Football coaches don’t cry.
But you couldn’t blame Alvin Elbert for getting
a little misty. Two hours before his Seneca Indians played Lamar Friday night,
the assistant coach met an old friend…for the first time.
Abby Phipps was in her prettiest dress and
brought a football-shaped balloon with her as she prepared to meet the man
whose letters have been eagerly anticipated at her home for the past two years.
The coach watched as the Phipps family’s
specially-equipped van pulled up to the curb beside the Lamar Elementary School
gymnasium. The side panel opened and Connie Phipps, eight-year-old Abby’s
mother, helped lower Abby’s wheelchair to the street.
A smile crossed Alvin’s face as he saw little
Abby coming toward him, the football-shaped balloon tied to the arm of her
wheelchair.
It was a little over three years ago, July 1,
1995, when the members of the Phipps family had their lives changed forever
when a drunk driver going in excess of 100 miles per hour, rammed into the back
of their vehicle.
The accident killed Abby’s eight-year-old
sister Julie and left Abby and her father Jerry with permanent physical
disabilities.
Through all of the pain and suffering she has
gone through, Abby has never lost her smile and has been a source of
inspiration for her family through the difficult times.
A year after the accident as Abby’s family
prepared for her sixth birthday, they organized a card shower for her. It was
well publicized in area newspapers and one of those who read about their plan
was Alvin Elbert.
“I teach a Sunday school class in Seneca,” he
said, “and when I heard about this little girl and what she had been through, I
had my class send her cards.”
After Abby celebrated her sixth birthday,
Alvin’s letters kept coming. “He has been wonderful,” Connie Phipps said. “He’s
told us all about his family and his farm and working on his house. Every time
we get a letter from him, it brings a smile to Abby’s face.”
But until Friday night, the two had never met
face to face. “She has been really excited about it,” Connie said.
During telephone conversations, Connie had told
Alvin about how he made Abby smile. “Now I’ll be able to picture that smile,”
he said.
Alvin walked toward Abby, a big smile covering
his face and talked with her for a few minutes.
He bent down, gave her a hug, and told her he
would see her at the game.
The Phipps family is Lamar through and through,
but on this particular evening there would be two members of the Tigers’
arch-rival Seneca team, Alvin and his daughter, Holly, a cheerleader, who would
be the focus of their applause.
As the Phipps van pulled out, Alvin Elbert,
still smiling, but with a slight trace of moisture evident beneath his eyes,
said, “That’s a great family. She’s a great girl.
“Did you see that smile?”
We all know football coaches don’t cry. It must
have been the humidity.
The Best of Sports Talk, containing 35 Sports Talk columns from the 1990s, is available for $3.99 from Amazon Kindle.
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