This letter was forwarded to me from a HS teammate. I wrestled (among other sports, and know the coaches at Central Catholic. I grew up in West Lafayette (so I always regarded them as my personal bitter rival-I even tried to wrestle again, after blowing out my knee-again- so I could wrestle my brother who was Varsity at WL) where I had many good friends who went to WLHS.

THis is the same type of story as the young man with autism, who played basketball for his HS after working as team manager.

From: Louis Hoefer
Sent: Friday, February 24, 2006 7:57 AM
Subject: Testament to Catholic Virtue

Dear Fellow Educators,

My name is Louis Hoefer I am a wrestling coach from
Sunnyside Middle School, a special education teacher, a Catholic, and
an
alumnus of Central Catholic High School. Last night my school hosted a
3-way wrestling meet with CC and West Lafayette. At the end of the
meet,
West Lafayette had a wrestler with Down syndrome whom they wanted to
get a
match for. Your school took them up on this, and put out a wrestler to
wrestle this disadvantaged young man. Before the match began your
coaches
whispered special instructions in the CC student's ear and sent him out
to
start the match. For the entire 3 periods this young man wrestled in
such a
manner as to make the West Lafayette kid seem like a champ; allowing
him to
get move after move on him, and then in a final moment of sacrifice he
allowed himself to be pinned by this young man with down syndrome. The
West
Lafayette wrestler was ecstatic; perhaps it was his only win...maybe
even
the only time he had ever wrestled beyond t he 1st round. I wish I
knew the
name of your wrestler, I believe it was Kevin Jones but I am not sure.
I
had heard later that night that whoever your guy was his "win record"
was
nearly perfect going into this match.

This act of selflessness is a beautiful testament to
Christian charity and virtue -I get choked-up just thinking about it.
Unfortunately, I know my coaching staff probably would not have asked
our
wrestler to give up the win even in a match like this. I even heard
one of
our wrestler's say, "Why would he ever want to lose to a tard."
What I think captivates me most about this little instance is that
junior
high-aged boys are so overwhelmed by the sins of pride and ego; what a
gift
it was for your young man to forsake himself to bring a moment of glory
to
some one less fortunate. There are many, many things I have heard
about and
seen go on at CC since my graduation that are demeaning to the school's
nature. This moment has made me proud of my alma mater once again!
God
bless you, and please pass this on to the Priests and the Bishop who
have an
interest in the school.

Louis Hoefer
Sunnyside Middle School