BULLITT COUNTY, Ky. — The 7th-grade girls' basketball team at Hebron Middle School was surprised with varsity jackets courtesy of one famous alumnus.
Corey Girton graduated from Hebron Middle, and later from North Bullitt High School, before going on to become a well-known fashion stylist based out of Miami.
Girton played basketball while growing up in Kentucky, and credits his coach, Ms. Casey Bannon, for being a strong influence in his life.
“There’s no woman on this planet that I know that works harder than Ms. Bannon,” he said. “She stayed on top of me when I was in school, made sure I made practices, and made sure my grades was right.”
Bannon remembers Corey as a charismatic kid who was always true to himself.
“He would wear some things that were like crazy off, that you wouldn’t normally see high school or middle school kids wearing to school and I would kind of always tease him about it," Bannon joked, adding that she "always thought it was awesome that he was himself."
At the beginning of this basketball season, Girton made a deal with the Hebron Middle School teams; if anyone wins a championship, he would give that whole team a present.
At the end of the season, the 7th-grade girls' basketball team brought the championship title back to Hebron Middle.
Girton followed through, bringing the entire team custom-designed All-Star Elite varsity jackets.
“I thought we were just going to get a pat on the back to be honest, never in a million years would I think it’d be something like this,” said Jada Goode, one of the members of that championship team.
To say the players were excited would be an understatement.
The young athletes excitedly ran through the gym's doors and over to the stage where the jackets were laid out, each looking for a size that fits them.
To the players, the jackets were a fun present that symbolized a major accomplishment, a wearable trophy in a sense.
“Even if I grow out of it, I’m still going to hang it up on my wall or something,” said Nikkiah Campbell, one of the guards on the team.
Campbell’s friend and teammate Kaigen Kamber echoed that.
“It can just be like a trophy you can put on your trophy case,” said Kamber.
Girton said he was proud of the team to do something that he couldn’t do during his time in school, and he wanted to make sure they knew how special of an accomplishment that was.
“Anybody can get to anywhere they want to go. You know what I mean? All you got to do is put the work in,” Girton said. “They put the work in, they brought a championship home, so they deserve all the smiles.”
He hopes that lesson is something the team can keep with them, just like these jackets, for the rest of their lives.
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