The kid's name was Michael. He had terminal cancer. He was 12.
The man's name was John LeClair. He was a hockey star, a top scorer
on the Canadiens' last Stanley Cup winner in 1993.
The two met that summer at Camp Ta-Kum-Ta in Vermont, which is
attended by 7- to 17-year-old kids with cancer. Chris Kenny, who runs
the camp, asked LeClair, then and now the state's preeminent sports
hero, if he could bring the Cup to the kids.
LeClair saw Michael, so tiny but with the voice of a 20-year-old, and
picked him up. And never put him down. They talked and played with
Michael's cap, which covered his bald head, a telling effect of his
ominous treatment. The kids loved the Cup; LeClair couldn't forget
Michael.
His foundation was in its infancy stages. A friend, Mark McGinn, had
been prodding him to put on a golf tournament to raise money for needy
kids in the state. At first, LeClair didn't want the foundation named
after him -- sounded too self-promoting for this reserved man. But
McGinn convinced him otherwise -- and Michael gave him motivation to
make it all work.
"He was such a small boy but so happy, and not shy at all," remembers
LeClair, now a star for the Flyers. "You were drawn to him right away.
He was one of those kids you never forget."
Michael died a year later. His parents sent LeClair a letter. They
told him his visit was the highlight of Michael's last years. His
attitude changed; everything about him changed. When he died, he was
buried with LeClair memorabilia.
"In the back of your mind," says LeClair, "it keeps that
responsibility on you. You need to keep going because there are people
who depend on you. You wonder if you really affect these kids. So to
know you made a difference with one kid, it makes an impression."
LeClair is making a continuing impression on the needy kids of
Vermont. In this tiny, rural state, small grants of even $1,000 can have
significant impact on organizations, something LeClair and McGinn, who
directs the foundation, soon realized. So the foundation specializes in
handing out numerous grants, 30 in 2001 alone, all within the state and
all geared to programs affecting children. LeClair funds specific
requests; he has renovated playgrounds, bought computers, sent kids to
circus camp.
"Knowing you can rely on his celebrity status and his commitment to
helping Vermonters, it just puts him in a very prominent position among
groups like ours who must receive private sector help to survive," says
Deborah Flateman, CEO of the Vermont Foodbank.
Flateman's group has benefited significantly from LeClair's
foundation. It sponsors an ongoing program -- Kids Cafe -- designed to
enable community centers throughout the state to serve after-school hot
meals to needy kids who might not get dinner at home. LeClair gave them
$2,000 for a Kids Cafe at the Kings Street Youth Center in Burlington;
hundreds of kids now are fed there daily.
"He's a Vermont guy who cares about his state -- that is what makes
this all work," says Kenny of Camp Ta-Kum-Ta. "He is a guy who sincerely
has his heart into these kids."
LeClair's foundation has no administrative costs. It relies on
donations and an annual golf tournament/casino night for funding. More
than $1 million has been raised so far; part is fueling an endowment
fund so the foundation can continue after LeClair retires.
"I never realized how many people in Vermont need assistance," says
LeClair. "It is sad. They need help. That's enough motivation."
TSN'S GOOD GUY PICK:
Derek Jeter
GOOD GUYS BY SPORT:
MLB: Carlos Delgado | All
NFL: Jerome Bettis | All
NHL: John LeClair | All
NBA: Alonzo Mourning | All
NASCAR: Good guys
WHERE ARE THEY NOW
NOMINEES
GOOD GUY CONTACTS
