The Demon Deacon

Issue: You played college baseball, right?  How come there hasn't been a single post about it?

Short Answer: I was just asking myself that the other day...

Reasoning: College baseball is a fringe sport.  Most college baseball programs are supported by the football team and all the money they make.  In fact, only two sports are profitable on the college level - men's football and men's basketball (sorry ladies - even though, how can anyone be shocked that women's amateur sports aren't profitable?).  Occasionally, however, men's baseball can be profitable.  Case in point - my junior year at Georgia Tech.  We spent quite a few weeks ranked as the #1 team in the nation.  Mark Teixeira was our 3rd baseman that year (and Jason Basil was our left fielder!), and we were generally considered one of the teams that would ultimately vie for the National Championship.  We won the ACC Tournament Championship, we hosted (and won) the Regional Tournament (beating Stetson University in the finals), and we hosted a Super Regional in which we were beaten by the University of Southern California (who went on the be National Runner-Up).  After all that, we actually made money for the school.  The only reason I know this, is because they made a huge deal out of it.  Georgia Tech was ecstatic, because it doesn't happen often.

That is why it sometimes flies under the radar when a big story happens in the college baseball realm.  No large media outlet takes the time to report on it because they are afraid that no one will care.  I, a mere blogger, don't have the same problem.  So, when my good friend Doug sent me a news article yesterday, that had to do with college baseball, I immediately wanted to write a blog post about it.  Then, I actually read the article, and I can't tell you how moving it was.  I'm shocked (sort of) that I haven't heard more about it elsewhere.  The fact that this story takes place at Wake Forest, which is part of the ACC conference in which I played college baseball, only made me want to get this story out there even more.

Kevin Jordan is a freshman at Wake Forest.*  He signed a national letter of intent in 2009, before his senior season in high school.  Toward the end of that senior season he was diagnosed with "ANCA vasculitis, a type of autoimmune swelling caused by autoantibodies. The immune system produces normal antibodies to fight infection in the body. However, an autoantibody is an abnormal antibody that attacks a person's own cells. ANCA stands for Anti-Neutrophil Cytoplasmic Autoantibody and when these autoantibodies are present in the kidneys, it causes a leaking of blood and protein into the urine and eventually results in kidney failure."  At 18 years of age, Kevin had to start kidney dialysis three times a week.  When that didn't improve his kidney function, he went through dialysis every single day, from 11 p.m. to 8 a.m.  Doctors also told him that the next step (and maybe only step) was a kidney transplant.  18 years old and having to think about a kidney transplant.  It doesn't seem quite fair.  Kevin's parents were both tested, along with his brother, and none were a match.  During the fall of 2010, head baseball coach Tom Walter had told Kevin's father, Keith, that he would be willing to go through a compatibility test, to see if he was possibly a match for Kevin.  And, after all the family members failed to match, that is exactly what Tom Walter did.  And guess what?  He was a match.  Now, it is one thing to go through a compatibility test, and entirely another to actually donate a kidney.  Tom Walter, only 11 days after finding out he was a match, decided he would do just that.  On February 7, 2011, Tom Walter, head coach at Wake Forest, donated one of his kidneys to Kevin Jordan, freshman baseball player.  That, ladies and gentlemen, is the definition of selflessness.

After the surgery, Coach Walter stated that "[c]ertainly, the best-case scenario is that Kevin and I just lead a normal life...Forget the baseball part of it for now. If he gets back on the field, that's going to be the best story of all. That's when (the media) are going to be calling back for another press conference, because that's going to be the great story, when he makes it back to the playing field. But, take that aside, just him having a normal life, where he can be a normal college student and not be hooked up to a dialysis machine from 11 o'clock at night to eight in the morning every night and just be a normal freshman."  Yes folks, life does come before baseball, and it's nice to see someone is such a high position realize that, and pass that lesson onto his players.

I was thinking about how to end this post when I realized the author of the linked article below said it best already (and if it ain't broke...): "Wake Forest's slogan for the 2011 baseball season is '[w]hat are you willing to sacrifice to help make this team better?'  Head coach Tom Walter's intent was to have his players thinking about sacrifice bunts, moving runners over, and giving up personal glory to help the Demon Deacons improve as a team.  But what Walter chose to sacrifice is greater than simply hanging in on a curve ball and taking one for the team."

Somehow, I know I will find myself rooting for Wake Forest this year (as long as they aren't playing Georgia Tech), and deservedly so.  Thank you, Coach Walter, for being the man, coach, and mentor that we should all strive to be.

*All direct quotes and information taken from the Wake Forest Athletics site.