Something for JOEY

Growing up, I remember watching “Something for Joey”. Based on a true story, the movie is about the relationship between John Cappelletti, a college football player, and his younger brother Joey, who battled with leukemia since the age of five. Focusing on the close bond between the two brothers, the story traces John through his years at college and Joey through his preteens - as each brother inspires the other, and their family around them, to try harder in life. The final scene of the movie was so touching that many shed tears:-

John wins the Heisman trophy and is recognized as the nation’s most outstanding college football player of the year. During his acceptance speech, John names Joey as his prime motivator, then gradually breaks down in tears, as he tells everyone he wants Joey to have his trophy, for inspiring him and for enduring so much difficulty with leukemia. The whole Cappelletti family is there, and Joey runs to John's side (source: wikipedia).
....

The film ends by revealing Joey succumbed to his leukemia and died with John by his side on April 8, 1976.

It was only after reading a book on Joe Paterno and the history of Penn State football that I realized the setting for the real story was in Penn State. John Cappelletti played for the Nittany Lions. He attended Penn State University, where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1973. Cappelletti went on to play professional football from 1974 through 1983 for the Los Angeles Rams and the San Diego Chargers. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1993. John Cappeletti remains the only player in Penn State’s football history to have won the Heisman Trophy. Penn State legendary football coach, Joe Paterno, said that Cappeletti was “the best football player I ever coached.”

Cappelletti's Heisman acceptance speech, where he dedicated his award to his dying brother Joey, is one of the most memorable in the history of college sports. He touched the cold hearts of many Wall Street merchants and had cynical journalists and professional athletes wiping their misty eyes when he dedicated his 1973 Heisman Trophy to his 11-yr old brother Joey who was suffering from leukemia. Speaking at a gathering that included the Vice President of the United States and other luminaries, the big Penn State tailback uttered one of the most intelligent and thoughtful short talks in American sports history. He brought the house down in tears and had wet eyes himself when he concluded by saying,

..

“The youngest member of my family, Joseph, is very ill. He has leukemia. If I can dedicate this trophy to him tonight and give him a couple of days of happiness, this is worth everything.”… “I think a lot of people think that I go through a lot on Saturdays and during the week as most athletes do. You get bumps and bruises and it is a terrific battle out there on the field. Only for me it is on Saturdays and it’s only in the fall. For Joseph, it is all year ‘round and it is a battle that is unending with him. He puts up with much more than I’ll ever put up with and I think that this trophy is more his than mine because he has been a great inspiration to me."

The speech was so touching that the relationship between Cappelletti and his younger brother Joey, was made into a movie in 1977 called Something for Joey.

.

reflection: there is no education like adversity

.

Source: 40 years of the Joe Paterno Era at Penn State – from the sports pages of the Centre Daily Times