I heard Matthew telling Rappis what a great game he had played. “I tried to break you, but you kept your cool better than anybody else I have played against.” Despite my frustration I had to laugh when I saw him congratulating the player that had pulled on his shirt at the end of the game. When the player turned to leave, Matthew playfully tugged on his shirt in obvious reference to the penultimate play. The boy smiled and nodded his head in understanding.
I congratulated the Waukesha coach and was there when Matthew came over to add his congratulations. He had his friend Rick Roby in tow. “Rick, I know you stood up for me and I appreciate that, but don’t you think you owe your coach an apology? He is the coach, you know.”
Rick hesitated only briefly. “I’m sorry, Coach, I guess I got a little excited. I didn’t mean any disrespect, but you have to admit, he’s pretty good.”
“I’m the one that should apologize, Rick. I should have listened to some of your suggestions.”
“Coach, it might have helped if you had put Rick in to guard me, but at that point in time, I don’t think an apology would have done any good.” Neither the coach nor Rick had any idea how Matthew guessed what the argument was about.
The crowd stayed, as if they could not believe the game was over. Our cheerleaders were sitting on the floor in tears when Matthew walked over and sat down in front of a despondent Jennifer. A few minutes the girls were smiling and the tears had almost stopped, and the girls went over to congratulate the Waukesha cheerleaders. Matthew found Jerry Hayes and the rest of his group that had been so vocal in their support during the 4th quarter. Hayes had tears in his eyes and apologized for fooling around earlier when Matthew had lifted him out of his seat. Matthew embraced him and told him that what mattered was that he was there when he needed him. “You showed me you were a leader, Jerry.” I could see the tears coming back to the boy’s eyes.
Matthew walked towards the Waukesha side of the court and waved at the crowd, thanking them for their support. The crowd as one gave Matthew and our team a standing ovation. Matthew approached the man in the wheelchair who was struggling again to rise. He made it to his feet as Matthew stopped ten feet away.
“You can do it,” Matthew whispered. “I’ll help you.”
The man’s wife was behind him in case he fell. But the man shrugged her off and took a step towards Matthew, and then another step, and then another. He stood before Matthew and applauded. Tears come to Matthew’s eyes as he in turn applauded the man’s effort. He put his arms around the man and held him for several moments while the crowd cheered. His wife stood behind him, proud, but dumfounded. Her husband had not walked in fifteen years. Was it the adrenalin from the close game?
Matthew gathered the cheerleaders together to thank them for their efforts and to ask them for another favor. “I need you to help me tomorrow. Can you all be at the school at eight thirty?” Sixteen heads nodded in unison.
The crowd was still clapping as our team made its way back towards the locker room. Matthew stopped along the way and saw his father halfway up in the stands. The crowd separated to make room for him. As he approached his father, his resolve seemed to disappear and he collapsed in his father’s arms in tears. “What did I do wrong? Why did the referee make those calls?”
“You didn’t do anything wrong, Matthew. Sometimes there’s no explanation for things like this. All we can do is go on and hope it makes us stronger.” The crowd cheered again as Matthew and his father separated and Matthew made his way to the locker room.
There was a fight going on in the referees’ locker room. Ed Corbett and Jeff Chandler were arguing vociferously when their district director came into their locker room. “What went on out there, Jeff? Those were two of the worst calls I have ever seen.”
“Don’t ask me,” Ed Corbett said. “But I’ll tell you this, I don’t ever want to work with this guy again.”
“Calm down Ed, let’s not make things worse. Jeff, what happened? You seemed to lose your cool. Taking a swing at that kid was inexcusable.”
Jeff had realized he had made a mistake when the Waukesha crowd booed the call that had helped their team win. He lost it when he saw the new kid running towards him and had reacted instinctively. He had never hit a kid before and by the time he got to the locker room he was wondering himself what had happened. “I don’t know, Dick, I guess I just lost it. That kid was so good that I guess I just wanted to protect the Waukesha players. I made a fool of myself, didn’t I?”
“Well, it’s over, there’s nothing we can do about it now.”
