Some things are more important than the gold ball

By Ray Martin
rmartin@oklahoman.com

Saturday was a crazy day of basketball, to say the least. If you read The Oklahoman Monday, I hope you’re convinced it was the best day of high school basketball ever in this state.

So I waited for the smoke to clear to write about this. It’s something that stuck out to me at the Big House. In the midst of post game interviews and racing to make deadlines, I couldn’t get this out of my mind.

When I went to the Sequoyah-Tahlequah locker room following the 3A boys title game Saturday, I saw Chris Little, one of Sequoyah’s seniors, come out of the locker room and start crying. He wasn’t crying because he had just lost in the finals to Verdigris, or because he would likely never play another organized basketball game.

He was crying at the sight of dozens of little kids crowding around him for hugs and autographs.

“No other feeling like this in the world,” Little said while signing a shirt, and tears streaming down his face. “I would rather have this support than any state title.”

Some of the kids had shirts with Little’s name and picture imprinted on them. Others supported “I want to be like Mike” shirts, with Sequoyah guard Mike Soap’s picture in the middle. They were Jordan to these kids, and there is no doubt every move they made on the court that week was observed and noted by kids who want to play in that same title game some day.