There is a God and She is just

If you haven't yet heard the story of Jason McElwain, a senior at Greece Athena High School in Rochester, NY, I am so sorry for you.

With only four minutes left in the varsity basketball, Athena coach Jim Johnson signaled for McElwain to get in the game. Excitedly, he sprinted onto the court. In his haste he forgot to check-in with the scorekeeper.

You'll forgive Jason this transgression. You see, this was his first varsity game of the year. In fact, this was his first varsity game ever. Until that day, the 18-year old was the team manager, a kid whose unbridled love of basketball and his classmates and his unending enthusiasm shines incandescently on the dark wintry days of his upstate New York school.

Oh, by the way, Jason has autism. He didn't learn to speak until he was six. He spends his day in special ed classes.

The crowd was packed that night with Jason's classmates. They knew this was the first time the boy would wear a team uniform. His coach made no promises he would enter the game, but the crowd let the coach know their desire. The Jason chants started at tip-off and never died throughout the game.

With 4:02 left, Jason got the call. Getting to this point hadn't been easy for Jason. His autism is a condition that has made some people uncomfortable to be around him. Obviously the kids at Athena don't feel that way

"A couple weeks ago he missed practice because he was sick and you feel differently when he's not around because he brings humor and life to the team," says Athena basketball player Levar Goff.

Getting the ball on the right arc, Jason,--a runt of a kid, 5’ 7” and no more than 125 pounds--heaved a three point attempt, his chance to fulfill a dream, to score a bucket.

The ball was so far off the mark that it made pre-Iraqi intelligence look accurate. The gym groaned a collective groan and Jason, head in hands. back peddled on defense. The good hearted coach Johnson wondered if it was a mistake, playing McElwain. His apprehension got worse when Jason missed a lay-up their next time down the court.

Jason's father told Johnson not to worry. Jason is fearless, he said. He is not afraid to fail.

And fail, he wouldn't. Getting the ball at the same place of his first failed attempt, Jason pushed-up line-drive shot that rattled on the rim and then fell as the frenzied crowd’s excitement rose to deafening levels.

Jason was red with excitement. A fun-loving special-needs kid, his warm and accepting classmates, a kind and generous coach--this is a cast of characters and a story on par with Rudy (which, unlike the story of Jason, is heavily embellished).

But it doesn’t end there. He scored again (3 pointer), and again (3 pointer), and again (3), and again (3), and again (3). With time running out he lofted his last shot, with his foot on the line, it was a two pointer. It too went in.

Jason McElwain, the Athena High School Boys Basketball Team Manager, a kid who recognizes his handicap but refuses to bow to either its effects or the cruel prejudices it creates, scored 20 points in 4 minutes. It should be pointed out that the other team, while not exerting the defensive pressure of Duke, gave no freebies to Jason. He earned them on the perimeter. He made six of eight shots from three point range.

As time ran out, the students stormed the court; Jason was hoisted onto the shoulders of his teammates and eagerly accepted the adulation of the thousand or so people in attendance.

"This is the first moment Jason has ever succeeded and is proud of himself. I look at autism as the Berlin Wall, he cracked it," says Jason's mom, Debbie McElwain."I've had a lot of thrills in coaching and I've coached a lot of wonderful kids, but I've never experienced something like this ever in my life, you know other than my own personal family things. My emotions, I couldn't stop crying," says Athena head coach Jim Johnson.

Jason spent an hour afterwards signing autographs. His last nine days have been filled with interviews and children knocking on his door wanting to meet the star of Greece Athena High School. Disney has called about the rights to his story.

As someone else put it, “Because he is autistic -- Jason says he's used to feeling different. But never this different - never this wonderful.”

Wonderful, indeed! Wonderful for him. Wonderful for the rest of us, who continue to search for what Jason already has. Not fame, but a dream, a passion, a respect for the credo of “do unto others,” a credo that was rewarded dollar-for-dollar, bucket-for bucket, on that winter New York night.