Hartford Welcomes Newest Member From Team IMPACT

The University of Hartford Hawks aren't strangers to Team IMPACT. Last September the Hartford Baseball Team signed a 7-year old boy, Thomas Hastings who suffers from muscular dystrophy and last August the Men's Soccer team signed 10-year old Bryson Kelly who has mitochondrial disorder.

This September they plan to sign Gavin Morris, a 4-year old with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL), a cancer of the white blood cells, to the Hartford Men's Basketball Team.

Team IMPACT is an organization that matches children with life-threatening illnesses with college athletics teams. The child becomes an official member of the team and the team becomes part of the child's support group.

According to Hartfordhawks.com, Head Coach John Gallagher is more than thrilled to sign the 4-year old, "We spend most of our energy trying to recruit talented players who have high character," commented fifth-year head coach John Gallagher in a letter to Gavin and his family. "Little did I know that such a star was working on his game right under our noses in Manchester!"

The players seem to be just as excited, knowing that they expect him to learn a lot from the team over the season, but will also learn quite a bit from Gavin.