1. FOREWORD For many of us connected with University of Florida basketball, we first heard ofJason McElwain just days before we made the NCAA Final Four in late March 2006.Once the guys saw the game video, they were all talking about it. Everybody was touchedby the story; it was just incredible. By the time we traveled to the Final Four, all of ourguys knew who J-Mac was. Not long after we got to Indianapolis, I received a phone call from our sportsinformation director, saying that J-Mac was being honored that weekend by appearing atall the shoot-arounds so he could meet the players. We were at Butler University the daybefore our semifinal game against George Mason, and I thought it would be a greatexperience for our kids to see J-Mac in person. Unfortunately for him, his dad and CoachJohnson, they got caught in traffic and couldn't make it. But later we were having a teammeal and I was told, Listen, they're over here staying at the same hotel, can they comeby? I said Sure.The funniest thing was J-Mac going around saying "Where's (Joakim) Noah,where's Noah? I want to meet Noah." The players let him pull up a chair and took somepictures with him. He was saying "You better watch out for Glen Davis, you better watchout for Glen Davis," referring to LSUs star, Big Baby Davis. J-Mac is outspoken in agood way. It was great for me to take a step back watching our team interact with him,and him with them. I hope our guys made him feel like a million dollars. I was honored tospend that time with Coach Johnson as well, based on the pivotal role he had played inJasons ascent to sudden stardom. We went on to beat George Mason and UCLA for the first of our two straight

2. national championships. I really believe that Jason and Coach Johnson were a blessingfor us that year. They made us understand that with the national stage our team is on, wedo have the opportunity to inspire others. By looking at this young man and what heaccomplished, it energized and motivated us to play the game the way its supposed to beplayed. We played terrific team basketball both years that we won the NCAAs. Even atthe major collegiate level, you need to try and keep it innocent and pure. Weve had a lotof success at Florida, but the minute you start getting out of that team focusbeingselfish, looking out just for yourselfit becomes very, very difficult. I remember getting goose bumps the first time I saw the J-Mac videoall thescoring he did, his teammates constantly passing the ball, the crowd going crazy. Whenyou look at all the seemingly insurmountable odds J-Mac overcame, you couldn't havescripted it better. It makes you think of all the other kids who are the 15th, 16th man ontheir team. A team is not just the Joakim Noahs and the Al Horfords, guys who starred formy national championship teams in 2006 and 2007. It takes a special kid to be the 15th or16th person. He knows that his playing time will be limited or even nonexistent, but hemakes just as strong a commitment to the program as everyone else. That in turnpromotes team unity, right on up to the starters. When Jason did get a chance to play, it was like the Rudy story, a chance tofulfill your dream. Rudy made just one tackle, which may make some people say that itsinsignificant. But it was huge for Rudy because that meant everything he had worked for.It was the same with J-Mac. Because of the time he had put in, just the fact that he wasplaying in the game made it a moment hed remember for a long, long time. J-Mac is aninspiration to all of us because despite the daily challenges in his life, he had a great 3. innocent belief in the game of basketball, belief in his team, belief in his coach. And Jim Johnson wanted to reach out to him. I look at how Coach went out of hisway to make sure that J-Mac had an unbelievable high-school experience, to give himthat opportunity. Their relationship was genuine since it was not built on one taking fromthe other, or trying to benefit from the other for any personal gain. This story must have made Jim break down and cry as a coach, knowing that hemade a dream come true for one of his players. It also appeals deeply to the rest of uscoaches, at all levels, who dedicate themselves to bettering the lives of young men andwomen. You could coach a lifetime and not experience something this heartfelt, eventhough you hope every single year that you will. For five minutes that night, you saw put into a capsule what coaching is all about.This thing, to me, is so much bigger than winning and losing. It's about human life.Theres so much here to inspire other people. What happened was a blessing. Look at allthe other lives that were touched. There are so many teaching tools that came out of thatgame in Rochester. Often in the coaching profession youre perceived that if you win, you're great; ifyou lose, youre bad. You feel that if you don't win enough, you're probably not going tohave a job for very long. So it's easy to lose sight of whats important, and you have tobring yourself back to that all the time. Jim helped bring coaches back to their mission.Everything he did with J-Mac was for the right reasons. Here's a young kid in the lastgame of the year, and theres just a gymnasium in his home town watching him, nonational TV attention just yet. It didnt matter that he wasnt a part of a nationalchampionship team. It was his championship, the school's championship, the coach's 4. championship. To me, the wins and losses will come and go. But a story like this can carry onthrough the years. People look at how our Gators won back-to-back national titles andpredict that we'll go down as one of the greatest teams ever. But twenty-five or thirtyyears from now, I dont how vivid our accomplishments will be in peoples minds outsideof Florida. The story with J-Mac and Coach Johnson, on the other hand, is something thatwill stick with people everywhere. And because of the Internet, you can show whathappened over and over. I dont know if anything else will equal that, ever. You can never underestimate the possibility that when youre passionate aboutsomething, God has a chance to use you in a way to inspire other people. There are thingsthat happen spiritually that were not capable of applying ourselves. I never thought Idget to play for Providence and go to the Final Four, get drafted in the NBA, coach atFlorida and win back-to-back national championships. Im not capable of that on myown. Its the blessings of God. God works through all of us in different ways and can touch us in different ways.When you look at the spiritual side of what happened with J-Mac and Coach Johnson, Ireally think something was there. There's no question that the hand of God was in all this.Jims motives involving his team manager were pure; no one told him If you spend a lotof time with this kid, youre going to get a lot of publicity. He was just hoping to get J-Mac into a game. God looked at that, he blessed that decision and he allowed the world to see it.What happened one night in Rochester, New York, was beyond something human. 5. Billy DonovanHead men's basketball coachUniversity of Florida