“Yes, there is,” Jeff replied with conviction. “I can go to their locker room and apologize. Would you go with me, Ed?” They arrived at the visitors’ locker room only to find the entrance barred by a determined 16-year old who had been instructed to keep everyone out until the team meeting was finished. Bill Hawkins, the school principal, had tried minutes earlier, but Johnny stood his ground.
“Matthew asked me to keep everyone out until he lets me know, and that’s what I’m going to do,” the young man had told him.
Ray Wilson could tell the boy was more than a little scared to be arguing with the principal, but was determined to follow Matthew’s instructions. Ray pulled the principal off to the side. “Bill, isn’t it amazing how quickly these boys grow up? We try to get these kids to stand up for themselves and what they believe in and all of a sudden to our surprise they are doing it. Isn’t it wonderful?”
Bill Hawkins had been a high school principal for thirteen years, and knew what Ray Wilson was saying. He smiled and nodded. “You’re right Ray. I know Johnny and yesterday there was no way he would have stood up to me like this. That boy just matured into a young man in front of my eyes.”
They turned and saw the referees pleading with Johnny to let them in and Matthew’s father interceded again. “Johnny, I know what Matthew said, but I also know that my son wants his friends to think for themselves. He couldn’t have anticipated that the referees would want to speak with the team. Don’t you think you should ask him if he wants to meet with them?”
Johnny slowly digested the suggestion, afraid to make the wrong decision. “Wait here,” he told everyone as he entered the locker room, closing the door behind him.
Matthew was telling his teammates that they should not be happy with a close loss when he noticed Johnny at the door. He looked over at Johnny and smiled, “what is it, Johnny?”
“I’m sorry to interrupt. I know you told me not to, but, uh……”
“That’s okay, Johnny, just go ahead. What do you have?”
“Your father said you might want to know that the referees are outside and would like to come in and talk with you.”
“What do you think, Johnny?”
Caught by surprise, Johnny was surprisingly calm. “I think we should.”
“Okay, give us 60 seconds and let them in.” As Johnny headed out the door, Matthew called out at him, “You did the right thing, Johnny.”
Johnny closed his eyes and counted. When he got to 60, he opened the door and allowed the referees to enter. “Mr. Hawkins, you may go in, too.” It was an amazing transformation from a timid young man to a decision maker. He would never be the timid boy that his parents kissed goodbye and sent off to school that morning.
The referees wasted no time. Jeff Chandler did the talking. “Coach Simpson, we, I should say I, want to apologize to you and your players for some of the calls I made tonight. I made some mistakes. I also want to apologize for striking your player. The game is over and there is nothing we can do to change the outcome, but I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me.”
“That goes for me too,” Ed Corbett said, looking directly at Matthew.
I was still disappointed about the loss and didn’t know immediately what to say. I decided to let the kids decide. “I would like to accept your apology,” I replied slowly, “but first I would like to see what my players say. They are the ones that poured their hearts and souls
into this game. Matthew?”
Matthew thought a moment before responding. “I’m just one player and I’m not the captain of the team, so I can only speak for myself. I don’t think there is any need for an apology. Everyone makes mistakes including everybody in this room. It’s silly to think that the referees aren’t caught up in the excitement of the game, just like the players. We all try to do our best, but sometimes we make mistakes. Everyone does. However, these men have come asked us to accept their apology, and I believe that a sincere apology should never be rejected. I would offer my hand to these gentlemen and tell them to forget it, if it were up to me. But we are a team and I’ll do what the team decides. Rodney, you’re the captain, what do you think?”
Rodney stood and walked towards the referees. “I missed more shots and made more mistakes than anybody out there tonight, I would be a hypocrite not to accept their apology, especially after Matthew gave me a second chance tonight. Let’s put this behind us,” he said as he offered his hand. I watched as the other eleven players shook the hands of the referees. I did the same.
The referees walked out of the locker room and glanced at Matthew’s father as they walked by. “You have quite a boy there, Mr. Wilson.”
“The boys continued their team meeting and Matthew pointed out that winning was more fun than losing, but winning requires dedication and hard work. “Each one of us must decide for if we are willing to put forth the effort.”
The team set our sights on winning the rest of our regular season games and the state championship.
Chapter 6 - Saturday Night