Monday, September 26, 2005

"pass right!"

I’m a huge fan of college football & one of my favorite teams is Notre Dame. Not for any special reason, I’ve just always liked them. The ambiance of their stadium, the University for that matter, their colors (I‘m a woman! What‘d ya expect?). But now, it seems as though I’ve got one more reason to like the Fighting Irish.

In Washington State, lived a special 10 year old boy named Montana Mazurkiewicz, named after none other than another of my favorites, Joe Montana. In July, Montana was made an honorary member of the National Guard as one of his dreams was to be a soldier. Montana is also a huge Notre Dame fan. Pretty smart kid for being so young!

You see, Montana was dying of an inoperable brain tumor. Three weeks earlier he’d had been informed by doctors that there was nothing more they could to stop the cancer from spreading. When word reached Coach Charles Weis about their loyal fan, he went to visit the little guy in Mishawaka, Washington. The day before the visit, Mazurkiewicz lost all feeling in his lower body.

Coach Weis spent some time with Montana, telling him about pranks he’d played on the other Montana, Joe, while they were college roommates. Then, according to Coach Weis, he let the youngest give him grief about the Michigan loss & little Montana did just that. His mom saw him smile for the first time in months and took some pictures of her son & his favorite coach.
Weis said, “He told me about his love for Notre Dame football and how he wanted to make it through this game this week. He just wanted to be able to live through this game because he knew he wasn’t going to live very much longer.” He gave Montana a football but when his mom asked him to toss her the ball, he was too weak. So, Coach Weis climbed into the recliner with him & helped him toss the ball to his mom.

Coach asked him if there was anything he could do & Montana said ,as a matter of fact, there was. He wanted to call the 1st play of the game and when Charles Weis asked him what play he wanted, he responded, "pass right!"

Sadly, Montana Mazurkiewicz wasn’t able to see his dream come true as he passed away on the Friday before the game. When Coach heard about his passing, he called Mazurkiewicz's mom on Friday night to assure her he would still call Montana's play. "He said, 'This game is for Montana, and the play still stands,'" she said.

So, on Saturday in Washington, the very first play Notre Dame could call, they called “pass right!” , just as Montana had instructed. It ended up being a 13-yard completion for the Fighting Irish, who went on to beat Washington, 36-17.

I'm pretty sure Montana Mazurkiewica had the best seat in the house.


Technorati tags: montana mazurkiewicz, joe montana, coach charles weis, notre dame, fighting irish, university of washington

posted by jane at 5:15 PM