You may have heard this tale before, I know I have. It is popular for all the right reasons, it’s inspiring, picks you up and makes you feel good and tugs at the heart strings. The story that had garnered attention every couple of years is that of the ritual of “Picking Up Butch.” This ritual happens at Middlebury College in Vermont and is carried out by the college’s athletes. Butch Varno is a local man with history with the colleges teams started when he was a boy. Butch has cerebral palsy, confining him to a wheelchair, and limiting his ability to do everyday tasks.

For fifty years it has been a tradition for Middlebury’ s athletes to pick up Butch, a die hard fan, and take him to school football, basketball games and more. The ritual of “Picking Up Butch” teaches Middlebury’s athletes lessons they could ever learn on the court or the field. The story was most recently shared E:60 by ESPN this past month. Watch the video below and you’ll understand why this story changes every one it touches.

To learn more about Butch and the tradition of Picking Up Butch, visit the links below.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/rick_reilly/news/2003/03/04/life_of_reilly0310/

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=5757413

http://www.middlebury.edu/academics/resources/ace/action/volunteer/butch

This post is courtesy MVPToday.com

The Gatorade Company, in collaboration with ESPN RISE, announced on Friday that Corey Hawkins of Estrella Foothills High School is its 2009-10 Gatorade Arizona Boys Basketball Player of the Year.

The award, which recognizes not only outstanding athletic excellence, but also high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the court, distinguishes Hawkins as Arizona’s best high school boys basketball player.

Hawkins is now a finalist for the prestigious Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year award to be announced in March.

The 6-foot-3, 180-pound senior guard led the Wolves (31-1) to their third straight Class 3A state title this past season, averaging 36 points, 10.1 rebounds, 4.6 steals and 3.7 assists per game.

The returning Gatorade Arizona Boys Basketball Player of the Year finished his career as the state’s all-time career scoring leader with 3,154 points and also set the single-season scoring record with 1,152 points this winter.

The 2010 Arizona Republic Small Schools Player of the Year, Hawkins scored a season-high 65 points in a win over Chino Valley High on Feb. 2.

Hawkins has maintained a 3.14 GPA in the classroom. He has volunteered locally as a youth basketball camp counselor and participated in a humanitarian effort to collect and send shoes to earthquake victims in Haiti.

“Corey Hawkins has a work ethic unlike any player I’ve ever coached and he’s made himself one of the most complete basketball players in the state,” said Estrella Foothills High Head Coach Ty Amundsen. “He has made such an enormous impact on our team and on our program as a whole.”

Hawkins joins recent Gatorade Arizona Boys Basketball Players of the Year Taylor Rohde (2007-08, Pinnacle) and Jerryd Bayless (2006-07, St. Mary’s) among the state’s list of former award winners.

Hawkins has signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball on scholarship at Arizona State University this fall.