High school basketball player gives opponent chance to shine in incredible act of sportsmanship

Published On February 26, 2013 | By Jill Saftel

The biggest and best sports stories can come from the smallest places – this one from a high school in El Paso, Tex.

According to Fox, when Coronado High School’s basketball team played its final game of the regular season, its coach had a secret. Not only would he tell the team’s manager Mitchell Marcus, who has a developmental disability, to suit up for the game – but when the final minutes began to tick off he’d be putting Marcus in. It didn’t matter what the score was at the time, and the coach said he was prepared to lose the game if necessary.

The goal was for Marcus to shoot a basket and have his moment, but as time wound down and teammate after teammate passed to Marcus, he couldn’t find the net.

It could have ended there. His teammates did everything they could to give him the opportunity. With seconds left, the ball was turned over to the opposing team, Franklin High School, and that was it.

But it wasn’t. The Franklin senior with possession of the ball shouted Marcus’ name, passed to him, and let his opponent’s team manager have his moment.

You can watch Marcus make his basket, as well as interviews with Coronado’s coach and the Franklin senior who made undeniably the best play of the night below via CBS:

 

 

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About The Author

Jill studies journalism at Northeastern University, covers Hockey East for College Hockey News and is the sports editor for The Huntington News. You can follow her on Twitter at @jillsaftel, just don't ask her to choose between hockey and baseball, it's impossible.