the whole thing. I was afraid I'd start crying."

Lindsey's mom agreed to the visit and didn't miss one second of the 20-minute exchange.  "Zac always recognizes her," said Laurie. "They're just really nice boys well, they're boys to me," she said, then laughed. "They thanked her for being such a longtime fan. They also told her to never stop listening to music.

"So many people went so far out of their way to help her. To have so many unexpected friends has been one of the best gifts our family could ever receive."

As the dream meeting drew to an end, Taylor Hanson even bent over the young woman and kissed her on the cheek.

"Not many people will bend over to kiss anyone in a hospital bed like that," said her mom as her voice shook with emotion. "They were all so good to her."

MZ, Lady Strange...those are both awesome stories.

I remember hearing about that NCAA game on Sports Center when it happened.  It was a story that did touch my heart at the time.  People will remember the sportsmanship of that story much longer than they will remember the outcome.

LS, that is such a nice story.  This girl cannot speak, but music is a language everyone understands.  It also is touching that music brought out the best of humanity in this instance.  Kudos to Hanson.

That'll give you chills. A six year old who knows enough to leave notes around the house.

Last Saturday, Dec. 5th, something startling and wonderful happened at The Aramingo Diner in Port Richmond.

The 52-year-old landmark restaurant at 3356 Aramingo Ave. is open 24 hours a day, so it's always a-bustle. But the place really hops during weekend breakfast and lunch time. Last Saturday was no different, and both wings of the diner - the booth area and the bigger dining room -  were lively.

The manager on duty, Linda (who asked that I not mention her last name here, for reasons I can't get into but let's just say everything worked out okay...), tells me that a couple in their 30s paid their check at the register, then asked the cashier to let them secretly pay the check of another couple in the dining room - a couple they didn't know.

"They just wanted to do it," she said. "They thought it would be a nice thing to do."

When the unsuspecting patrons went to pay their check, they were floored to find out that strangers had picked up their tab. So they asked the cashier to let them pay another table's check, also anonymously.

When that table's patrons approached the register, they, too, decided to pay the favor forward for yet another table of unsuspecting strangers.

You know where this is going, right?

For two hours, delighted customer after delighted customer continued to pay the favor forward. And a buzz began to grow. Not among patrons, who had no inkling what was going down at the register, but among the dining-room wait staff  - Marvin, Rosie, Jasmine and Lynn - and other Aramingo workers moving in and out of the room.

"We were amazed," says Linda, adding that neither she nor her staffers that day recognized any of the participating patrons as regulars. "Nobody knew each other. But once they found out someone paid their check, they got excited and wanted to do the same thing for another table."

The checks weren't huge, says Linda. They varied between about twelve bucks and $30 (many of the sneaky do-gooders even included tip money in the gift).

But the impact made an out-sized impression on the staff, who marveled at how that initial, single act of generosity kept repeating itself.

Says Linda, "In thirty years working here, I've never seen anything like it. You might have someone pick up a check for another table, but usually it's because they know them."

All in all, about 20 checks were "paid forward" (a term coined by author Catherine Ryan Hyde, whose 2000 book, Pay It Forward was made into an earnestly schmaltzy Hollywood movie).

The lovely cycle finally ended, two hours after it began, when a lone diner, clearly unacquainted with the "pay it forward" concept, seemed befuddled that someone had picked up his check. He simply accepted the favor, grunted, and left.

Notes Linda, "He didn't even leave a tip."

Which didn't diminish the day's sweetness, which has lingered among the Aramingo staff. Linda herself decided to pay the lesson forward a few days later, when she was standing in line at the Wawa.

"There was a cop behind me. I said to the guy at the register, 'See what's in his hands, and charge me and not him.' It was a cup of coffee. I told the guy not to tell the cop I paid for it. I didn't want it to look like a bribe."

The cop figured things out, though, and gave Linda a wave and a smile when he got outside, which made her feel good.

Says Linda, "It was a nice thing to be part of."

So, on the off-chance that the first pay-it-forward couple at the Aramingo Diner is reading this, please know that your gesture of kindness didn't end when you walked out the door.

It morphed into hours of additional kindnesses. And who knows what kindnesses those gestures prompted?

Maybe, when folks read this blog post, the cycle will rev up again - not necessarily at the Aramingo, but wherever readers are inspired to give to others, just for the fun of it.