Wake Forest baseball coach Tom Walter and outfielder Kevin Jordan prove to be a perfect match
New York Daily News | Bernie Augustine
BRIAN WESTERHOLT/SPORTS ON FILM
Kevin Jordan, who was once drafted by the Yankees out of high school, has now played two seasons for the Wake Forest Demaon Deacons after receiving a kidney from his coach in 2011
The selfless act by a college baseball coach who donated a kidney to an ailing player he had just met months before made national headlines in 2011. Now the coach and player have a special bond and can focus on the sport they both love.
About four years ago, Tom Walter found himself in one of the worst places on earth: The DMV.
He had just accepted a job as Wake Forest's head baseball coach and, as a new North Carolina resident, was going through the usual steps to get a driver's license.
"I remember very vividly having to go out of my way to be an organ donor," Walter said by phone from his Winston-Salem, N.C., office. "It wasn't as simple as checking a box."
"It's one of those things. Foreshadowing, I guess."
A few months later, in April of 2011, Walter found himself someplace worse than the DMV. He was on the operating table, donating a kidney to one of his players, Kevin Jordan. It wasn't the situation he thought he'd be in when he filled out the paperwork to be an organ donor.
The story of the coach donating a kidney to one of his players made headlines nationwide, for obvious reasons. Walter's reasons for doing something so selfless, for a kid he had only known for a few months, are less clear, even to the coach himself.
Kevin Jordan, who was once drafted by the Yankees out of high school, has now played two seasons for the Wake Forest Demaon Deacons after receiving a kidney from his coach in 2011
The selfless act by a college baseball coach who donated a kidney to an ailing player he had just met months before made national headlines in 2011. Now the coach and player have a special bond and can focus on the sport they both love.
He had just accepted a job as Wake Forest's head baseball coach and, as a new North Carolina resident, was going through the usual steps to get a driver's license.
"I remember very vividly having to go out of my way to be an organ donor," Walter said by phone from his Winston-Salem, N.C., office. "It wasn't as simple as checking a box."
"It's one of those things. Foreshadowing, I guess."
A few months later, in April of 2011, Walter found himself someplace worse than the DMV. He was on the operating table, donating a kidney to one of his players, Kevin Jordan. It wasn't the situation he thought he'd be in when he filled out the paperwork to be an organ donor.
The story of the coach donating a kidney to one of his players made headlines nationwide, for obvious reasons. Walter's reasons for doing something so selfless, for a kid he had only known for a few months, are less clear, even to the coach himself.
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"You have the power to SAVE lives."
To register as a donor TODAY
In California:
www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org | www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org
Outside California:
www.organdonor.gov | www.donatelife.net
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