I watched Blake Hoffarber make a shot to tie the score as overtime ended. From the seat of his pants. In a state championship game. You don't forget things like that.
Then there were the smaller stories, the truly human stories that meant so much ...
Watching football and basketball teams from the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf giving it everything they've got. Meeting Kolby Gruhot at Shriners Hospital, where he was receiving a new prosthetic leg, and watching him the next day as he helped Stephen-Argyle win a state football title.
Watching the Red Wing football team in a playoff game during a 2002 teachers' strike, which meant the Wingers played while their coaches watched from the stands. And seeing coach Paul Schmit hold his son, senior quarterback Marcus, in a tear-filled, sobbing embrace after the boys fell achingly short of a victory.
Watching Cannon Falls first baseman Mike Spillman take ground balls and run around the bases after having a pacemaker implanted in his chest. Meeting Eden Prairie hockey player Ryan Shuman in a cancer center. He lost his hair but he never lost his smile. In Ryan's memory, his family holds an annual fundraiser for the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Children's Cancer Research Fund, at which I have been honored to speak.
Sitting in the passenger seat as Ellsworth basketball star Cody Schilling gave me a guided tour of the town; it didn't take long. Being inspired by Armstrong multisport athlete Evan Wilson, who wasn't slowed at all just because he had Down syndrome. Getting to know Wayzata quarterback Sasha Doran, who a few years ago was living in a Russian orphanage.
Sitting in a waiting room for hour after nervous hour with Cherry basketball player Laura Griffiths' parents and grandmother while Laura underwent a heart operation; Sen. Mark Dayton paid the medical bills after reading a story I authored about Laura. Meeting White Bear Lake football player Shawn McGirl, who is just one of the guys despite having two prosthetic feet and ankles.
Some things change, but not everything. When I was a little kid, my heroes were teachers, coaches and high school athletes. And that has never changed.