There are always so many negative stories about athletes, you forget how much positive stuff they do. A lot of it isn’t reported because being nice isn’t always the most “sexy” story.
But I can honestly tell you when I read this story about Bears rookie J.T. Thomas, I got choked up a bit, because you can tell he did this out of the kindness of his heart.
In a time where a lot of athletes believe they are some sort of “Gods” and are beyond approach, it is refreshing to hear a story like this.
Every day, Thomas helps his seven-year-old brother Jared get home from school. Riding the same bus as Jared is an eighth-grade girl named Joslyn, who happened to grow up in Chicago as a Bears fan and now lives in Morgantown. Joslyn has spina bifida and uses a wheelchair.
With assists from the bus driver and J.T.’s stepmother, Thomas got on the bus one day to say hello to Joslyn.
As J.T. met a Bears fan in his hometown, Joslyn explained to him that she’d had a rough week because all of the boys she asked to the dance declined. Thomas melted.
“I hugged her and signed a few things and we talked for awhile and she cried a bit,” Thomas recounted. “I gave her a hug and told her everything would work itself out.”
“I was nervous that by the time I reached out, she might have had a date and would have to turn me down,” he said.
Joslyn gladly accepted the invitation.
“After so many people turned me down, this was so big especially, because he asked me instead of me asking him,” she said.
I try not to be a fan of players, because it can cloud your judgment, but I am certainly now a fan of J.T. Thomas (@TheRealJT3) and I hope he has much success in the NFL.