A Commerce 10-year-old achieved his dream of playing football on Saturday. Hayes Hutto, playing for the Commerce Tigers, scored a touchdown against the Jefferson Dragons. That’s reason enough for anyone to be proud, but Hayes was diagnosed with cerebral palsy when he was 18 months old and uses a wheelchair to get around.
The fifth-grader’s friends, Brody German, Braden Coleman, and Joseph Mobley, play for the Tigers and knew of Hayes’ dream to play football. They asked Curtis Coleman, who is a parent and the defensive coach for the youth team, for help. He reached out to the recreation department to make it happen.
The boys came up with the idea to surprise Hayes with his own jersey. On the Friday before the game, the three boys made the presentation. Hayes, one of the boy’s said, was speechless.
“It felt good,” said Braden Coleman. “It felt like he was excited. It was a real good gift.”
