By Rick Press
rpress@star-telegram.com
Shane Cartwright is a Dallas police detective and a military veteran who has seen firsthand the gulf between good and evil, courage and cowardice.
So when he wrote an anonymous letter of "COMPLAINT" to Aledo High School Athletic Director Tim Buchanan regarding his autistic son, two Aledo football players, and the topic of bullying, he knew exactly what he was doing.
"I knew that if I labeled that letter a complaint, then that would get his attention," Cartwright said. "I told him I had an issue with a couple of his players that I wanted to discuss."
But Cartwright's "complaint" was the best kind of misdirection play -- one that led straight to the heart of a great story about his son, Hunter, and a newfound friendship that extends well beyond the football field.
"My son is the kid that never got invited over to the other kid's houses for birthday parties and sleep-overs because he was just a little bit different from the other boys," Cartwright explains in the letter, noting that Hunter has Asperger's Syndrome. "He was always an easy target for bullies."
"There are two Aledo high school football players that I mentioned (Wes Harris and Seth Strickland) ... who have taken my son under their wing. This in itself has been a tremendous confidence booster for a kid that at times has told me that doesn't have a friend in the world," Cartwright continued. "For the first time in a very long time, my son has a feeling of acceptance, a renewed sense of belonging."
Harris is senior and a TCU commit; Strickland is a senior offensive lineman. The story of their amazing friendship with Hunter is the focus of this week's installment of Titletown, TX.,
a Star-Telegram original web series about Texas high school football and powerhouse program Aledo.
Watch it here.
