Toes to Heaven
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Dustin and Britton Colquitt glance at their phones to find those words before each game; a message fueled by faith and sent by their mother. The saying serves as a constant reminder of who they’re playing for. It’s not the crowd of thousands of people, but a one-man audience, watching their one-man show.
With the message in mind, the players suit up and take the field to get started. They stand beside each other, going through the same motions, aiming for the same target, just with different jerseys on their backs. After the brothers finish their kicking warmups side by side, they part, Britton joining the Broncos and Dustin, the Chiefs. Let the games begin.
She entered her hometown for the first time in weeks with a new title to her name.
Leaving her crown and sash behind, she picked up a selfie stick instead. Circled by half her town decked out in Cardinal red, newly crowned Miss Missouri McKensie Garber filmed a minute-long testimony as to why her hometown of Hale made her the perfect candidate for the Miss America title.
Half the town surrounded and supported her that day in 2015. Within the 200-person parade cheering her on were some of her greatest high school and junior high mentors, who had helped devel- op the confidence Garber spoke of on tape. Although each one held a special place in her heart, it was her father, one of Garber’s greatest influences, who instilled in her an important word, a value that has stuck with her for 21 years.
Growing up, baseball was a way of life. With a busy father who traveled often for his job, Dayton Moore was raised by a mom and a grandmother who loved the game with a passion, the same passion that inevitably rubbed off on him.
He realized very early on that he had the most natural ability in baseball. It wasn’t long before he was dreaming of a future in the sport.
“I can’t recall a day in my life when I haven’t thought about base- ball or dreamed about what I’d become in the game of baseball,” Moore says. “It’s something that gets instilled in you very early on in your life.”
J’den Cox hung from a tree, handcuffed and harnessed in. The timer was ticking. Unfortunately for his older brothers’ satisfaction, Cox’s expertise in escaping these situations had increased tenfold. After all, practice makes perfect. He broke the metal bracelet and got away, to the displeased looks of his elders. They liked to instill toughness early, but Cox was showing them up.
Competition began early in the Cox family and never quite went away. Now, the Cox brothers compare their success: the superiority of Drae’s Master’s degree to J’den’s Olympic Bronze Medal to Zach’s healthy happy family. Tough argument.