HHS plays it forward
Nick Hackett tosses one of the footballs he and Hartselle Athletics collected during their Play it Forward drive on Saturday. | Brent Maze
Officials with Hartselle High School’s athletics department collected a large amount of sporting goods and other athletic equipment to donate to tornado victims who lost their’s during the April 27 tornado outbreak.
Nick Hackett and Hartselle basketball coach Keith Wright manned a trailer draped with a large sign that said “Play it Forward,” the name of the sporting goods drive.
Hackett said the idea came to him when he was talking to his 12-year-old son, Jack, about the tornado devastation.
“He said he didn’t know what these kids affected by the tornado would do about sports,” Hackett said. “It got me to thinking, and we came up with the idea to collect sporting goods for them. Others were donating clothes, food and other items that they needed, but I never heard anyone talk about sporting goods. Many of them will want to play ball this summer.”
They collected a large amount of items including footballs, baseballs, softballs, helmets, gloves and even golf clubs. Although the drive was mainly Saturday, Hackett and Wright said they’d still take donations through this week.
“We won’t be delivering what we’ve collected until next week,” Wright said. “If there are others who want to help, just give one of us a call.”
For more information or to donate, please call Hackett at 256-303-2305 or Wright at 256-612-9879.
