Rutgers’ spring football game is Friday night, and there’s a special play call for the final play of the game: 10-year-old Gavin Kane, a young man whose life was radically altered by a traumatic brain injury but ended up inspiring his parents to develop the “Toms River Field of Dreams,” will carry the ball into the end zone.
Craiggy got wind of the plan, and had Scarlet Knights head coach Greg Schiano on Carton & Roberts to confirm that indeed, Gavin Kane’s name will be the final one in the box score.
“Gavin is a young man that was seriously injured in a car accident at a young age, and because of that has special needs,” Schiano said, before coyly voiding the play call itself when Evan asked: “I can give you some things, but I can’t give you everything! “
When Gavin was 19 months old, the Kanes’ car was rear-ended by a beverage truck, an accident that left Gavin with a traumatic brain injury and a two-month stay in the hospital.
His parents, Christian and Mary Kane, have fashioned a backyard playground that is accessible to Gavin, but when Mary came home from a park in tears one day because she couldn’t help Gavin on the swings, the Kanes came up with the idea for the Toms River Field of Dreams.
Christian has joined Craig & Evan on air in the past to discuss it, but the Field of Dreams – described on their website as "an all-inclusive complex which has a playground and other multiple physical and cognitive environments which create and recognize everyone’s right to fully participate in equitable play" and "intentionally addresses the physical and social inclusion of people of all ages and abilities" – will finally have its grand opening on North Bay Avenue in Toms River next Saturday, April 30.
“I love what Christian is doing for his son; I applaud him, because he’s making it better for his son,” Schiano said. “Todd Frazier, along with RWJ Barnabas Hospital and Gov. Phil Murphy, they’ve partnered together, and it’s been a real movement, and I think this is something that can be special, and maybe grow across the state – playgrounds that are totally accessible to children with special needs.”
Schiano also had one more surprise: it will be Frazier, Toms River Little League hero, who will switch from the diamond to the gridiron and step in at QB to hand the ball off to Gavin.
“If Todd didn’t choose baseball, he could’ve been a great quarterback!” Schiano laughed. “This should be an exciting play and I do think it will be awesome.”
Craig Carton plans to be at the grand opening of the Field of Dreams on April 30, and you can learn more about it at tomsriverfieldofdreams.com.
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