So much more than winning....

Sep 16, 2012, 3:33 PM

A lot of people have been questioning what makes a talented recruit want to play for Clemson. Sure, there has been some success on the field, the fan base is solid and the facilities are greatly improving but a lot of these kids have their choice of any school across the nation. The mighty SEC would welcome a lot of these recruits with open arms. It has to be more than just the three or fours hours we love to watch on early fall Saturdays. It is so much more.....

In my opinion, it is the relationship this school, staff and community share that means more than anything. A perfect example is Jordan Powell. He is a former Tiger Mascot who visits patients at the Children 's Hospital in Greenville. Even though his time roaming the sidelines is finished, his mission and ministry is not. During a recent visit, he meet Ben Jordan and his family. Ben was a 16 year old starting offensive lineman for Belton Honea Path. He was admitted to the pediatric ICU the Thursday before BHP's first game with a return of a previous blood clot condition. After a couple weeks of guarded progress, Ben was moved to a regular room and was progressing toward being released. This is where Jordan's visit occurred. Through his assistant's he was able to encourage Ben even though his football career appeared to be over. There was always the possibility of being on the field as the Tiger.

Unfortunately this was not to be. Ben passed away unexpectedly the Thursday before the Ball State game from complications associated with the clot issue. Jordan's outreach did not stop with the previous visit to provide a tee-shirt and a picture. He attended the funeral and hosted Ben's family at the Furman game. During this time, the Jordan family was able to go on the field pre-game and meet Dabo. Given this is game day and the game would be starting soon, this is a huge gesture by the coach.

But then again there is more to the story. Even though I am not aware of Ben's talent level, he had attended Dabo's camp a couple of times. The coach and president both sent cards and letters to the family to offer prayers and thoughts but any administrative assistant could have handled this. However during the Ball State post game press conference, Dabo expresses his condolences directly for the young man's family, school and team. It is around the 3:30 mark on the attached YouTube clip. He even mentions discussing this loss with his team the evening before.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CmgE5DzQJC4

It is this type of effort that best describes Clemson's reach and influence. We all want to win on the field but sometimes it is more important to win in life.

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Unfortunately it's not a ministry or outreach, I've just continued to help the Athletic Department occasionally. I live in Greenville and my real estate schedule allows me the flexibility to make appearances on short notice or when no one else is available. This was just a case where I was volunteering at GHS on the pediatric cancer floor bringing smiles and hope to some children. I was in the right place at the right time to meet Ben Jordan and his dad. I was heartbroken when I got the news 24 hrs later that he had unexpectedly passed. I was told that Ben had been really down and out for the last few weeks after finding out he was not going to be able to play football anymore or pursue his dreams of suiting up for our Tigers. Ben's dream was to run down the hill and earn a Clemson jersey so you can imagine he was really excited when I popped in his room. Afterwards the family let me know much my visit meant to Ben, his spirits seemed to be uplifted after my visit (maybe because I told him he could still suit up and lead the boys down the hill - as The Tiger haha). The family has since thanked me numerous times for the visit and mainly for cheering Ben up and "giving them their happy go lucky son back" for their final hours together.

I'm hoping to do a lot more volunteering in the future, I actually went back to GHS a couple of days ago to visit a few kids I have made a connection with. I challenge everyone to do what you can to help kids in need - It's the most rewarding things I've even been involved with.

So much more than winning....

Only 100 days til Christmas, but Jesus is busy year round!***

Re: So much more than winning....

Re: So much more than winning....

Well said my friend

Re: Very inspiring story, I had heard about the young

No problem, the Tory deserves to be shared***

Re: So much more than winning....

I, for one, would like to hear more about what you do.

Re: I, for one, would like to hear more about what you do.

Re: I think the Tiger needs to head down to Columbia

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