A Michigan high school football player who suffered a fractured spine when his opponent pancaked him received a hero’s welcome as he returned to the gridiron sidelines.
Lakeshore Lancers Colton Mims, 15, used a wheelchair to guide him as he walked over to reunite with his teammates at Dickinson Stadium at St. Joseph’s High School on Friday night.
“The first time taking the field since!!!!” Courtney Mims, Colton’s mother, wrote on Facebook. “That’s my BIG BABY!”
Mims, sporting his number 68 jersey, was photographed on the visitor’s sideline, where he sat next to another injured teammate, and watched his school take on the St. Joseph Bears — just over a week after he sustained two “slight fractures to his spine.”
“He’s an angel. His teammates are THE BEST EXAMPLE OF YOUNG MEN I’ve seen in a long time,” the proud mother wrote.
Parents from St. Joseph’s organized the special return from Mims, holding a prayer circle around the injured teen outside the sports complex.
“Couldn’t be more blessed with my SJ moms for letting me know they organized this,” Courtney Mims wrote. “Allowed/ gave us as moms this sweet spot before (the game) And their boys! who have also been so sweet!”
Lakeshore won the “War by the Shore” contest and the team greeted Mims with a high-five after the game.
“Our communities are BEAUTIFUL! THIS is what it’s all about,” the delighted mother shared.
Mims suffered the brutal injury when he was playing defense during a game against Kalamazoo Central High School on Sept. 18.
He wound up on the ground after going up against a hulking Kalamazoo lineman, who got up and bodyslammed himself onto the defenseless Mims.
Mims was carted off the field and transported to the hospital as a result of the “illegal move.”
One Kalamazoo player, Rhys Biske, denounced his teammate’s actions, describing the act as an intentional move, but done as a celebratory stunt.
Biske shared that his teammate had no malicious intent to break the opposing player’s spine in two places and was doing the stunt as a “celebration and to be funny,” the teen said on his mother’s TikTok.
Footage of the horrific play went viral, sparking online fury.
“They’re getting a lot of threats and comments on videos or saying a lot of things about jail time for my teammate and firing the coaches,” Biske said.
Kalamazoo Central High School announced it took “strong and decisive action” against the junior varsity athletes who jumped on the Lakeshore player, but “due to student privacy laws, we cannot disclose the specific accountability actions.”
The school district apologized to Lakeshore for the “unacceptable” actions and applied serious disciplinary actions against the student,” Lakeshore Schools Superintendent Greg Eding revealed, according to WWMT.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
