[NU Sports] Remembering Mrs. Kustok - FW: A classy, classy act

[Chris Patterson]

Hello Fellow Listers,
	Believe it or not, I saved this email from 2001 in one of my archive
folders (I was doing some archive deletions today and came across this). I
thought most of you would enjoy reading it again. 

	To add to the story below and as my wife tells it today, it was Mrs.
Kustok that suggested to Zak that he give my son a tour of the locker room.
It is just one of those 'little' things we do as parents (to instill
values). No doubt she did a wonderful job with Zak.

	BTW, those sweat bands stayed on the night stand for about year,
too! :) Hard to believe that this was 9 years ago! Read on... memory lane.

	All the best to the Zak and his sister.

	Go CATS!
Chris and Lori Patterson
Knoxville, TN

-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Patterson [mailto:cpatterson at enterprisesw.com] 
Sent: Sunday, November 11, 2001 8:42 PM
To: nwu-sports at tssi.com
Subject: A classy, classy act

Dear Wildcat Faithful,
Just back from a long Chicago weekend with my 8 year old son.  We had hoped
that Saturday's game would be the highlight of the weekend...sigh (it really
did feel like the late 70's, though the weather was better).  I have to
report an event, though, that turned my son's attitude around about the day.
As we were passing by the stadium on the way to Welsh-Ryan for the b-ball
game, we saw Zak Kustok standing there, talking to a woman (turns out it was
his mom).  We encouraged my son to ask him for an autograph, but when Thomas
demurred, I approached the Kustoks myself and asked for him.  Zak yelled
out, "Hey, Thomas!", and when my son came over, he proceeded to sign for him
and talked with us for several minutes (his left hand was swollen about 30%
above normal size, and rather bruised). The most bittersweet part was when
Thomas asked him what pro team he wanted to play for; Zak got this kind of
wistful/chagrined look on his face, and replied, "Anybody that wants to have
me"--I really felt for the kid.  He then asked Thomas if he wanted a tour of
the locker room, and while there, gave him a set of wrist bands and some
pointers.  My point is this--the guy had just finished what had to be a
humiliating game and likely the end of bowl hopes, and was injured besides,
yet took the time to pay beyond-the-line-of-duty attention to a little kid
he'd never met!  Thomas has been on Cloud 9 ever since, and the wrist bands
HAVE NOT come off.  This experience alone will keep me cheering for the
'Cats (and Zak in particular) for a long, long time.  What a fine young man
(and Mrs. Kustok tells me there are many such examples on this team)...

Lori Patterson
CAS '81, NUMS '83


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