Junior Year Box Set

During a commercial break, they would run a video showing the nominees for the lesser awards. Some examples of the categories that didn’t make it to air were Best Male College Athlete and Best Male Athlete with a Disability. Later during the telecast, they would say that so and so won, but then move on to the more prominent awards and give those the full treatment.

My closest competition for the Gatorade award was a basketball player out of Texas. How did I know he was my biggest competition? In the last ten years, four basketball and five football players had won. The only other sport to win was baseball.

John Cena came out on stage as they went to commercial.

“The High School Male Athlete of the Year nominees are …”

The video started on the big screen. It showed each one of us doing our sport in which we had won. When the video ended, John stepped up to the mic.

“And the winner is … David Dawson of Lincoln High.”

I didn’t get a chance to go on stage and give a speech. Instead, I was taken out of the theater and back to the Gatorade room, where I was given my award.

It happened the same way for the Joe Montana Quarterback award for the best high school quarterback. At least for that one, I knew who my competition was: Wes Hunt. I had a clue that I’d won when Wes didn’t show up for the awards presentation.

Honestly, I was okay with not getting my moment on stage because, like most award shows, this event seemed to never end. We’d been there for four hours when we called it a night. I wanted to eat something and catch a red-eye flight back to Houston for my last game.

Okay, the real reason I was leaving was that I hadn’t been invited to any of the after-parties.

I called Caryn before I left, to check on what had happened with the Dakora tux.

“Dakora understands, especially after Adrienne explained it to them. She and Frank have gotten together, and Frank used his media contacts to create a minor ‘Who is David wearing and why won’t he say?’ buzz. It’s already gotten a bunch of hits on Hollywood Central, and the blurb includes the reasoning behind it, so you’re good.

“Frank, Adrienne, and I got together with Mr. Morris. He said it definitely would have been a violation without your agreement with the NCAA in place. Mr. Morris said it’s possible you would still have a problem even with the agreement. But you made the right calls, even though someone in your camp should have identified the issue earlier and called him.”

I didn’t buy it. I’d read the rules and our agreement with the NCAA and knew I was golden, but there was no need to poke the bear. Of course, I also realized Mr. Morris earned his money by the hour. I guess I would rather spend some money and have the peace of mind. Caryn had done well to take care of this so quickly, so I thanked her, told her I would see her when I got home, and hung up.

I gave my two awards to my dad for safekeeping. Paul and I then drove to the airport. I was happy my usual sidekick was going with me.

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Chapter 25 – We’re More Than Good Sunday July 17

I had a small smile on my face when Allard told me they’d lost last night and pointed out that it was due to me not playing. It was funny how my goofing around had predicted what would happen. I just hoped the selection committee saw it the same way, and that got me on the team.

Today we were skipping the meetings and practice because we had a late-morning game. Coach Kingwood found me before we got on the bus.

“Did you win?”

“Yeah, I took care of business.”

“Good, because I need your head in the game today. Last night we met and pretty much figured out who’ll be on the team. We only have three spots not locked in, and eight candidates for those spots, four of whom are on our team. I want you to talk to these guys and let them know they need to step it up today.”

He handed me a list. It had on it Dave Gordon, M.E.’s brother (first base); Nick Madigan (right field); Mitch Underwood (shortstop); and Trent Black (catcher). I was surprised to see Dave on the list. But the other three had been on Pride in North Carolina with me and had been displaced in the starting lineup by other players, including the three young ones.

“Why’s Dave on the list?” I asked.

“Attitude. Without you here last night, he acted as if he was in charge. It messed up the team dynamic, and I’m sure that was why we played so badly last night. That boy can be a pain in the behind. I had to sit him down and explain the facts of life to him, or he might have gotten his butt kicked.”

“That’s too bad. Can we keep M.E. if he doesn’t make it?” I asked.

“Sorry, they’re a package deal, I’m afraid. We’ll just have to find some others to take their place.”

I didn’t want to think about that. I guessed since Coach Kingwood was talking to me about it that I’d made the team, but I didn’t want to ask or assume anything. He was at least letting them all play today to show what they had.

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