It’s always neat in my line of work to see actions or performances that go above the beyond the box score or statistics on a score sheet. What makes sports so great is not just the wins and losses or the championships attained, but underlying stories that make a team or an athlete’s performance that much more special.Filmmakers spend and make millions of dollars taking this idea and converting it to the big screen to attract moviegoers. Movies such as “Hoosiers”, “Miracle”, “Remember the Titans”, “Rudy”, and “The Blind Side” tell stories of extraordinary circumstances overcome by athletes and/or teams to achieve success.
Inspirational true stories aren’t solely reserved for theaters or on TV’s “SportsCenter”. Please indulge me as I briefly share a story from last week’s 1A Western Regional wrestling tournament that re-instilled my faith in fair play and character.
Avery Viking junior wrestler Brock Yackey faced a tough road to his dream of qualifying for this weekend’s state wrestling championships from the 119 pound weight class. His most difficult challenge in the bracket would be JJ LaPlante, a young man from West Wilkes High School who was state runner-up at 112 pound weight class last season and just last week was named Most Outstanding Wrestler as his Blackhawks captured the 1A State Dual Championship.
Brock won each of his matches and qualified for the regional final match in the 119 pound class. He then watched intently as LaPlante wrestled Mitchell’s Colton McKinney for the right to take on Yackey in the championship.
The bout between the West Wilkes and Mitchell grapplers was a tough one. During the match LaPlante sustained bleeding from a cut opened on his face. In wrestling a competitor is generally allotted five total minutes for “blood time”, when a wrestler can be treated for cuts, nosebleeds, or other injury that produces blood on the wrestler, the opponent, and/or the mat.
LaPlante used a large portion of blood time as his cut was dealt with by coaches and training staff. Yackey, who wears a protective mask on his face due to injuries he himself has sustained on the mat, looked on from the bleachers as LaPlante’s cut was worked on. Faced with the prospect of his toughest competition forfeiting a semifinal match due to injury and facing a familiar opponent he has already defeated during the season, Yackey made an interesting decision: he loaned his facemask to LaPlante.
“I thought about it a couple of seconds, but there was really no decision to be made. It was just the right thing to do,” Brock said after the incident. “You need to help when and however you can.”
In making such a choice, Yackey’s thought was also to McKinney, a wrestler of a conference rival whose chances of victory might have been dealt a blow by the gesture.
“My thoughts more at the time were ‘How mad would Colton and the Mitchell coaches be at me for letting him use my mask?’ because we’re in the same conference and I was doing something that would help their competition and not him,” Yackey added. “I didn’t want it to appear that I was favoring one competitor over another. It just seemed natural and nothing out of the ordinary, and I would hope that if I was in that situation someone would help me.”
LaPlante finished the match with the facemask and defeated McKinney to meet Yackey in the championship match.
Leading up the tournament Brock had already made one tough decision in staying at the 119 pound weight class to face stern competition rather than choose to move up a weight class for an easier road to a regional title.
“The coaches gave me the option to go up a weight class to 125 for the Regional Tournament because the competition was so strong at the 119 pound class. I told Coach Clark and my parents that this is what I have worked for all season, and yes, it may be tough, but why give in without even competing? If that happens, it isn't worth it,” Yackey added. “It's like what happened to me at the conference tournament. Two of my toughest competitors both moved up to 125 pounds. One of my friends asked them why and their response was they had a better change of winning at 125 pounds than facing me. That initially made be feel good, but kind of disappointed at the same time because they wanted to take what they thought was the easier route to winning. I didn't want to do that at this level of competition. If you’re going to compete, it is best to compete at the best of your ability, not because an opponent is hurt or you think you aren't as good as they are.”
In true Paul Harvey-esque form, here is “the rest of the story”. In Brock’s championship match with LaPlante he earned a two-point takedown, but LaPlante earned a reversal to tie the contest. An escape by Brock gave the Avery grappler a 3-2 lead after one period. Brock surrendered an escape but earned a takedown to take a 5-3 lead, but a late reversal tied the match at 5-5.
With the match looking to be destined for overtime and just four seconds left in the match, Brock reversed LaPlante to win the regional title by a 7-5 match score, joining junior teammate CJ Vance as Avery representatives in Greensboro at this weekend’s NCHSAA state championships.
Yackey was elated after the match, embracing his coaches and family. After the event’s conclusion, I was able to ask Brock what satisfaction he took away from winning the tournament, and if he thought his actions might serve as a lesson for other athletes and parents others about sportsmanship.
“I just thought it was the right thing to do. I would have always wondered how I would have done again JJ LaPlante, as he is one of the very best, if not the best wrestler in the state at 119 pounds,” Brock said. “I don't want to paint a rosy picture and say it was easy. I had to work very hard in training and conditioning and maintaining my weight. I can't go out with the guys in the heavier weight classes after practice and just eat whatever I want. I have to eat smart, do my workouts, practice, run on weekends or days we don't have practice, and go to Mountaineer Wrestling each week. It is just a way of life. Wrestling is a very hard sport, but the friends I have made through teamwork and competition make it all worthwhile. Although it might be quicker and easier to take a different route to winning, the satisfaction you get by defeating the best is so worth it.”
An extraordinary gesture by an ordinary student-athlete. Perhaps there’s a Hollywood film plot in this true story after all.
