Viktor
Well-known member
- Mar 19, 2019
- 2,552
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What he never quite expected, though, is the way it would change him.
"Selfishly, I think I got more out of it than they did. It was just so fun and rewarding," Yarbrough said. "In high school, I've made plays in football games. I've had the crowd go wild after a touchdown or a big sack. But for my guys like Sugar Shane, Monjou, Marcus – my guys like that were never afforded the opportunity to hit the game-winning shot or to have the community go crazy for them, so [it was incredible]."
Heading into Grandview's first Unified basketball game, Yarbrough and the other organizers made sure the experience would be as authentic as possible – regular jerseys, a running clock and scoreboard – "the whole nine," he noted. Even so, they assumed parents of the athletes and possibly a few friends would make up most of the crowd.
They couldn't have been more wrong.
"The whole community came out. It was [like] an all-state, double-header game – packed. And I think the final score was, like, 12-9," Yarbrough laughed. "But if you would have heard when one of those shots went in, you would have thought we won the natty. It was insane. But oh, it was such a phenomenal time."
It's clear that Yarbrough has a heart for this special community of individuals. The passion, he said, began as a middle schooler who regularly fell victim to bullying.
"I told myself, 'If I ever get to the point where I can be king of the hill, I will be sure to let people who don't necessarily have a voice, people who are maybe overlooked, I will never stand by quietly," Yarbrough explained. "I heard 'unified,' and I was all-in."