In May retired major league baseball pitcher Ryan Dempster, a 16-year veteran who won a World Series championship with the Boston Red Sox in 2013, made an appearance at Prairie Grove to throw out the first pitch at 4A-1 Conference baseball tournament. Dempster came to meet McKay Gregson because his 5-year-old daughter also has 22-Q-11 Deletion Syndrome, a deficiency in the 22nd chromosome that can lead to a wide variety of health disorders and cause difficulties in learning and social interaction.
Dempster's true purpose was to recognize McKay's achievement in hitting a second-chance 3-pointer in a high school basketball on Valentine's Day. After he missed his first try, Farmington guard Jeremy Mueller rebounded and threw the ball back to him. McKay swished his next shot just before the horn sounded.
"He [McKay] was overwhelmed when he was coming off the court, he was speechless," said McKay's sister, Marie Gregson. "He used to play basketball but it was too much of a mental load on him so he decided to be manager."
"It was something we talked about going in," said Prairie Grove coach Steve Edmiston. "I talked to McKay about it this afternoon. I told him if it works out we're going to sub him in. With 6.7 seconds left you kind of realize it's done and send him in. I'm proud of him hitting that shot."
Dempster saw a Youtube video of the event and was inspired. He presented Farmington's boys basketball team with a plaque honoring their sportsmanship and contribution to McKay's successful 3-point basket and gave McKay a Red Sox jersey.
Before he left, Dempster, who heads up the Dempster Foundation to raise money for research, was presented with a $2,000 check raised by sales of "Team McKay" shirts as a joint effort between the Farmington and Prairie Grove communities. More than $1.4 million has been raised by the Dempster Foundation since 2010 in the fight against 22Q.
Sports on 12/24/2014