SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- When a stranger pushed him to the ground last month during a race in Rochester, Chase Coleman stopped running.

Chase, a 15-year-old Syracuse boy with autism, turned in his cross country uniform and left the team. The incident led Chase to give up a sport he had enjoyed for three years -- a sport that made the mostly non-verbal teen part of a team.

Clarise Coleman did not want her son to give up running. She also did not want Chase to give up his faith in people.

So when supportive messages from the community started to pour in, Clarise Coleman said her family decided to read every card and letter to her son. The kind words echoed what she was trying to prove to Chase.

"There's one mean person," she said. "But there are thousands of thousands of nice people."

This weekend, nearly 1,000 people came to Syracuse to bring Chase proof.

Supporters dressed in white shirts emblazoned with the words "Run with Chase" came to Corcoran High School on Saturday morning to participate in a fun run. The event was organized by volunteers and a running coach who were determined to convince Chase to give running another try.

Over 600 people registered for the race. Hundreds more came to Corcoran on the sun-drenched, 60-degree morning to cheer Chase and his fellow runners on.

Before the start of the race, Clarise Coleman stood in a crowd with hundreds of her son's new and old friends. She could not stop smiling.

"It just started out as his coach saying, 'We just want to take him for a run,'" she said. "It turned into an explosion of kindness, and we are so grateful for that."

Before the run, Chase stood outside the track greeting his supporters. He wore sunglasses, a maroon "run with me" shirt and a brand new pair of neon-orange Nike sneakers.

The sneakers were given to Chase by the Syracuse Academy of Science High School's girls basketball team, said Stan Coleman, Chase's father. The team decorated the sneakers with hearts, signatures and encouraging words.

Strangers and friends asked to take selfies with Chase and shake his hand. With every introduction, high-five and photograph, the teenager's grin seemed to grow.

The man who pushed his son did an "evil thing," Stan Coleman said. That single, awful act sparked kindness in people across the nation, he said.

"It's not all bad," Stan Coleman said.

The run came just over a month after Martin MacDonald, a 57-year-old Pittsford man, stepped out of his car and pushed Chase to the ground during a cross country race in Rochester. MacDonald told police he was afraid Chase -- who was wearing his maroon Syracuse West uniform -- was going to mug his wife.

Chase's story drew outrage and sympathy from people across the nation. When a run was organized in the teenager's honor, hundreds of people vowed to come to Syracuse.

One woman traveled more than 300 miles to run with Chase.

Baltimore Police Sgt. Kimberly Glanville and her two sons drove from Baltimore, Maryland to Syracuse to participate in the fun run. Glanville, a Syracuse University alumna, said she

wanted to show Chase he was supported and safe.

Glanville said she has a son with autism. When she heard what happened to Chase, she felt "heartbroken."

"It was a little frustrating," she said with tears in her eyes.

Debbie Deming, of Syracuse, stood beside the track waving a handmade sign. As a running coach for adults and children, Deming said she has witnessed the positive impact running can have on people with autism.

In a story that started so badly, she said the fun run was just what the community needed.

"We need good to come out of something bad," Deming said.

Chase started the fun run surrounded by dozens of friends. He looked determined as he ran past the starting line with measured strides.

By the time he neared the end of the course, Chase looked more relaxed. He jogged across the finish line -- grinning as the crowd cheered.

For Chase, it was a winning race.