COMMENTARY The Family Dressed In Black

Sunday, January 20, 2013

— People were dressed in black for one reason or another.

Some folks wore black because it was a special occasion, a rivalry game that called for a wardrobe change. Others wore black because they were in mourning.

It was both a celebration and a sad remembrance.

Springdale High’s boys basketball team abandoned its standard red for one night and emerged from its locker room wearing new all-black uniforms. Bulldogs coach Brad Stamps and assistant Greg White kept the theme going Tuesday by wearing all-black suits that included black shirts and black ties.

It was all part of Springdale’s attempt to “black out” Bulldog Gymnasium in its first meeting this season with crosstown rival Springdale Har-Ber. The Bulldogs’ student section was absent of color as well, with everyone dressed from head to toe in black.

The Hagan family, however, had a more somber reason for wearing black.

They walked onto the court minutes before tipoff for a moment of silence. Zach Hagan’s funeral was scheduled for two days after the game, and his relatives tried to hold back tears as the gym grew silent.

The revelry of a rivalry game stopped for a several long seconds as Hagan’s life was remembered.

Hagan, 20, who played baseball at Springdale before graduating in 2011, died Jan. 13 when the driver of a 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe he was riding in lost control of the vehicle. The SUV flipped several times on Wedington Drive in Fayetteville before coming to a stop.

The color of the SUV: black.

As soon as the moment of silence ended, Hagan’s family walked off the court, and the basketball game began. The packed crowd got back to hollering chants and yelling at the officials, all things one would expect to hear at a game between two crosstown schools.

But the moment of silence for Hagan was a real thing that came during a week in which so much in sports was revealed to be fake. Fans learned a star linebacker’s girlfriend didn’t actually die from leukemia. She never existed in the first place, and there are now questions over whether his much-publicized grief was real or just part of an elaborate hoax.

A day later, people watched as a cycling champion turned American hero admitted to Oprah Winfrey he used performance-enhancing drugs during his career. His made-for-TV story of overcoming cancer to win the Tour de France had been exposed as a lie.

Sometimes in sports we lose focus. People put their faith in athletes who don’t deserve it, and too much emphasis is placed on things that don’t matter at the end of the day.

Springdale ended up cruising to a 71-53 win over Har-Ber, using its defense and up-tempo offense down the stretch to build a double digit lead it never relinquished. The Bulldogs’ student section spilled onto the court as Har-Ber’s students — dressed in all-white to try to offset the “blackout” — left the gym.

The two teams will face each other again Feb. 12.

However, for a few seconds Tuesday, a grieving family dressed in black showed real courage on a basketball court. Their loss is real.

Alex Abrams is assistant sports editor for NWA Media.