How a 9-year-old and MSU football inspired each other

A letter from a 9-year-old may have helped Michigan State football rise from a Nov. 7 loss at Nebraska to the cusp of the College Football Playoff.

The story of Rowan Fitzsimmons was told to the nation Friday by her father, Ian, an ESPN Radio personality based in Dallas and the brother of Detroit Lions tight ends coach Devin Fitzsimmons. It started before last season's Cotton Bowl, when Mark Dantonio and the Spartans visited Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children in Dallas.

Rowan was one of the children there because she has a severe case of adolescent scoliosis, which causes the spine to curve sideways. She also had been resisting wearing her back brace, until Dantonio explained the importance of it to her and related it to injured MSU players and the rehab they must endure.

"I mean, the Spartans went above and beyond," said Fitzsimmons, who has two daughters. "And not just with my daughters, with all the kids. But it changed my daughter's life. She became truly inspired."

Fitzsimmons said Rowan's spine has straightened dramatically since then, "saving her life."

"To get her to wear it before she met Sparty, it was a battle," he said. "Man, I'm talking just a fight. Now? I mean she's wearing that thing 12 to 15 hours a day."

A fan was born, and after MSU's loss to Nebraska, Rowan wrote a letter to the team telling them the season wasn't over and that they could still make the playoff. She wrote that she hoped to see them in the Cotton Bowl – one of the semifinals this year.

MSU linebackers coach Mark Snyder read the letter to the team.

"And I'll be damned if they don't beat Ohio State," Fitzsimmons said.

And four days after that Nov. 21 win, Dantonio called Fitzsimmons on his cell phone, to talk to Rowan. They chatted for 5 or 6 minutes, Fitzsimmons said, with Dantonio giving Rowan a health update on Connor Cook and making sure she was taking care of her own.

"I'm sitting there saying, 'Is this really happening?'" Fitzsimmons said.

"The moral of this story is if your team stinks, and they're out of it, and they have no shot to be in the College Football Playoff or their season is done, and you're looking for a team to pull for," Fitzsimmons said, "the story of a hospital, a little girl and one of the best head coaches in college football gives you all the reason you need to pull for a good man. A better human being than a head coach."