Advertisement

Roy Williams surprises bullying victim with heartfelt letter

Roy Williams surprises bullying victim with heartfelt letter

At a time when Drew Summerlin felt the lowest, the 11-year-old with Asperger's received a morale boost from his favorite basketball team.

University of North Carolina coach Roy Williams sent Summerlin an autographed team picture and a heartfelt letter last week encouraging him to remain strong despite months of torment from bullies at his school.

The team photo Williams sent Summerlin (via Facebook)
The team photo Williams sent Summerlin (via Facebook)

The envelope from Williams arrived about two weeks after a group of boys attacked Summerlin during lunch at Iroquois Middle School in Rochester, N.Y. Summerlin sustained a concussion severe enough that he had to stay home from school the next few days.

"I'm so sorry and upset with what you have been going through," Williams wrote. "Someday those kids will realize how terribly they acted and will be ashamed.

"Drew, I want you to know that I am so proud for how you have handled things and know you are a kind person and anyone would be lucky to be your friend. Although life is not always easy, don't ever give up and continue to be the person that you are."

The Summerlin family initially had no idea how Williams learned of their son's plight, but they have since discovered they have a childhood friend of Drew's father to thank. A North Carolina spokesman said a man named Derek Nipper sent Williams video of Drew discussing the attack clad in a North Carolina T-shirt and told the coach that the boy was a huge Tar Heels fan.

Drew Summerlin indeed watches almost every Tar Heels basketball game with his father, a North Carolina native and lifelong fan. The autographed photo and letter from Williams was such a touching gesture to Summerlin that his parents intend to frame them and hang them in his room.

"Oh my goodness, he was so excited," his mother Jaime Summerlin said. "He kept saying, 'Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?' It was really cute. We're trying to take a negative thing that happened in our son's life and turn it into a positive. The Tar Heels definitely helped with that."

Seeing their son happy was special for his parents because Summerlin had endured a rough couple months at school.

Summerlin's mother said the bullying began when one boy in his class made up a "you have cooties" game called 'The Drew Touch.' Whenever one of Summerlin's classmates would touch him, someone would yell, "You've got The Drew Touch." If that child touched another classmate, they would yell, "Drew Touch, can't touch back."

The letter Roy Williams sent Summerlin (via Facebook)
The letter Roy Williams sent Summerlin (via Facebook)

The teasing escalated when the same boy began harassing Summerlin on Instagram. His mom said the boy called Summerlin profane names, made fun of his disability and even went so far as to say, "I f---ing pray for his death every night."

"My husband and I were struggling to figure out just what to do about this situation, the right thing to do," Jaime Summerlin said. "I had been calling and emailing the principal. They tried a few times having the boys get together and talking but when they get out of the office, the picking on him started right up."

For Summerlin's parents, last month's attack was the final straw.

Unsatisfied with the school's response, Jaime Summerlin asked her son how he'd feel about sharing his story with several local TV stations. He agreed in hopes his anti-bullying message would help prevent other kids from going through what he has endured.

The publicity helped grow an anti-bullying Facebook group known as #DrewTouch. Many of the group's 2,800 members wore blue for Drew last Friday or posted pictures of themselves holding up signs with the hashtag #DrewTouch written on them.

Of all the support Drew has received, the letter from Williams is still among the most meaningful to him.

"Our whole family is big Tar Heels fans," Jaime Summerlin said. "The Tar Heels play and our lives stop. Everyone watches. For them to take the time to do that was an amazing gesture."

- - - - - - -

Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!