If you attend an Indian Land baseball game you’ll probably run across a smiling five-year-old boy with a pair of blue glasses and a matching ball cap flopped over his head. He’s playing with toy firetrucks, or singing the Star Spangled Banner before the game. You’ll hear his voice from the P.A. box telling the crowd that No. 7, Daniel Gueldner, is leading off for the Warriors.
Indian Land baseball head coach Joey Robinson says Noah Fike is like no other human he’s ever met. Warriors’ first baseman Lawton Otte says the 5-year old has the knowledge of someone who has already been through life.
Noah was born prematurely, and suffered a stroke shortly after birth. The damage to his young brain led to cerebral palsy, affecting him from his knees, down. Walking is difficult so he leans on a walker to get around and visits physical therapy every day to strengthen his leg muscles.
“Noah asked one day, ‘what is a team?’,” Morris said. “The time comes around he wants to be a part of a team. Obviously he’s 5 years old, and limited to what he can do, but he says, ‘what can I do to be a part of this team?’
“I told him we need people to do all kinds of things. Announce the game, clean the field, drag the field, mow the grass, parents who are great supporters. I said we need people to pray with the team before the game, and sing the national anthem.”
Noah had learned the Star Spangled Banner at the beginning of the school year. Morris didn’t think much of it, but Noah volunteered to sing it before a game.
They struck up a deal: if Noah sang the anthem before Indian Land’s matchup with Hopewell on March 31, he’d officially be part of the team. Morris said they practiced, and practiced, and practiced.
“He stood up there and belted it out like a pro,” Morris said.
Noah’s mom, Jenny Fike said her son loves the song and sings it constantly for people.
“I put my hand over my heart and somebody holds my walker so I don’t move,” Noah said. Noah paused and looked toward the field, put his tiny hand over his chest and belted out the lyrics, “Oh say can you see...”
Fike said her son has grown in confidence since joining the Warriors. He still uses a walker but is not afraid to stand up, take a few steps, fall down, then get back on his feet and try again.
“Even though he’s younger than us, I see him as a role model,” said Otte. “I like his attitude. He’s always positive and going out to get it.”
Indian Land is vying for a spot in the playoffs with a 13-9 record going 7-2 in conference, and Noah’s positive energy has keyed the team’s success. He comes up with a “thought of the day” to give his teammates inspiration, like “safe, safe, safe.”
Noah didn’t know what it meant when a Warrior base runner was deemed safe or out by the umpire, but after coaches explained he wanted to be sure the Warriors were called “safe.”
That week, he also wanted to make sure the team stayed “safe” on their hour-long bus ride to a game in Columbia.
And the third “safe” came from a signed poster the team made for him to hang above his bed in his room at home. Noah used to be afraid of the dark, but now when he goes to sleep there are 19 Warriors keeping him “safe.”
“Noah’s a fighter, he has been since birth,” said Robinson. “Seeing the way he fights reminds us how fortunate we are to be able to play, be healthy, and fight together as a team, truly knowing what really matters in life.”
The Fikes are confident their son will be able to walk on his own power one day. Noah is a fighter after all, although if you asked him he’d probably tell you he was a Warrior.
Fort Mill duo Worth Gregory and J.T. Boyd hope to bolster town’s NFL ranks
The road to the NFL isn’t a free and easy joyride down Route 66. It’s a long journey with twists, turns, and fleeting opportunities. Fort Mill’s J.T. Boyd and Worth Gregory will tell you it takes preparation and perseverance.
The teammates at East Carolina’s daily routines for the past few months have consisted of training, lifting... and training some more. Boyd, a bearded, burly, 6-foot-4 300-pound offensive lineman, started his training earlier this year at New Jersey-based Test Football Academy, where his day consisted of a six-hour workout – speed and agility in the morning and weights in the afternoon - with a brief lunch break squeezed in between. The Nation Ford grad isn’t stressing about the process.
“This is what I’ve been doing my whole life since I was a little kid,” he said. “I’m just down to one last opportunity to put on a showcase of what I can do.”
“I love working hard. It’s what I do, it’s what offensive lineman do,” said Boyd. “It’s part of the brand of being an offensive lineman and it’s what I try to do every day.”
35J.T. Boyd started 35 games on East Carolina’s offensive line in the last three years, matching up against defensive linemen from Florida, Virginia Tech, South Carolina, North Carolina and N.C. State.
During his career at ECU, he played against teams like Florida and Virginia Tech that consistently put players in the NFL every year.
“I’m confident in my ability to play against the best,” said Boyd. “I think I belong there.”
Boyd said he wasn’t hearing much from NFL teams, but he knew a good performance at ECU’S pro day in late March would increase his standing with scouts. All 32 NFL teams sent representatives to ECU for the pro day workout.
Boyd and Gregory, a standout punter from Fort Mill High, worked out for the hometown Carolina Panthers on April 7 to showcase their skills. Like Boyd, Gregory has tried to stay calm during the busy process. Before Friday’s date with the Panthers, he punted for the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Miami Dolphins but said he could care less which team signs him.
The 6-foot-3, 215-pound kicker worked out with NFL punters like 49ers’ Bradley Pinion and Lions’ Sam Martin in the last couple of months.
THE NFL DRAFT BEGINS ON APRIL 27 AND RUNS THROUGH APRIL 29.
“I’m new to all of it so I’m happy that I’m able to talk to these guys that have been in my position to help me go through what I’m going through right now,” said Gregory.
Like Boyd, Gregory’s work ethic has stood out at ECU.
“He will not take any shortcuts in getting to that final destination,” said Shannon Moore, ECU’s special teams coach. “He’s very organized about everything that he does from school work to his workout sessions.”
Gregory has an outgoing personality - a quality that will come in handy on an NFL roster. Moore said Gregory went to ECU coaches before the season and requested to room with the team’s true-freshman long snapper the night before games to help him cope with nerves. The Pirates’ punting unit didn’t have a single bad snap all fall.
“They respect and respond to things he feels like will help the team,” Moore said. “Anything an organization would ask him to do I feel he would jump at the opportunity to represent them.”
Gregory’s high school coach, Ed Susi, said Gregory spent plenty of time perfecting his craft while he was a Fort Mill Yellow Jacket.
“He knew what he had to do to succeed,” said Susi. “He worked his butt off on all kinds of kicks.”
HE WENT TO ALABAMA AND KICKED IN FRONT OF (NICK) SABAN. HE’S NOT AFRAID OF A CHALLENGE.
Fort Mill coach Ed Susi knows his former punter, Worth Gregory, won’t be intimidated about kicking in front of NFL scouts.
Gregory spent his freshman year (2012) at Alabama as a walk-on with a squad that demolished Notre Dame to win the BCS National Championship. Since he was not on scholarship, he later decided to transfer and found a home at ECU.
Gregory earned a spot on the second team All-AAC roster in 2016, and started every game in his three years of eligibility. He averaged 43 yards per punt over the course of his career. Among conference foes, only Memphis’s Spencer Smith had a better average through those three years.
He was annoyed to miss out on the NFL Draft Combine and several senior all-star games.
“It’s kind of pushed me to work harder and show everyone why I think I should have been in those things,” said Gregory.
Boyd and Gregory are now shooting for the opportunity to join Denver Broncos defensive end, Vance Walker, as Fort Mill-bred NFL players.
“When people think of the NFL in our area they start looking at Rock Hill,” said Gregory. “It’d be great to have some guys from Fort Mill in there other than Vance. It would be awesome for the whole town.”