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Show Dodger players help dream eome true for Farmington youngster ,. i . ' 1 ' f ' t Vs I - ' v ft- " -r-, . ,A " K sy A V- ";s By GARY R. BLODGETT FARMINGTON Twelve- I year-old Chad Orison of Farming- : ton has a good reason to cheer for I the BYU Cougars football team and i the World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team. You see, Chad has some close friends on both teams. He's just glad they are not in the same sport, playing against each other, i Chad is handicapped, a victim of I Dystonia, a children's disease that physically cripples the limbs but does not affect the brain. He's mentally men-tally alert and a better-than-average student in Farmington Junior High's seventh grade. Chad had a "dream come true" When he saw a game between the Dodgers and Phillies just before the season ended and when the Dodgers Dod-gers were leading the Western Division Divi-sion of the National Baseball League. He was visiting relatives in Los Angeles when a friend of the family said she thought she could arrange for Chad to meet some of the Dodger Dod-ger players while they were taking batting practice before the game. Plans worked out and Chad found himself and his wheelchair on the playing field behind home plate. A public relations gal for the Dodgers arranged for Chad to visit with his favorite players and he got to pick which players they would be. First came Manager Tom Lasor-da. Lasor-da. Then there was Fernando Valenzuela, Kirk Gibson, "John Shelby, Steve Sax and Mickey Hatcher. As a special favor he also asked to see big Mike Schmidt of the Phillies. Schmidt was in pre-game pre-game therapy but he didn't let Chad down. Schmidt came meandering out of the dressing room and spent several minutes with the Farming-ton Farming-ton lad. Shelby sent for one of his bats and then autographed it for Chad. Sax wasn't to be outdone and wanted Chad to have a memento from him. So he hired the public relations photographer to take a picture and then sent an autographed auto-graphed copy to Chad. "Chad and Lasorta had a nice, long talk and the Dodger manager was extremely cordial," said Chad's mother, Shauna. He liked all of the players but (Kirk) Gibson is probably his favorite." Chad agreed, but when asked which one he rooted for the most during the playoffs and World Series, he just grinned and said, "all of them." Shauna noted that he would "just go crazy" when one of his favorites would make an outstanding play or hit a home run. "He really got into it this year. It (World Series) was something special to him." The BYU Cougars are his favorite favo-rite football team along with the San Francisco 49ers. He has autographed auto-graphed footballs of the Cougar teams for both 1987 and 1988. "I love the Cougars," Chad said with a little bit of a struggle. "They are my favorites." Chad and his family attend BYU games as much as possible and watch them on TV if they are unable to attend. Shauna explained that Chad was a little afraid that someone might take his Schmidt-autographed bat if it was placed with the regular baggage bag-gage on the return flight home. "I talked to a flight attendant about ab-out it but she explained that it was against airline policy to allow a baseball bat to be carried in the passenger pas-senger section," said Shauna. "But as we were about to take off, the flight attendant came to Chad's seat and presented him with the bat." Oh yes, the Dodgers won that game that Chad saw. It was 4-3 and made a Farmington lad very happy. He is the son of Randy and Shauna Orison, 424 W. Bing Circle, Farmington. ' 1 Chad Orison, Farmington, had the "day of his life" recently when he visited the Los Angeles Dodgers with his grandmother, right, and was presented an autographed baseball base-ball from team members and a bat from the Dodgers' Steve Sax, left. Chad was left partially crippled from a childhood disease which struck the 12-year-old about six years ago. JUNIOR HIGH WRESTLING STANDINGS NORTHERN DIVISION SOUTHERN DIVISION W L GB W L GB Sunset 4 0 - Centerville 4 0- Kaysville . 3 11 Farmington 3 11 Central Davis 2 2 2 Mueller Park 2 2 2 North Davis 2 2 2 South Davis 2 2 2 Syracuse 13 3 Bountiful 13 3 North Layton 0 4 4 Millcreek 0 4 4 Jlll.UK .1 IIUL.l.t JO-JIM JMUMUUl'lM JUNIOR HIGH BASKETBALL STANDINGS I -NORTHERN DIVISION- -SOUTHERN DIY1SION- ! W L GB W L GB ! Kaysville 2 0 South Davis 2 0- i Central Davis 1 1 1 Centerville 2 0 j North Layton ' 1 1 1 Mueller Park 111 I North Davis 1 1 1 Farmingfon 1 1 1 Syracuse 111 Bountiful 022 j Sunset 0 2 2 Millcreek 0 2 2 |
