The scene: Kenney Gym in Urbana, Ill. A winter's evening in 1996. University High School trailing DeLand-Weldon 57-50 with 38 seconds to go. A skinny kid from Uni, No. 22, knocks down a three-pointer. Then, after a foul and a missed free throw the other way, he nails another one. DeLand-Weldon makes a free throw, misses the second, and No. 22 gets the rebound. 58-56. The clock heads toward zero, and the ball finds No. 22 on the outside again. All net. The crowd roars. The one-man bombing spree has brought the Illineks all the way back, 59-58.
Every night, in gyms and on sports fields all across America, someone is producing some sort of crazy heroics. Till recently, these minor feats were lost to posterity. At best, maybe they survived on a dusty VHS tape in someone's parents' basement.
But the Internet sees all. In this case, it sees a young Tommy Craggs, future Deadspin editor, having the game of his life. Craggs was bashful and foot-draggy about putting this one up, but we overruled him. It's not every day you find out your boss is secretly Jason McElwain. Anyway, that's his. We're looking for yours. Send your greatest moments in sports to [email protected], subject: Glory Days.
Video editing by Tim Burke.