Douglas E. Abrams, J.D.

At a the half-way point during a recent high school cross country meet, one of the runners maintaining a brisk pace with a solid chance to win or place high, suddenly stopped running. What happened next makes him our Youth Sports Hero for November.

Adults often speak about "teachable moments," opportunities for perceptive teachers, coaches and parents to help young athletes draw positive lessons from a negative event. Sometimes the negative event is relatively trivial, such as losing a tough game in the final minute. But in the case of this month's youth sports hero, sometimes the negative event is much more serious.

Little League calls them "the most significant amateur team in baseball history." The Charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier calls them "perhaps the most important team in youth sports history."  They were the Cannon Street YMCA All-Stars, a team of 11-12-year-olds who went to the Little League World Series in 1955, but, because they were black, never got to play an inning.

When Meghan Vogel helped a fellow athlete across the finish line at a state championship track meet in Ohio, she became an instant YouTube sensation precisely because everyone would not have done the same.

This month's hero had much to be thankful for, and many people to thank, but his gratitude had nothing to do with the school community's support for his exploits on the gridiron or the court and everything to do with the school community's support in his battle to live.  (Photo credit: Takaaki Iwabu, News-Observer)

12-year-old Canadian Pee Wee hockey player Mark Mannarn "Feel Like a Pro Day" raises money for cancer research and teaches that life lessons about how to respond to adversity can be taught by players too.

This month's column tells of two high school athletes who, after suffering catastrophic injuries, quickly forgave the opponents who meant no harm, but who will bear deep emotional scars for the rest of their lives. and how forgiveness in the face of adversity may require the greatest courage of all.

What a star point guard on a high school basketball team did after won $40,000 in college scholarship money in a free-throwing contest was a testimony to his generosity and to the power of team sports to teach a critical life lesson.

When a referee at a JV hockey game in Massachusetts suffered a serious concussion, a coach's act of exceptional sportsmanship set the kind of example for his players they will remember long after their playing days.

Four blind youth athletes who refused to let their disability stand in the way of playing sports are this month's youth sports heroes.