And a Child Shall Lead them

In our current climate of ubiquitous self-orientation, a refreshing story of selfless integrity has emerged. Nate Haasis, a 17 year old quaterback for Southeast High, a Springfield Ill. school, demonstrated true character when he had his Central State Eight conference career passing record wiped from the books.

Nate's team was losing to Cahokia High 36-20 with 22 seconds left. Not only was his team going to lose the game, he also was going to fall 29 yards short of the passing record.

Nate's coach stikes a deal with Cahokia's coach at midfield. When play resumes, the Southeast defenders allow Cahokia's running back to jog, unimpeded, into the endzone. Cahokia kicks off, giving Southeast the ball, and Nate the opportunity to get the 29 yards he needs for the record. With 8 seconds left, Nate completes at 5 yard pass to Jacque Robinson who runs without resistance the necessary yards to give Nate the record.

When Nate realized what happened, his conscience wouldn't allow him to keep the record. He wrote the conference president, asking him to remove the record from the books. "Out of respect for my teammates, and past and present football players of the Central State Eight," Nate wrote, "it is my hope that this pass is omitted from any conference record."

Rick Reilly of Sports Illustrated concluded his article about this young man by stating:

"And if it bugs you that a kid this honest and this principled doesn't have a singe Division I offer yet, relax. The sooner he gives up football, the quicker we can get him to the place where we really need him--Washington, D.C."

Amen!