IN THE END, A FATHER SEES HIS SON PLAY OUTSTANDING FOOTBALL GAME

The father's eyes: Bob Richards, the former pole-vault champion, shares a moving story about a skinny young boy who loved football with all his heart. Practice after practice, he eagerly gave everything he had. But, being half the size of the other boys, he got absolutely nowhere.

At all the games, this hopeful athlete sat on the bench and hardly ever played. This teen-ager lived alone with his father, and the two of them had a very special relationship. Even though the son was always on the bench, his father was always in the stands cheering. He never missed a game.

This young man was still the smallest of the class when he entered high school. But his father continued to encourage him and also made it very clear that he did not have to play football if he didn't want to. But the young man loved football and decided to hang in there. He was determined to try his best at every practice, and perhaps he'd get to play when he became a senior. All through high school he never missed a practice nor a game but remained a benchwarmer all four years. His faithful father was always in the stands, always with words of encouragement for him.

When the young man went to college, he decided to try out for the football team as a walk-on. Everyone was sure he would never make the cut, but he did.

The coach admitted he kept the young man on the roster because he always put his heart and soul into every practice and, at the same time, provided the other members with the spirit and hustle they badly needed. The news that he had survived the cut thrilled him so much that he rushed to the nearest phone and called his father. His dad shared his excitement and was sent season tickets for all the college games. This persistent young athlete never missed practice during his four years at college, but he never got to play in a game.

It was the end of his senior football season, as he trotted onto the practice field shortly before the big playoff game, the coach met him with a telegram. The young man read the telegram and he became deathly silent. Swallowing hard, he mumbled to the coach, "My father died this morning. Is it all right if I miss practice today?" The coach put his arm gently around his shoulder and said, "Take the rest of the week off, son. And don't even plan to come back to the game on Saturday."

Saturday arrived, and the game was not going well. In the third quarter, when the team was 10 points behind, a silent young man quietly slipped in to the empty locker room and put on his football gear. As he ran onto the sidelines, the coach and his players were astounded to see their faithful teammate back so soon. "Coach, please let me play. I've just got to play today," said the young man. The coach pretended not to hear him. There was no way he wanted his worst player in this close playoff game. But the young man persisted. Feeling sorry for the kid, the coach gave in. "All right," he said. "You can go in." Before long, the coach, the players and everyone in the stands could not believe their eyes. This little unknown, who had never played before, was doing everything right. The opposing team could not stop him. He ran, blocked and tackled like a star. His team began to triumph. The score was soon tied. In the closing seconds of the game, this kid intercepted a pass and ran all the way for the winning touchdown. The fans broke loose. His teammates hoisted him onto their shoulders while the crowd cheered.

Finally, after the stands had emptied and the team had showered and left the locker room, the coach noticed that this young man was sitting quietly in the corner all alone. The coach came to him and said, "Kid, I can't believe it. You were fantastic! Tell me what got into you? How did you do it?" He looked at the coach, with tears in his eyes, and said, "Well, you knew my dad died, but did you know that my dad was blind?" The young man swallowed hard and forced a smile, "Dad came to all my games, but today was the first time he could see me play, and I wanted to show him I could do it!"

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Parade footnote: The Rev. Al Sharpton has already erected a podium for himself in the aftermath of the Puerto Rican Day parade's Central Park "wilding" mess. On Wednesday he shepherded two New Jersey women through a news conference, where they announced, no surprise, $5 million lawsuits against the New York police for failing to protect them. Meanwhile, on Monday, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported the trouble that a former prosecutor is having collecting the $345,000 a jury awarded him after finding that Mr. Sharpton and two others slandered him during the Twana Brawley fiasco. To date, he's received nothing from Mr. Sharpton, who isn't broke. The Washington Post reports that on Tuesday evening, Sharpton, in Baltimore with a retinue for, no surprise, a police brutality protest, paid $900 in cash for his hotel rooms. "I didn't know cash was illegal," Mr. Sharpton explained. "When you're on the road like I am, four or five times a week, sometimes you use cash so you don't jam your credit card."

The prosecutor's lawyer explained the reality of collecting the $345,000: "Once you obtain the judgments, you look for property or income to seize. The trick to collecting is finding those assets." -- The Wall Street Journal

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the Centers for Disease Control could identify only 21 children under age 15 dying from accidental handgun deaths in 1996. But 40 children under the age of five drown in water buckets every year and another 80 drown in bathtubs.

In the 31 states that have passed right-to-carry laws since the mid-1980s, the number of murders has fallen by 7.65 percent, rapes by 5.2 percent, aggravated assaults by 7 percent and robberies by 3 percent.

It's time for Americans to separate truth from propaganda in news coverabe about guns. guns are used to save lives almost five times as often as to commit crimes. In 98 percent of the situations, victims just brandished a gun, and in only 2 percent of the cases was the gun actually fired, usually just as a warning. When was the last time you saw a news story about someone successfully using a gun in self-defense.

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Society must deal with handgun laws: To those who advocate additional gun-control measures, look at the case of Kentucky Commonwealth Attorney Fred Capps. His tragic case illustrates the need to protect our right to own handguns. It also illustrates the frustrating issue of those in society who are prone to violence and our increasing inability to face that issue.

Capps was by all accounts a talented prosecutor, family man and civic leader. Monday morning at 6, Capps was awakened by an intruder who had broken into his home. The intruder was Eddie Vaughn, a man known for his violent behavior. Vaughn was to face sexual abuse charges later that day, and he came to kill Capps. Vaughn fired several shots, striking Capps. Capps, armed with a handgun for defense, was able to return fire. Both men died in the violent shootout while Capps' wife and daughter hid in horror.

Had Capps not had a gun, his wife and daughter too would surely have died. His last act was to kill the man who posed this danger. Yet in the process, Capps too paid the ultimate price.

Vaughn had long had a violent reputation. Known as "Crazy Eddie" for his quirky behavior, the entire community knew that someday he would erupt in violence. Few were surprised with how his life ended. All were shocked that Capps fell victim to Vaughn's final violent act.

The story illustrates two issues. First, Capps' ability to defend himself and his family rested in a single handgun he held for protection. Without that handgun, more bloodshed would have followed. And secondly, why was society unable to deal with Eddie Vaughn given his violent past and reputation? There are other Eddie Vaughns in society and unfortunately they live in most communities. Mental health experts, law enforcement officials and social activists lack a clue on how to deal with these fringe sociopaths.

Handgun ownership is not all bad. If Eddie Vaughn had the ability to own a handgun, then Fred Capps deserved the same rights. Two lives were lost because society has yet to find a way to deal with those social issues that deal us these tragedies. -- Michael Jensen, Standard-Democrat, Sikeston, Mo.