Published: November 28, 2007 12:37 am      

VALVANO: Ohio girl reminds us of the good in sports

The producer for my radio show at ESPN calls 2007 “The Year of the Scandal.”

It is hard to argue with him.

We had Michael Vick and dogfighting, an NBA referee betting on games he officiated, former Tour De France winners voluntarily giving back their trophies for doping, and Marion Jones not so voluntarily giving her titles back for doping.

Also, we had more and more evidence stacking up to lead to an indictment against Barry Bonds for steroid use, the Patriots being levied the largest fine in the history of the league for “Spygate,” and top tennis players accused of throwing matches.

And that is only part of the story.

You can throw in a huge cheating scandal in F1 racing. Turn the calendar back just a little and the ramifications are still being felt from Floyd Landis having to forfeit his Tour de France crown, and a huge betting scandal in Italian soccer and you’ve got a scandal of the week, with most them not being media creations. These are the real deals of smarmy behavior.

And I haven’t even mentioned O.J.

Worse, these are only the high-profile ones. We have documented in this column the seemingly bottomless pit of parents and coaches in youth leagues who apparently have lost their minds.

So why do we still care?

Because of people like Claire Markwardt.

Claire is a high school senior in Ohio who runs cross country, admittedly not a sport that attracts the media or the crowds of football, basketball or a number of other sports.

Yet after not qualifying for the state meet as a junior, she put herself through the demands and sacrifices necessary to endure a cross country season, and found herself in the state championship earlier this month.

With some 20 or so yards to go after this long, demanding run, Claire took a misstep and fell hard to the ground.

She scrambled up, even though she knew she was hurt, and attempted to run/walk the remaining 60 feet or so. After a step or two, she went down again, this time with what was obviously a serious injury.

Without missing so much as a beat, she clamors to her knees and crawls the remaining 45 feet to the finish line, where a meet official picks her up to carry her to medical attention.

It is obvious her leg is broken, as it dangles grotesquely while the official carries her off. In fact, she has snapped in half both her left tibia and left fibula.

If it sounds like I am describing something I was there to cover, I’m not of course. But I have seen it, as have some of you perhaps, since the video of it is on YouTube. If you search for it, be warned. It is graphic and not for the queasy.

The obvious courage is admirable to be sure.

But like most high school athletes, there is a family involved too, and on this day, family was very involved.

After the meet, Claire was supposed to drive with her father to her older sister’s wedding some 2 1/2 hours away. Laid up in the hospital, she obviously could not go. But she encouraged her dad to go and he did, driving the distance to give his older daughter away. Then mom and dad made the lengthy trip back to be with Claire in the hospital.

You would think with two surgeries and six months of rehab ahead of her, most of her senior year adversely affected, and missing being the maid of honor for her sister, both she and her dad might be a bit angry.

Not so.

“Honestly, I think it’s a positive in my life,” she said. “Obviously, I don’t enjoy having a broken leg, but I’ve gotten so much amazing feedback out of it. And I’ve learned a lot about myself. I didn’t think I could ever do something like that. But apparently, I could.”

“When I saw her crawling, I wanted to cry,” said Richard Markwardt, Claire’s father. “I was just so incredibly proud — as proud as any father could be.”

How’s that for perspective? Something sports is supposed to teach.

There’s more.

Worried about her coach feeling guilty for perhaps pushing her too hard, Markwardt told her that she had nothing to do with the injury. Nor, she said, did her parents or anyone else. Markwardt says she alone made the decision to press on after she heard her leg crack 200 meters before the finish line and after she crumbled to the ground 45 feet from the finish.

Accountability. Wisdom. Courage. Growth. Selflessness.

Not a bad combination.

But why write about an Ohio girl here in Southern Indiana?

Just to remind all of us — myself included — that we need to take a minute to appreciate all the young men and women running cross country, playing tennis, wrestling, soccer, volleyball, softball, baseball and everything, including basketball and football, that remind us what good can and does exist in sports every day.

For all the scandals and boors there are a hundredfold good kids playing for the right reasons and giving back to the sport the things we value.

Sometimes it takes a broken leg in a cross country meet in Ohio to remind us of that.

Bob Valvano lives in Sellersburg and can be reached via e-mail at bobvshow@yahoo.com. He is a former college basketball coach and current radio show host on ESPN Radio.