A fourth-grader at Maplewood Elementary School in Ocala, Fla., Matt McCall was 10 years old when he began to work with children with Down syndrome "who made a lasting impact on my life."
As McCall recalled following the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball coach's turn as guest speaker at the Orange Grove Center's Lunch for Champions on Tuesday, "The upper classes at our school, the fourth- and fifth-graders, got an opportunity to work with special-needs kids.
"When you become a coach, it's easy to become upset over losing a recruit or losing a game. But working with those kids, learning their daily struggles, really helps put everything back in perspective."
McCall was the latest in a long line of coaches over the years to speak to Orange Grove supporters. UTC women's basketball coach Jim Foster, former Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley, former Alabama football coach Gene Stallings, whose own son John Mark had Down syndrome, and former Lady Vols coaching legend Pat Summitt have entertained and inspired the center's patrons.
But the former Florida assistant and student might have been the first to have the center's unofficial client of the year - in this case 36-year-old Ben Daniel - salute the guest speaker in a "Darth Gator" shirt during a video presentation.
"That shirt was awesome," said a grinning McCall.
As those at the luncheon will attest, the entire Daniel family is awesome, from Ben to his mom Janet to her daughter and Ben's sister Vicki Porterfield and her husband Jim.
"Ben was my Christmas present in 1979," Janet Daniel said. "He came the day after Christmas."
She sensed something was wrong almost immediately. Ben didn't cry when he was born.
"The doctor was very upsetting," she said. "He called my husband. He said Ben would never be able to go to school, he'd never be able to do anything."
Janet's initial reaction was understandable. She thought to herself, "What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to take care of this child?"
But she also knew she was going to give her son every chance to succeed, so she enrolled him in Orange Grove when he was 6 1/2 years old. Nearly 30 years later, Ben lives there, works there and continues a lifelong friendship with the other two-thirds of what Janet calls the "Three Musketeers": Jim Dake and Jason Pryor.
"To us, they talk to each other in jibberish," she said. "But they understand what they're saying."
What Janet Daniel told Tuesday's luncheon is worth repeating. Like so many other charities in this town and country, Orange Grove is having "financial struggles."
Established in 1953 by families of children with intellectual disabilities who desperately needed educational services, it now serves, according to its website, "approximately 1,000 individuals, and employs approximately 800 professional staff members to provide a wide array of community services."
It also operates 65 homes in the greater Chattanooga area for clients such as Ben.
"Ben loves Orange Grove," said his mom. "He loves his jobs. He loves his friends."
Now the Daniel family and the rest of the Orange Grove community have to hope there's enough people beyond McCall with proper perspective to keep the center going strong for another 63 years.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.