Hopkins Looks to Army Vet for Inspiration
Sergeant Will Be Honorary Captain In Today's Semifinal
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Saturday, May 24, 2008
FOXBOROUGH, Mass., May 23 -- Johns Hopkins goalkeeper Michael Gvozden remembered signing a jersey, along with the rest of his teammates, for a childhood friend of then-backup goalie Andrew Posil after the team's national championship last year.
But Gvozden didn't learn what happened to the jersey until he saw it on national television.
The jersey was signed for Army Sgt. Ryan Major. He and Posil graduated together in 2003 from Towson High School. Posil went to North Carolina and transferred to Johns Hopkins last season.
Major joined the Army and, on Nov. 10, 2006, lost both of his legs and several fingers on both hands to a makeshift bomb in Ramadi, west of Baghdad.
A televised feature about Major showed him sitting in his bed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as he recovered. On the wall above him was the signed Hopkins jersey in a frame.
Major has gotten a little closer to the Hopkins program this season. He has been an honorary captain for several games and will resume that role when the fifth-seeded Blue Jays (10-5) face No. 1 Duke (18-1) in a semifinal on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Gillette Stadium.
Major sits on the sideline in his wheelchair and is accompanied by Posil, who graduated last year, and Corey Fink, another childhood friend. His first game as honorary captain was the homecoming game against Maryland on April 12. The team gave him an official home jersey to wear, and he received a standing ovation from the overflow crowd when he was introduced before the game.
Johns Hopkins entered on a five-game skid, the longest single-season losing streak in the program's 125 years.
The Blue Jays won that day, 10-4, and haven't lost since.
Coincidence?
"We were focusing on lacrosse and nothing else," Gvozden said. "That's why every mistake we made was amplified 100 times. So we just took a deep breath. And that's when Ryan came in. . . . He really came in at a good time."
Major said he, too, has benefited from being with the team. He, Posil and Fink flew with the team on their chartered flight from Baltimore on Thursday. The plane was the same one the Texas Rangers had used to fly to Baltimore to face the Orioles.
