On February 15, 2006, the feel-good story of autistic basketball player Jason McElwain reached fans all across America. As a result, McElwain was thrust into the national spotlight.
McElwain, the team manager for the Greece Athena High School Varsity Basketball team in Rochester, NY., was allowed to actually play in a varsity game for the first time on senior night of this year’s season. After entering the game with less than four and a half minutes remaining, McElwain scored 20 points before time ran out.
Since the basketball game, McElwain has been swarmed by the media’s attention. While traveling to New York in March, even President Gerorge W. Bush stopped by to congratulate McElwain.
“[When he learned about McElwain ] I wept, just like a lot of other people did,” said Bush, according to the Associated Press.
However, it has been the movie industry that has seemed the most interested in McElwain’s story. In the years to come, a movie centering around the life of McElwain is going to be produced.
According to ESPN’s website, David and Debbie McElwain, Jason’s parents, were constantly being approached by studios and producers eager to purchase the film rights to the story.
Ultimately, Spiderman producer Laura Ziskin was chosen to produce the film based on McElwain’s life for Columbia Pictures.
While McElwain’s story is certainly an inspiring one, some people can’t help but think the media is going a little overboard.
“What he [McElwain] did is not heroic. Will this bring about more autistic awareness? Probably not. But it is a great story,” said Mr. Marker, Rockford, MI Sports Lit Teacher.
Nicknamed “J-Mac,” McElwain has high functioning autism, which causes him to lack certain social skills but still allows him to help out with basketball.
“Scoring 20 points in such a short time span is a remarkable achievement not only for Jason, but for any basketball player at any level,” said Nick Wendling, senior and varsity basketball player for Rockford High School.