Son's legacy to continue with Butler professor's special needs sports camps

Indianapolis Star

5 days ago

The annual football clinic at Butler University for participants with special needs was different this year for Anne Wilson. It was the first time since the Butler chemistry professor founded the program in 2013 that her son, Miles Cruz, wasn't there.
Cruz, who used a wheelchair, was nonverbal and lived with cerebral palsy, died on Feb. 25 from complications from the flu and pneumonia. He was 23.
Wilson didn't know what emotions were going to hit when she attended the clinic in April.
'In many ways it's bittersweet,' said Wilson. She knew it was going to be hard, but she also saw it as a way to honor Cruz, his legacy and the family's legacy, too.
At the clinic, Butler Coach Joe Cheshire brought the participants and families together on the field to start the day. He introduced Wilson and spoke kindly of Cruz. He presented her with a jersey with Cruz's name that was signed by the football team. And he dedicated this year's clinic to playing for Cruz.
It may have been subtle to others, but Cruz's smile was big to those who knew him. It would break out when he saw Hinkle Fieldhouse because he loved going to basketball games. And he would laugh his 'heh-heh-heh' chuckle when he would play pranks on his younger brother, Malcolm. 'He's a goofball,' said Wilson when describing him in 2024. He's 'nonverbal but expressive,' she said.
When Malcolm, an upcoming senior at North Central High School, was 4, Wilson took him to the Little Dribblers basketball camp at Butler. While Malcolm ran speedily around, another mom spoke with Wilson, asking if she had other children. Wilson said she and her husband, Wil Cruz, also had an older son, but he wasn't in the basketball camps because he had special needs and used a wheelchair. She mused that it would be great if instead of 100 kids like in this camp, they could have 25 kids with varying levels of special needs gather for an all-abilities clinic.
Wilson didn't know she was speaking with Tracy Stevens, wife of then Butler basketball coach, Brad Stevens. He now is the general manager of the Boston Celtics.
Brad Stevens 'was like, 'Oh, yeah, we can do that,' ' says Wilson. 'So that's how it got started.' He offered to run the clinic if Wilson would get the participants. They were off. In 2013, the special needs basketball camp began. Men's basketball players volunteered their time alongside Stevens and the special athletes. A call to the Indiana University physical therapy department brought more volunteers.
Since that first basketball clinic, Wilson and various Butler sports staff have created football, dance and cheer, baseball and Wiffle ball clinics for special needs athletes.
The participants get to have fun and compete; the Butler athletes fulfil their NCAA service requirements. Physical therapy students get hands-on experience. Everyone learns about people with differing abilities.
And Cruz, who was social and joyful, got to play sports like his athletic younger brother.
'I have all these parents who now think I'm some sort of superhero status, and that's not it at all,' says Wilson. 'I just asked people, and they said yes. And I'm going to keep asking people to do things until somebody tells me no!' she adds.
Wilson and her family will carry on with Miles no longer at their side, but always in their heart. The legacy of bringing sporting opportunities to those with challenges is now the family legacy. Wilson says that working for inclusion is more important now than ever.