Vandegrift was playing Hutto at Ed W. Monroe Memorial Stadium Friday night, November 13, 2020. Neither school will forget that night, and the Vandegrift team manager will have a story to tell for the rest of his life!
The letter that Vandegrift Head Coach Drew Sanders wrote to Hutto High School last week:
Hutto football family, this Friday night we are asking you to take part in a very special event. We have a very special person as our team manager named Tommy Hartman. He’s been our manager his entire time he’s been in high school and is a senior this year. Tommy has autism and contact sports weren’t in the cards for him, but he wanted to be as close as he could to the sport and his friends. He just loves football and the manager role was perfect for him and he’s excelled at it. I offered to Tommy when the year started an opportunity to score a touchdown in a varsity football game. He, as you can imagine, was thrilled.
I reached out to your awesome Head Coach, Coach LaPlante, to see if he would allow this event to happen during our game. He jumped at the chance to allow Tommy this special memory. I reached out to your program because I knew the Hippos had a great tradition of not only being a great team, but always doing it the right way.
So when the Vandegrift Vipers trot out onto the field for our first offensive possession of the game against your beloved Hippos, Tommy will be at the running back position. He will get handed the ball and score and the Hutto Hippos will chase after him, but not tackle him (hopefully)! If you feel so inclined, I would love for the entire stadium to be chanting Tommy’s name when he comes out to welcome him to the field!
Thanks again for helping make this special memory for a wonderful young man.
Drew Sanders
Head Football Coach/ Athletic Coordinator
Vandegrift High School
Video courtesy of Snupe Daniel, Austin Radio Network.
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