DISABILITIES

By Daniel J. Vance

Payton Printz and Andrew Teets became friends, and soon an entire Ohio high school football team and school district joined their friendship. This is a heartland America story worthy of becoming a Hollywood movie.

They both live near Urbana, Ohio, where the Urbana Citizen publishes this column.

The pair first met in 2000 when Teets was in sixth grade and Printz was starting as a junior high health and physical education teacher. “After exiting the (accessible) school bus, Andrew would need help getting out of his wheelchair so he could walk to and from classes,” said 44-year-old Printz in a telephone interview. “It took two teachers to lift him out of the wheelchair, one on each side. He had students carrying his books for him.”

Teets has muscular dystrophy, and from 2000 on he was losing a little more muscle function each year. For example, he could walk nearly all school day in sixth grade, but now he is able to walk only the first three class periods before tiring and having to use his electric wheelchair. Currently, Printz has the responsibility of helping Teets out of his wheelchair and assisting with his personal needs.

Printz is also coach of the Triad High football team. When Teets was a freshman, the team, after learning of his interest in football, asked as a group if there was any way their popular classmate could earn a varsity letter.

The coach found a way and the team pitched in to buy their classmate an expensive letter jacket. To earn his varsity letter this year he attended a four-day football training camp, where Triad High players voluntarily assisted with his personal needs. “They were washing him head to toe,” said Printz. “My heart fell out of my chest. His teammates were doing this and not complaining. Talk about selfless.”

This school year Printz again is helping his friend off the bus. “And my day is incomplete unless I see him,” he said. “We have great rapport. He is unbelievable. He has a smile on his face every day.”

After the last game of 2006, Printz said if possible he would give Teets the opportunity to score a rushing touchdown in a real game during the 2007 season. What happened then would fill an Ohio town with pride and tears.

[Part one of two columns. Read next week.]

For more, see danieljvance.com [This column made possible by a grant from Blue Valley Sod, www.bluevalleysod.com]