(Photo: ESPN screen shot)
It’s a bold claim, but I’m going to make it: If you watch this video and don’t get emotional, you should check your pulse. You don’t have to cry, but something should stir inside you.
You’re about to meet Anthony Starego from New Jersey. He’s 18, but functions at the level of a 10-year-old. He’s the last person you might expect to become a football hero. But that’s exactly what happened this fall.
After watching a Rutgers football game in 2006 that ended in a game-winning field goal, his mom told ESPN Anthony turned to his dad and said he wanted to be a kicker.
“I’m like, ‘okay buddy. You do know that you don’t like contact? Um, well, okay,’” his dad, Ray, explained. No matter. Anthony set out and did it. The repetition of the kicking position perfectly suited to the needs of the way he was made.
(Photo: ESPN screen shot)
“45. Ask my dad. I kick 45 in practice. And maybe some from 50,” he told the network when asked about how far he can kick.
And that’s not an exaggeration. Anthony is so good he became his high school’s varsity kicker. And in late October, he became a legend. He kicked a game-winning field goal to upset state powerhouse Toms River North.
“I’m thinking, ‘this is it. This is his moment. The moment that every kid, much less my kid, my kid who probably shouldn’t even be on a football field, now has the chance to have a moment that he’ll remember for the rest of his life,’” his dad said about the moment.
And boy was it memorable.
(Photo: ESPN screen shot)
“That kick is a kick of hope. We did it. Buddy, we did it. We did the impossible.”
Cue the emotion. Watch the incredible story — with video of the game-winner — below:
No comments:
Post a Comment
tell me what you think