Editor's note: This story was originally published on Dec. 4, 2017. We're bringing it back in advance of the Mavs' annual Seats for Soldiers night on Nov. 14, 2018.
Israel Del Toro's eyes glistened as he walked to his courtside seat for Monday night's Mavericks-Denver Nuggets game at American Airlines Center.
Del Toro, 42, wasn't emotional because President George W. Bush, the Mavericks dancers and a sellout crowd honored him and more than 100 fellow wounded soldiers from San Antonio's Brooke Army Medical Center during the Mavericks' 13th Seats for Soldiers game.
Nor was Del Toro moved because Monday marked the 12th anniversary of the day that 80 percent of his body burned and several of his fingers were severed when the Humvee he was riding in during a deployment in Afghanistan detonated an IED, though the timing of this Seats for Soldiers night sure was uncanny.