Jason McElwain
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Jason McElwain (born October 1, 1987), informally nicknamed J-Mac, is an autistic American man who graduated from Greece Athena High School in Rochester, New York, USA, in 2006. He is noted for scoring twenty points in four minutes during a high school basketball game on February 16, 2006.
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[edit] Basketball
In Greece Athena's last home 2005-2006 game, McElwain's first three-point attempt was an airball, which he followed with a missed layup. However, within a four minute period at the end of the game, McElwain seemingly entered "The Zone", redeeming himself in spectacular fashion by scoring one two-pointer and six three-pointers (tying the school 3-point field goals made in a game record). His last three-pointer was the final shot of the game, and as the final buzzer sounded, the crowd stormed the court, and swarmed around him as his teammates lifted him up onto their shoulders. The moment was captured on the team's camcorder (taped by a student).
Teacher Andy McCormack was in the audience that night to see the game. McCormack was Jason's Speech/Language pathologist throughout high school, and Jason had asked McCormack to be there that night. The day after the game, McCormack called John Kucko, Sports director for Rochester's WROC Channel 8 news, and begged him to view a videotape of the game. Kucko would later say that it was the intensity and sincerity of McCormack's plea that made him decide to take a look at the tape. As soon as he saw it, Kucko immediately acted to get the highlights on that evening's newscast. Other local news stations picked up on it and followed suit by the next day, and within days the tape reached a national audience. McCormack continued to support Jason over the next few months in school, helping coin alternative language expressions to his now-famous "hotter than a pistol" phrase and helping him construct an introduction speech when Magic Johnson came to Greece Athena to speak to the student body.
[edit] Inspiration and recognition
The CBS Evening News aired a story about McElwain the Thursday after the game; they received so many requests to re-air the story that they re-broadcast it on the show the next evening. McElwain, Magic and others have received continual interview requests and numerous requests for development rights to the story.
On that special February night there was only one member of the media there; Eric Sucar. Along with the video footage, his photos were published in newspapers, magazines, Internet sites, and the cover of McElwain's book.
The team experienced this media attention as the regular season ended and they prepared for the postseason, but McElwain continued to encourage them with his mantra: "Stay Focused". Greece Athena ended up winning the Class AA championship for Section V (the Rochester area), but lost the qualifying game against Class AAA Fairport High School for the state tournament bid.
McElwain also met with President George W. Bush on March 14, 2006 when the President came to Rochester, New York. McElwain greeted President Bush off Air Force One at the Greater Rochester International Airport, and the two spoke with each other and with the media for a short time. President Bush commented that he wept when he saw Jason's performance and then he gave him a bookmark and a presidential tie clip. When parting ways McElwain said to the President, "It was an honor to meet you." whereupon Bush responded, "No, my honor."[1]
In April 2006, McElwain received the 'Perseverance in Sports Award' at Syracuse University's First Annual Charity Sports Auction.
In April 2006, McElwain reached a deal with Columbia Pictures to produce a film of his life story [2]. Laura Ziskin, who produced the Spider-Man movies, will oversee the project. Two-time Oscar winner Alvin Sargent is slated to write the script.[citation needed]
McElwain appeared as a guest on Oprah on April 25, 2006. The following day, he met with Earvin "Magic" Johnson, who is executive producing the film, during a visit by Johnson to Greece Athena.
On July 12, 2006, ESPN awarded McElwain an ESPY Award in the "Best Sports Moment" category in recognition of his amazing 20-point game. The other nominees for the award had been Dakoda Dowd's LPGA tournament appearance, Kobe Bryant's 81-point game, and the George Mason University men's basketball team's appearance in the NCAA Final Four. On July 26, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the Rochester Red Wings baseball game, where the first 3,000 fans received "J-Mac" bobblehead dolls.
He was awarded the Performance of Courage Award on August 20, 2006, at the nationally televised Teen Choice Awards. The award was presented by actor Ashton Kutcher. McElwain ended his acceptance speech shouting "God Bless America" and "The sky's the limit!"
On February 15, 2007, McElwain appeared on The Today Show. On March 8, he visited the Victor Junior High School building to promote "Awareness Week" at the school.
On April 5, 2007, McElwain received the Doug Flutie, Jr. Award presented by Doug Flutie and his wife, Laurie at the Annual Autism Update in Waltham, Massachusetts, sponsored by The Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation for Autism and Children Making Strides.
On February 5, 2008, New American Library released a book written by McElwain and Daniel Paisner about McElwains' life. It's called "The Game of My Life: A True Story of Challenge, Triumph and Growing Up Autistic". To help promote the book, McElwain did a book signing at the local Wegmans store where he worked. [3]
On February 7, 2008, McElwain appeared a second time on The Today Show. On February 27, he appeared on Larry King Live during a special on autism. He was accompanied by his mother and other celebrities with autistic children.
[edit] Miscellaneous
- A music artist named Iron Butter made a song dedicated to McElwain and his special night.
- McElwain has an autograph insert in Allen and Ginter's 2007 Topps Baseball.
[edit] References
- ^ rtsp://real.tvc.cbsig.net/cbsnews/2006/03/14/video1404488.rm (Real Player)
- ^ Autistic teen's story picked up by Columbia Pictures. ESPN.com (2006-06-14). Retrieved on 2008-04-19.
- ^ J-Mac’s book to be released on Feb. 5. Democrat and Chronicle (2008-01-24). Retrieved on 2008-02-09.
