Another unforgettable scene occurred during the wheelchair race. A competitor stopped, exhausted. Then, as MS victim Billy Harmon laughed and waved, Ja'Warren ducked his head down and gave him the ride of his life, and the crowd stood and cheered. A few months before Ja'Warren had bought an angel pin for a cancer-stricken lady from Prosser who always came to his meets. College coaches, both track and football, swooned over the prospect of Hooker on their team.
Kids think they're invincible, but mothers know different.
Hooker chose the University of Washington, for a whole variety of reasons, not the least of which was the soccer star, Marisa Lyons, who first escorted him around campus during recruitment. Holding her teddy bear at the funeral, an ashen-faced Ja'Warren said he'd never been defeated in a race. But Marisa beat me to heaven. I wish it had been a tie. A month later Hooker showed up for the first day of football practice and proved he was the fastest football player in America with a 40-yard dash of 4.2 seconds.