BOWLING GREEN — As a middle-schooler, Justin Turner earned a selection from his coach, Will Vance, to play with an older age group on his Detroit-area club team.
Some of the older players were less than thrilled, and one of them let Turner know as much with a vicious elbow in practice that split Turner’s lip. Vance gave a signal to Turner’s mother, Fonda Crawley, that he would take care of it, and walked over to Turner.
“I was like, ‘Justin, are you OK?’” Vance recalled. “He was like, ‘Yeah, I’m good, Coach. I’m ready.’”
It turned out Turner didn’t need anyone’s help.