It doesn't take much to do something good, and for a football player in Everman, all it took was waking up a little earlier and taking a few extra steps.
"I was tired but I knew I had to be there for the kids. I wanted to brighten up their day so I had to get right," said varsity player Kay'den Brooks as he talked to NBC 5 about the Friday morning he had to be at Dan Powell Elementary School at 7:15 for a special assignment.
Everman High School Academic Advisor Melissa Sigler asks players to walk a kindergarten into school on Friday mornings.
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Thousands have seen the post from Everman ISD showing Brooks and teammate Caden Holly walking two little kids. The pictures show the high school students walking hand-in-hand with a little boy and a little girl with the boy looking way up at his teenaged escort. The district called it, "a heartwarming touchdown."
The dreaded arrival time of 7:15 in the morning turned out to be one of the best parts of the day for Brooks.
"It really did bring joy to me because, like, he could have looked up to anybody else but it was me. So, it made me feel good. It made me feel like I did something. You know, it was just a cool moment," he said.
Brooks said the little boy was already in a good mood when he greeted him at the car. They talked about football, and Brooks's position as running back, and as they walked, the boy told Brooks he wanted to play football, too.
That's when Brooks made his big play.
"I was like, 'You can do anything you want, kid,'" Brooks said. "I feel like I can be a big role model to them and if I'm a big role model to them, they could be a big role model to somebody else. I want them to be able to feel like they can do anything they want, even if it's not playing football, even it's not playing a sport."
Brooks said that brief interaction brightened his day, "because he looked up to me. He made me feel good about the day going into the day, starting up the morning. So, like of course, he brightened my day. I feel like he made me play good in that game that Friday."
In that game that night, Brooks scored five touchdowns to help the Bulldogs beat Denton.
For the district, though, the big win happened that morning when players showed how they can be champions in the community, too.
2023 TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
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