Zac Brooks and his dad, Malcolm, had the same routine when they walked from the baseball diamond to the car. Brooks, then in seventh grade, would carry the bucket of balls, and Malcolm would be in charge of the bats.
On this particular day, they got to practice a little bit late, and the car was parked farther away than usual.
"He just kept stopping from fatigue," said Brooks, a Seattle Seahawks rookie running back. "He was just getting tired. He was like, ‘Zac, I don’t know what’s going on. I need you to carry the bats, too.