Second Place
Carolina Hidalgo
Tampa Bay Times
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"ONE OF THE TEAM"
Greggory Chandler's father had a request. Could his son, a Plant High senior enrolled in special education classes, suit up for practice with the school's championship-winning football team? Teachers talked to coaches. Greggory got fitted for a helmet. And a few days before his birthday, he hit the field with the Plant Panthers. The boys ran plays with him, encouraged him to kick a 10-yard field goal, swarmed him when he kicked it clean through the goal posts. When practice finished, the team had a request. Could Greggory join them on the sidelines as an honorary varsity player for the rest of the season? For Greggory, who fell in love with the sport as a toddler, the Plant jersey and team camaraderie brought him closer than ever to the football star dreams his Down syndrome has kept him from.
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Greggory Chandler takes a breather and chats with his mom during his first time on the field with the Plant Panthers. The practice wore on Greggory, whose had two open-heart operations among a dozen major surgeries.
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