Rival teams step aside to give boy special moment

VALPARAISO | It was a moment Nigel Singer won't soon forget.

With 17 seconds left in a seventh-grade basketball game between rival middle schools Ben Franklin in Valparaiso and Fegely in Portage, the 12-year-old shot and scored.

The crowd erupted in applause and the young boy ran down the court, hands in the air.

It was, he said, "a dream come true."

Nigel, a special needs student at Ben Franklin who has had to overcome several obstacles this year, tried out for the team but didn't make it, and coach Rick Mendoza asked him to manage.

But, Nigel wanted to play. In just one game, he told the coach.

"He told me, 'We'd see'," Nigel said.

Then a few days before the Jan. 17 game, Mendoza told Nigel they'd put him in in the fourth quarter. Nigel practiced hard that week.

When game day came, Mendoza had a talk with his team, who had been supportive and befriended Nigel during the season. He also talked to Fegely's coach.

Then, when the time came, Nigel took to the court. The first time, he missed five shots and sat down.

With a minute to go, Nigel went back in. When the Fegely players got the ball, they turned it over. Nigel's teammates made sure he got the chance to shoot and Fegely didn't challenge despite the close score.

Then came the 17-second mark and Nigel's basket.

"To me, it means I'm not just a manager, I'm a good person and a good teammate," Nigel said of the consideration shown to him by his teammates and Fegely students.

To the adults who watched, it meant more.

"It goes to speak a lot of the character of the Ben Franklin and Fegely boys. They let Nigel have that special moment, let a young man feel that exhilaration," Ben Franklin Principal Chris Fields said. "It speaks volumes for what two schools can do to get together to make a special moment."

"It tells me that all kids are empathetic and are caring and want to help people under the right guidance," Fegely Principal Phil Misecko said. "They knew it was the right decision, and they felt good about doing it."

Fegely coach Dave Plesec said he was proud of the boys on his team.

"We could have been losing by two points, we would have done the same thing. They were happy for him, and I was really proud of them," said Plesec, adding, despite stereotypes, middle school students can be sensitive and aware.

"We just need to give them the opportunities to do so," he said.