HIGH SCHOOL
A feel-Goode story: Indiana All-Star, Illinois recruit Luke Goode makes a fan for life
Indianapolis Star
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Sometimes, all it takes is a little extra effort to earn yourself a fan for life.
For Brody Klich, a 13-year-old sports-loving kid from the northwest suburbs of Chicago, that person is Luke Goode, a basketball Indiana All-Star from Homestead.
“He is so inspirational,” Brody said. “To be able to talk to him on the phone for 10 minutes was awesome. He told me to keep striving and to never give up and always look forward in life.”
Brody’s connection to Goode started with a trip — or a would-be trip — to the Hoosier Gym in Knightstown for the annual Hoosiers Reunion Classic on May 2. Brody, a fan of the movie “Hoosiers” who had visited the gym previously, was staying in a hotel in Greenfield with his parents, Dennis and Sheri, and was looking forward to meeting Goode, a senior who was playing in the game and a recruit for Brody’s favorite college team (Illinois).
On the morning of the game Brody hopped in the shower before his family prepared to make the short trip over to Knightstown.
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“He’s normally in and out pretty quick,” his mother, Sheri Shaw, said. “We knocked on the door and there was no response. The door was locked, which was unusual. Finally, we broke the door open and got in.”
Brody had fallen and was unconscious. Fortunately, his arm was on top of the side of the tub and his head was above water. “By the grace of God,” Sheri said, holding back tears. “By all accounts, he probably could have drowned.”
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Sheri reached out to Bob Garner, the director of the Hoosier Gym to let him know they would not be able to attend. Garner asked Goode if he would be willing to reach out to Brody, knowing he would miss out on his opportunity to meet him in person.
“As a mom, that means so much to me,” Sheri said. “For a young man at his age to process that without having any idea who Brody is just blew my mind. For Brody, it was like going to Disneyland to get that call from Luke. He was blown away. Luke even told him, ‘Now you have my number if you ever need to talk. Just don’t give it out to your friends.’ I thought that was great. They’ve texted since then a couple of times.”
Though Brody has little recollection of his fall in the bathtub, other than the paramedics arriving to take him the hospital. But after another episode at home on Saturday, Brody was taken to Children’s Hospital in Chicago, where he was diagnosed with epilepsy. It turned out that the fall in the shower was an epileptic seizure.
“It has been a rough couple of weeks,” Sheri said. “But he’s a tough kid. He’s not a complainer. This is way out of anything we’ve ever experienced with him, but there is wonderful medicine for epilepsy now so we are confident we can get him back on track and playing sports again and hopefully prevent the seizures from happening again.”
Brody, who plays baseball and basketball, has his own online presence as “Brody the Kid.” He has a weekly YouTube show called “The Hobby Show”, where he interviews guests in the sports card world.
“We have a total blast,” Brody said. “It’s all about sports cards.”
Brody’s father introduced him to the movie “Hoosiers” at a young age. Sheri joked that she caught him watching grainy footage of the 1954 Milan state championship game “when he was 5 years old.” Though his parents had previously surprised him with a trip to the Hoosier Gym, he was looking forward to watching the game there three weeks ago.
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“I really love the concept of the movie with the underdog team and the miracle that they win the championship,” Brody said. “I was super excited to go to Hoosier Gym again because it is one of my favorite movies and knowing Luke was going to be there, too, was an added bonus.”
Goode followed up after the phone call to Brody, sending him an autographed t-shirt of his regular season undefeated Homestead team and an autographed photo. Sheri, a singer in the group “sstaria” who has worked with Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan and is the music director and stage manager for the NWA, said Goode’s act of kindness does not go unnoticed in their house.
“Super cool,” she said. “He didn’t know Brody, but he didn’t care about that. For Luke to track him down and do that, I think it captures the spirt of what he’s about and what Bob and the Hoosier Gym is about. It meant a lot to us and it’s something Brody won’t forget.”
Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at 317-444-6649.