Home 
Though he was a football player on his middle school team, Keith Orr was not destined for athletic glory. He weighed a mere 95 pounds and had a learning disorder.
But everything changed when his teammates started plotting….
At the start of the 2013 football season in Olivet, Michigan, the team’s young captains began to huddle up outside of practice away from the prying eyes…of their coaches. But they had a good reason for being so secretive: they were devising a play that would change Keith’s life.
Finally, in a home game on October 5th of that year, the perfect opportunity presented itself. The Olivet Eagles were in possession of the ball and advancing toward the goal line. Quarterback Parker Smith handed the ball off to running back Sheridan Hedrick who raced toward the end zone with no defenders between him and the goal line. But on the 1 yard line, Hedrick took a knee.
The groans from the crowd meant they didn’t like it, but now, everything was set.
Enter 95-pound, bespectacled Keith Orr. His small frame stood in sharp contrast to the hulking athletes spread across the rest of the backfield. His teammates carefully positioned him, snapped the ball, handed it to him, and then built a human shield around him as they pushed him across the goal line.
Touchdown!
The crowd went wild. The conspirators were relieved their secret plan had worked. And a smile as big as the uprights grew on the face of wide receiver Justice Miller. With tears in his eyes, he recounted what it meant to him to help Keith score a touchdown. “I kind of went from being somebody that mostly cared about myself and my friends to caring about everyone and trying to make everyone’s day, in everyone’s life.”
That touchdown didn’t just change the score. It changed a life.
Kindness always does.
Click here for the online video.
Topics Illustrated Include:
Athlete
Care
Change
Football
Friends
Help
Kids
Kindness
Secret
Selfless
Sports
Team
Teens
Transformation
(Resource cataloged by David R Smith)
