In the San Antonio suburb of Schertz, a great organization was formed in late 2002 and early 2003.
Eddie and Chris Canales established Gridiron Heroes after Chris was injured in a high school football game and left paralyzed. Eddie, his father, took Chris to a football game the next season to try to help him get through an expected bout with depression, and after seeing a similar injury to Chris', it hit them. They had to do something. And they did.
Now, Gridiron Greats has been going strong for six years and does great things to help cheer up players who suffer catastrophic injuries. This summer, the group took kids to Dallas Cowboys training camp in San Antonio to meet some of their heroes, and there have been many other similar outings across the country.
And now they will be featured on HBO's "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel", HBO's award-winning sports news magazine that is no stranger to the hard-hitting news piece or the tug-the-heart-strings pieces, and this will undoubtedly qualify as the latter. The show will premiere at 9 p.m. tonight with plenty of other showings over the next month if you miss it.
Also, keep an eye out for DeSoto's Corey Borner, who you may remember was paralyzed in practice back in May and is now trying to regain his ability to walk.
Adam Boedeker is a sports writer/award-winning blogger for the Denton Record-Chronicle. Two more days 'til turkey goodness.
