MHS Tigers: Champions beyond the gridiron

By RICK SCHLUEP

GREENFIELD - Randy Closson and his McClain High School football team were about more than playing football games this past season. They decided to save some lives along the way.

When Closson and his 2009 team learned early this summer that each day approximately 3,000 children needlessly die from malaria, they wanted to make a difference. The team first gained awareness and then the players took action, pooling their loose change over the course of the season so they could purchase insecticide-treated mosquito nets for those children most at risk around the world.

“In the grand scheme of life, where does football fall?” said Closson, who presented his team the opportunity to make a difference. The team devoted one of its lockers to the fund-raiser, hanging a mosquito net inside the cubicle and putting a “Bite Back” nameplate above the locker. Bite Back (see biteback.net) is Compassion International’s anti-malaria work. The captains put out a coffee can each day in which players put their loose change. 

“We had kids who couldn’t afford to buy their own shoes, but when they had some change, they gave,” said Closson. “It was a pretty remarkable thing.”

“It all started with our seniors,” said Logan Wise, who along with fellow captains Nik Beatty, Caleb Cooper and Zach Mullikin took leadership roles in the anti-malaria campaign as they daily put the fund-raising can out in the locker room.  “I thought everybody was really committed to it.”

Beatty agreed, adding, “Our team is just a bunch of good guys. You give them a chance to help out, they will do it willingly.” Beatty said he was surprised by how much the freshmen, in particular, donated. Closson was pleased when he saw “freshmen talking to other students in class about malaria.”

Mullikin said the “team was kind of shocked” when it learned how many children die each day from a simple mosquito bite. “It kind of saddens me and makes me mad at the same time,” said Mullikin. More than one million children die each year from malaria, which is transmitted by a mosquito carrying the malaria parasite. Twenty percent of all childhood deaths in sub-Saharan Africa are the result of malaria.

The team rallied behind a cause that will have a lasting impact. That loose change amounted to $227, resulting in not just the purchasing of 22 nets, but also malaria-prevention education and treatment for those infected with malaria. Several children can sleep under one net, so the immediate impact is obvious – saved lives. 

“It is about priorities,” said Closson. “(After a loss) the sun will still come up in the morning. This puts first things first. For each of the kids who gave, it was a small amount, but I hope they see the impact they made.”

Closson and the McClain coaching staff wanted to help the Tiger players mature and grow as individuals. “It is about teaching young people that there is a big world out there…that people could use help, they need help and the team could benefit from helping others.”

As a result, many children will now have the opportunity to live, and because of that, the McClain High School football Tigers are truly champions.