Nice article Bill Koch (credit where due)


When 11-year-old Buzz Smith was told by his doctor that he would not be able to play football anymore, he took the sobering news in stride. Football was Buzz's favorite sport, but if he couldn't play, he still wanted to be involved, so he asked his mom, "Can I be their water boy, then?"

That's the kind of spirit that has moved Buzz's parents to refer to him as their hero and inspired the University of Cincinnati women's basketball team to adopt him as part of their family as he recovers from a series of operations to have a non-cancerous tumor removed from his spinal cord.

Buzz, who attends Clinton-Massie Elementary School, was officially "adopted" during a ceremony at Fifth Third Arena last month with head coach Jamelle Elliott and the players on hand to welcome him into the fold.

"I equate this to the recruiting process because when you're recruiting new members to your team, you want them to be a certain way, character-wise, and we think that Buzz is everything that I would want in a Cincinnati player," Elliott said.

"His mental and physical toughness, his work ethic, being a good student in the classroom, just having unbelievable character with the way that he's handled everything that's going on with his life and his health issues."

Buzz, who was slated to play wide receiver on his football team last fall, started experiencing pain in his neck during conditioning last July. The original diagnosis was that he had a strained neck muscle and that the pain would disappear in a week.

But instead of the pain disappearing, complications arose. He lost movement in his right arm. He was dragging his right leg, which caused him to fall down. At that point, his parents, Lisa and Clayton, took him to Children's Hospital, where a tumor was discovered on his spinal cord. The tumor was removed and found to be benign.

Buzz wasn't out of the woods yet, though. Ten months after the first surgery, the incision still hadn't healed. On May 1, doctors performed a spinal fusion in a procedure that took nine hours. It was his fourth surgery.

Through it all, Buzz has remained upbeat and focused on getting better. He knows he won't be able to play football but is hopeful that he can play baseball again one day.

"It was kind of hard hearing that I had to have surgery," said Buzz, who has a 10-year-old brother, Zachary. "Some other doctors told me I have cancer, but they were wrong."

Elliott and her players hope to provide emotional support and some financial relief through the adoption by donating money from their annual golf tournament and fall clinic.

They've already made a difference.

"It's really hard to put into words," Buzz's dad said. "The love we felt from UC has been something that we've needed. It's been a really hard road for our family."

Buzz was first brought to the team's attention by Carrie Ellis, a friend of the program. Ellis took him to the Syracuse game last year and the game against Marquette on Senior Day. The Bearcats, who struggled through a 9-20 season and won only two games in the Big East Conference, nearly knocked off Syracuse and beat No. 25 Marquette by three points.

"After that game," Elliott said, "I figured it must be Buzz. He was our good luck charm."

Senior guard Shelly Bellman took to Buzz right away.

"It started on Senior Night when we played Marquette in that last game," Bellman said. "I luckily was chosen to present Buzz with the jersey that we had signed. It all started from there. I just fell in love with Buzz and his little brother, Zach, and the whole family. I just wanted to be a part of them and their whole journey as much as I could be."

The Bearcats plan to have a Buzz Smith Day at one of their home games next season, and Elliott has extended an open invitation for Buzz to give the pre-game talk. The family also has an open invitation to every home game.

"Like it or not, buddy, you're going to be a part of our team," Elliott said. "The only difference is that our players are on a four-year scholarship and you're on a lifetime scholarship."

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20110...ws|text|UC