'A Tribute to Downers Grove North Hospitality, from a Mt. Carmel Alum'

Editor's Note: The following was an email sent to Downers Grove Patch, from a Mt. Carmel alum. 

To some, there are not many things more galvanizing to a community than a high school sporting event. No other high school event provokes more emotion than a good old-fashioned football game. I myself have traveled great distances and sat through the coldest, rainiest, and windiest weather to get a glimpse of my high school play this exciting game. Usually, I only go to watch my high school in the playoff games. The reason is our team usually wins big, many times not allowing the other team any points at all. Not much fun there!

Saturday afternoon I saw a game played that was one of the most exiting games I had seen this year. Probably one of the top five playoff games in my life. If one sits down and evaluates the game play by play, yes it was exciting. A top five? I doubt many would agree, based solely on a breakdown of the game.

So what was it about this game that left me so elated that I was distracted the whole drive home and kept me from falling asleep that evening. It did not take me long the next morning to realize what simple events at the game made the experience more heightened than other games of equal or even better caliber. Just the very fact that I have taken the time to write this letter to try to get the word out is testament enough the joy it has invoked.

The pre-game started with the home team band of Downers Grove North High School lining up on our sidelines. I thought this was a bit off, maybe even provocative to us Mt. Carmel fans. As I looked across the field at the Downers Grove sidelines I saw our band director up on the platform at the ready to conduct the Downers Grove Band. An announcement came over the speakers giving the crowd the stats of this stranger from Mt. Carmel High School up on their conductor’s platform. Both sides cheered as the band began to play. Just as a smile of realization of how kind it was for Downers Gove High School to allow our band director to conduct their band, I was floored when they began playing our fight song. Yes—you read it correctly—Mt. Carmel’s fight song. It was played flawlessly I must add. After Downers Grove North finished up with their fight song I heard my fellow attendees voicing their appreciation of the kindness of this act. I jokingly yelled out to the crowd around me. "Don’t fall for it!" "It’s a trick." It’s a trick. They’re trying to make us soft." A resounding laughter followed. They then followed up with what seemed to be the most beautiful rendition of our National Anthem I had heard in a long time. This was in part due to the feelings invoked by their selfless act of kindness just moments before.

The game went all four quarters where Mt. Carmel was only able to score one touchdown. The entire game Downers Grove North was only a touchdown and a two-point conversion away from taking the lead, and from the lack of points scored by Mt. Carmel, possibly winning the game. It wasn’t meant to be. At the very end of the fourth quarter Mt. Carmel intercepted the ball and ended up just yards from another touch down.

Then I witnessed another act of consideration but this time it came from Mt. Carmel. With enough time to run a least two more plays and a strong possibility of a second touchdown I heard the Mt. Carmel fans saying softly that Mt. Carmel should take a knee and not go for the touch down. And that is just what Mt Carmel did. They had forsaken anther touchdown for an act of sportsmanship. This was no doubt an act of respect in return for Downers Grove North’s earlier display of what this community gathering is all about.

What do we make of this? Well, I can only give you what I took from all this. And it is as follows. The simplest gesture of kindness can mean the difference between a good day/game and a great, inspiring and thought-provoking day/game. What I left with was not just excitement at the great playing caliber of the game but an inspiration to pass this act of kindness from myself to others.

A lesson I try to impart onto my own children is as follows: “It is relatively easy to give to someone you know and love but a truer act of kindness is giving to a stranger or maybe someone you may not necessarily like. In your fine example Downers Grove North, an adversary. This is an infective virus that can spread like an epidemic and bring a sense of elation to both the giver and the receiver of the kindness. It can bring communities together and propel schools, teams, and fans to new heights. This is exactly what you did Downers Grove North. Thank you and my hat is off to you. 

Dr. Patrick C. Cross
Mt. Carmel, Class of '82