'Perfect' gesture
Aug. 22—NORWALK — Jackson Hinckley-Clark received quite the surprise on Friday.
The 11-year-old from Norwalk was eagerly looking forward to watching his brother, Brock Clark, play his first game of the season for the Norwalk High School football team shortly after arriving at Contractors Stadium.
Brock Clark is a junior two-way lineman for the Truckers, who were entertaining Mansfield Senior in the first game of the 2022 season at the Warren C. Whitney Complex.
Jackson, who was born with serious health issues that kept him in the hospital for 15 months after birth, was greeted by the five-man officiating crew for the game. He was then surprised with an Ohio-made Wilson official high-school football, along with a regulation penalty flag and Fox 40 officiating whistle from referees supplier Fleming's of Columbus.
Hinckley-Clark then helped with the coin toss with the captains from each team, as his father, Brian Clark, and grandmother, Kathy Stiteler, looked on.
The gesture was the mastermind of Thom Dartt, one of the officials from the Toledo-based crew for Friday's game. Dartt recently started a 501(c)(3) non-profit called Perfect Fit Athletic Foundation.
The foundation's purpose is to help high school athletes with exposure, recruiting guidance, and communication and life skills.
"I thought I could also put that to good use by asking for donations for kids at our games this season," Dartt said. "It would be a way to reach out to communities and find common ground, especially with the frayed relationships between fans, coaches and players and sports officials.
"At the same time, it would be a way to brighten a little boy or girl's day when they might be going through some difficult times."
In years past, crew member Dean Grzegorczyk, who managed Friday's coin toss, would give away a penalty flag to a little boy or girl on the way to or from the locker room to the field.
"The kids' faces would light up and it was really fun to see," Dartt said. "So, I wanted to expand on that this season."
Dartt then got in touch with Kerry Fleming, the owner of Flemings Referee & Sport in Columbus, and got the flags and whistles for the 11 games the crew will officiate this season. Dartt then did the same with Andy Wentling, the plant manager of the Wilson Football Factory in Ada, and got 11 footballs.
As luck had it for the Clark family, the crew's first stop in gifting the items was in Norwalk.
"Our entire crew is very excited about this and we, on behalf of Flemings and Wilson Football, look forward to making someone's evening a little bit better," Dartt said.
