They included him in classic children games, such as tag and hide-and-go-seek. Evans tried to hide with his wheelchair behind trees in the school's playground. The kids also raced Evans. Someone would run next to him and see how fast his wheelchair could go; he sometimes won, too.

Evans also taught them. He learned to play the drums -- drumstick in his teeth. He learned how to paint with watercolors the same way -- brush in his teeth. He also made the kids laugh with his best "knock, knock" jokes.

"We were able to help him learn and he was able to show us how smart he was," Ryckman said.

The mutual adoration persisted through high school, where Evans played percussion two years in the Millard South High band and lettered.

He kept the drumstick in his teeth, band director Rex Barker said.

Though Evans didn't have the strength to play loudly that way, by using electronic percussion and amplification, "he could be just as loud or louder than anybody else," Barker said.

When the music was too intricate for him to perform live, Evans would write electronic percussion parts and trigger them during the band's live performances, he said.