Ball boy

We have a running joke in the family about Sawyer’s luck.

It seems this kid is often at the right place at the right time. And he gets free goodies and special treatment a lot — sometimes through his charm and cuteness but mostly just by being somewhere and answering “yes” when asked. Like this time.

Another one of those situations happened last night.

We have season tickets to UNCG men’s basketball games. Ray and Sawyer have had them for several years, and I tagged along when games fell on my night off. Our friends, the Owens family — who we also sit beside at Grasshopper games — got Ray interested in going, and it’s fun to have regular outings during the winter.

The Owenses are members of the Spartans Club, a special designation for donors, and with membership comes a meal before every home game to hear coaches and others speak. And occasionally, when one of them can’t attend the game, they kindly invite us to use their meal tickets.

We were eating dinner when this young woman with a clipboard starts hovering by our table. I noticed her out of the corner of my eye and wondered what was coming. She stepped up and knelt down next to Sawyer’s chair and started talking to him.

He was too busy eating his bread and had no clue what was happening, so I jumped in. They needed someone to deliver the game ball to the referees on the court before the game, and she wondered if Sawyer was interested in doing it.

I asked him if he would like to go on the court and take the ball, and he said, “Sure.” I’m almost certain he had no concept of what that meant, but the fun thing about Sawyer is that he’s generally game for practically anything. (This will surely be the most worrisome (for me) thing about him when he becomes a teenager!)

She told us where and when to meet her, and at the appointed time, she led us through the bowels of the Greensboro Coliseum to the opposite side of the court. Not quite sure why we needed to walk all the way around through instead of just cutting across the court — we were dignitaries, after all.

It was still a long time before the game was going to begin. Ray and I thought we’d probably just hang out on the sideline until maybe five or 10 minutes before game time. But we were wrong.

When we got to the corner, the woman said, “OK, y’all can wait here, and I’ll escort him back when we’re through.”



Sawyer took her and hand and never looked back. Ray and I exchanged surprised and concerned looks, and he said, “Should one of us go with him?”

We decided we’d play it by ear. We didn’t think Sawyer would get nervous or bored, but with kids, it’s impossible to know. So he stood in front of the scorer’s table for a good 15 minutes with Elizabeth. At first, he looked like he was in a daze. Then she squatted and started chatting with him, and he began talking her ear off.

Ray and I chuckled and agreed that surely this woman was not around kids much.

We took seats on the front row to wait, and while the cheerleaders danced, I snapped a few pictures with my cellphone. They were pretty horrible from so far away. Sawyer looked tiny next to all the giant basketball players, a few of whom ran by and gave him high-fives.

It dawned on me that one of the newspaper photographers might be shooting the game, so I started hunting for them. Scott Hoffmann was sitting in the opposite end setting up his camera equipment. I made a beeline to him, told him what was going on and asked if he’d shoot a picture of Sawyer. After the national anthem, Sawyer’s name was announced and he very solemnly walked the ball out to mid-court and handed it off to the referee. He looked very serious (or very scared).

The coliseum crowd thundered with applause. I wish I’d gotten in on video. He was escorted back over to Ray, and he ran the last 15 feet and jumped into his arms. Then the huge grin broke out on his face.

As we made our way up to our seats, fans were giving him the thumbs-up sign or saying “good job.” He may have been a little embarrassed by all the attention. A few people behind us told him what a great job he did. It was certainly his brush with celebrity, however short-lived.

The next day I emailed Scott, and he graciously sent me back this wonderful photo. It’s just another sign of Sawyer’s good fortune at being in the right place at the right time.