One thing about James Noble, age 18, is that he's not shy about coming forward. Recently that characteristic made him a hero to his classmates in Arcola, when he secured free tickets, courtesy of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, to their pre-season game against the Edmonton Eskimos on June 17 in Regina.
It all started when James, who has muscular dystrophy, was invited to attend the Rider's golf fundraiser at Deer Valley in Regina a few weeks ago. Rider Mike McCullough had heard about Noble from Arcola teacher's aide Laurie James, so he telephoned the teenage fan and invited him to come to the golf game as a guest. Needless to say, the young man was delighted, and during the event was treated royally, meeting many past and present Roughriders and hanging out with them.
But that's not the end of the story. McCullough had promised Noble tickets for the June 17 game as well, and when the player called that morning to remind the teenager of the promise, Noble plucked up his courage and asked if he could take his whole grade 12 class. A little later, the Rider called back and said yes.
Making the trip with Noble, were fellow-students Taralyn French, Zach Brown, Karley Barsness, Alyssa Cutler, Alisha Wayling, Cal Haddow, and ReganTessier. They not only enjoyed the game, but also spent time with players, and had their picture taken by the Rider's official photographer.
Clearly, Rider pride comes not only from their performance on the field, but also the football club's willingness to go the extra mile in terms of dedicated community involvement.
