Autism: Cornell coach finds special inspiration for NCAA tournament run
Washington Post
ITHACA, N.Y. — The text message arrived on Cornell Coach Steve Donahue’s cellphone minutes before the Big Red upset Wisconsin in the second round of the NCAA tournament. It was a message from one coach to another: “If you don’t dream to become a champion, you won’t become a champion.”
The coach was not one of Donahue’s college basketball contemporaries. It was Jason McElwain, a 21-year-old volunteer junior varsity assistant coach from the Rochester, N.Y., area. McElwain spent Selection Sunday with the Big Red and has corresponded with Donahue ever since, sending Donahue messages during the 12th-seeded Big Red’s NCAA tournament run to the East Region semifinals, where it will face top-seeded Kentucky in Syracuse, N.Y., on Thursday night.
“If J-Mac says dream it, then that’s all I’m going to think about,” Donahue said. “We can do this, and we’ll see what happens.”
McElwain, who is autistic, became a national story four years ago when he scored 20 points in the final four minutes of a high school basketball game in Upstate New York. He was featured on national news programs, won an ESPY award and met President George W. Bush.
Donahue and his wife, Pamela, watched a television feature on McElwain after the 2006 game. They both cried. One of their four children, Matthew, has a form of autism. Donahue also has a brother with mental disabilities.
via Cornell Coach Steve Donahue finds special inspiration for NCAA tournament run – washingtonpost.com.
Posted on March 25, 2010 | No Comments | Category: Autism | Tags: Autism, celebrities, sports
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