I have the good fortune to be able to attend several of the post-season awards banquets for the various Wabash athletic teams. Sometimes, however, I'm forced to miss them due to other scheduled varsity events.

That was the case this year with the 2007-2008 Swimming and Diving Team Awards Banquet. The event was schedule on a Sunday afternoon when we also had a home baseball game. I knew their was a slim chance I would make the banquet. I didn't. 

I did, however, get the opportunity to see a very special moment near the end of the awards portion of the evening.

The team had asked Patrick Woehnker's family to attend the banquet. Woehnker, a Wabash freshman, had perished in an accident very early in the school year. Patrick had remained in the hearts and on the minds of his teammates, and they chose to remember their fellow athlete in a very special way.

Brent Graham, recently named one of the co-captains for the 2008-09 team, spoke of getting to know Patrick. Graham was not only a teammate of Woehnker, but was in the same fraternity, Lambda Chi Alpha.

"We only had a short time to get to know Patrick," Graham said at the banquet. "But that time was special."

With the Woehnker family standing at the front of the room, Graham announced that Woehnker had received his varsity letter as a member of the Wabash team, and presented the white "W" to his mother, Wendy. 

After the letter award, members of the team presented the family with a Wabash banner signed by each athlete and coach. Finally, a check made out to the Kendallville, Indiana Parks and Recreation Department was given in Patrick's honor. The money had been collected by the swim parents group to support one of Patrick's favorite hometown organizations.

There are always wonderful moments at the end-of-the-year banquet --- a special speech by a senior realizing what his career has meant, an anecdote that captures a key moment of the past year, etc. In a year that has seen several great moments, this five minute presentation at the swimming team's banquet may be the one remembered with a smile and a tear.