Grayslake rallies around Keith

As the first Grayslake North starter to be introduced at Grayslake Central on Wednesday night, an excited (and no doubt appreciative) Jordan Keith ran onto the basketball court and was greeted with cheers.

Bobby Krebs, who usually starts for the Knights, applauded too.

Keith wears jersey No. 1.

Krebs, who started the game on the bench, wears jersey No. 0.

But this was not a case of Knights coach Todd Grunloh accidentally putting a pencil mark next to Keith's name instead of Krebs' in the score book.

Keith's mother passed away last week. His teammates wanted to come up with a way to show much their new teammate means to them. Keith, a 5-foot-9 junior guard, played at Grayslake Central the last two years.

“The kids came to me and asked,” Grunloh said. “That was just something that we thought was the best way of not only honoring him, but honoring his mom.”

Grunloh said Keith texted him at around 3:30 a.m. last Thursday to tell him of his mother's passing. The team left to Washington to compete in an MLK tournament the next day. Keith did not make the trip.

Wednesday night marked Keith's first game back with the team. He played only the game's first 19 seconds, before Krebs substituted in for him.

Keith did not play the rest of the night, as the Knights lost 50-46.

It's a night, however, he's sure to remember the rest of his life.