Gregg Doyel

gregg.doyel@indystar.com

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Pacers played the Washington Wizards on Monday night. That matters. That’s important. But something a little more important just happened.

A mom just gave her son his 18th birthday present.

John Wall just made a young man’s day.

The events are related.

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The young man is Zac Owens, a senior at Crispus Attucks High School. He plays basketball, and at a high level. He’s a point guard who has Division II scholarship offers and Division I interest. He can play, and he does it despite being born with a serious and potentially fatal skull deformity that required multiple surgeries. When he was 2, doctors told his mom that Zac would never play sports. Or go to school. Or walk. Doctors gave his mom brochures for nursing homes.

His mom said: No.

That’s a story I wrote last month.

The story Monday? Well, Zac turns 18 on Thursday. That’s a special birthday, one of those magic numbers, and Yolanda Wilkins wanted to do something special for Zac. As luck would have it, she had several tickets through Attucks for the Pacers game against Washington.

As fate would have it, Washington’s John Wall is Zac’s favorite player.

Yolanda told me her goal for Zac’s birthday: Get him a meeting Monday with John Wall. It took a village – well, a village got involved, but in hindsight all it took was the generous heart of John Wall – but that meeting happened Monday night. Happened twice.

John Wall came out for pregame warmups, saw Zac – Wall had been told about Zac ahead of time – and made a beeline there for a handshake. After warming up, after signing autographs for fans near the court, Wall made another beeline for Zac and spent a few minutes with him, chatting and posing for photos.

Zac was in a John Wall jersey, given to him by someone close to the Wizards organization who heard about Zac’s possible meet-up with Wall. Through various channels that jersey made its way to Zac before the game. He put it on over his clothes. He might have been crying a little. Sweet young man, Zac Owens.

Sweet organization, Washington Wizards. And the Pacers, too, come to think of it. The Pacers, through corporate communications director Eddie White and media relations director David Benner, allowed me to bring Zac courtside for warmups. The Wizards, through director of basketball communications Patrick Rees, made Wall aware of Zac. They told him about the request from Zac’s mom, a meet-up for her son.

Wall said: Yes.

It gets better, truthfully. When Zac told Wall that he had a gang of family hoping to go to the game, Wall handed him a fistful of tickets. One of the Wizards coaches – we weren’t told which one, but head coach Scott Brooks was in the vicinity and had been eyeballing Zac before warmups – gave Patrick Rees a pair of Wizards shorts to give Zac.

So let’s recap: Zac Owens has a Wizards jersey, Wizards shorts and even game tickets from the Wizards.

It gets better. Really.

My man Cleveland Harp is an usher at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. And as luck would have it, Harp is a former Attucks basketball star. He and 1953 Attucks classmate Willie Gardner were the first two high school basketball players from Indiana to jump straight to the pros, signing with the Harlem Globetrotters.

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Harp works the section of seats nearest the Wizards bench. Harp met Zac and told him he’d keep an eye out for two available seats near the court. The game’s about to tip off. Harp’s going to take care of Zac. Just like John Wall did. And Patrick Rees did. And David Benner and Eddie White and an anonymous member of the Wizards coaching staff.

Happy birthday to Zac Owens. This couldn’t have happened for a nicer, more impressive young man.

Find IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel on Twitter at@GreggDoyelStar or atwww.facebook.com/gregg.doyel