His hair soaked with sweat and his scruffy beard making him look the part of a rough-and-tumble Friday night football star, Blake Kirby beamed as he sat on the bench during Greenwood High School’s 43-7 victory over Logan County. Behind him, the student section unfurled a banner in his honor and chanted his name.
Kirby, a GHS senior, was living a dream this night. But it wasn’t the typical high school football player’s dream of running for touchdowns or making game-saving tackles. Sure, Kirby carried the ball into the end zone this night and sent the home crowd into a frenzy. But his story is much bigger — and much more important — than the two-point conversion that put his name in the scorebook.
Kirby, you see, hadn’t been able to play football since his freshman year because of a disease called ataxia syndrome, a neurodegenerative disorder that has affected his coordination to the point that gripping the football was a task. On this night, though, he was able to forget the debilitating disease long enough to again experience the game he loves. Thanks to his father Clay Kirby working with Greenwood coach Chris Seabolt and Logan County coach Steve Duncan, it was arranged to have Blake score the two-point conversion after the first Gator touchdown.
“I talked to the coaches and to doctors,” Clay Kirby explained in the moments after his son’s big moment. “I’ve been working on this for about a year. The Logan County coaches have been very nice.”
Clay Kirby says he was simply trying to fulfill a promise he made to his son after he was forced to give up football as a freshman.
“I promised him he would get on the football field his senior year, and he did,” Clay Kirby says. “The coaches have let him stay on as a manager, and he loves it. But he missed playing. This is a way to honor him and make his dream come true. It was a thrill. He’s been talking about it all week.”
Blake’s mother, Missy Hilton, said her son loved football since he started playing in a flag football league at age four. For him to experience the game he loves, even on a scripted play, was great for everyone involved, she says.
“It was very exciting,” Missy Hilton says. “I’ve been looking forward to this. I thank the coaches and Dr. Debbie Sowell for coordinating all of this. Blake has looked forward to doing this for a long time. He had a physical, and Dr. Sowell said he could go in and play one play and not be tackled.”
He wasn’t touched by Logan County players who were in on the plan, and Blake took the few awkward strides into the end zone to make his dream come true.
“It’s heartbreaking that he is having the physical problems,” says Clay Kirby. “But this was great. I’m just happy for him.”
