FOX Sports, Morgantown, VA, May 23, 2011
Chicago Bears rookie linebacker J.T. Thomas became the inspirational story of the lockout-dominated NFL offseason Monday, a few days after escorting a wheelchair-bound teen to her middle school dance.
The former West Virginia standout last month met 14-year-old Joslyn Levell, who uses a wheelchair. During that meeting, she told him that all of the boys she had asked to the dance turned her down.
Levell, who attends Suncrest Middle School in Morgantown — where the university is located — has spina bifida, a condition that prevents the spinal cord from developing properly.
"I hugged her and signed a few things and we talked for awhile and she cried a bit," Thomas told NFL.com about meeting Levell. "I gave her a hug and told her everything would work itself out."
Shortly after the meeting, Thomas' stepmother called the school and Levell's parents to make sure it would be OK for her hulking stepson to po...
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