WVU Players Show What’s Really Important, Visit Sick Girl After Devastating Loss

Sports may feel like life and death to some, but a couple WVU players, most notably one who recently endured a rough moment, demonstrated how there are far more important things than football and what happens in a game.

It’s always important to keep things in perspective. This is especially true after a big win, or in the case of the Mountaineers right now, following a gut-wrenching loss. Garrett Greene and Zach Frazier provided a great example of that less than 24 removed from enduring a devastating loss on the football field.

Even though Greene expressed feeling responsible for West Virginia losing to Houston, he was not about to let that stop him from fulfilling a commitment to visit a sick girl fighting for her life. The mother of Kate, who was diagnosed with cancer a year ago when she was 14, posted on social media about Greene and teammate Zach Frazier still showing up to see Kate at WVU Children’s Hospital on Friday afternoon despite their tough Thursday night in Texas.

The caption of the post read: “These two guys truly were sweet to come see Kate after such a long long night! There’s more than one way to ‘win’! Class act boys!! 💛🎗💙”

WV Sports Now reached out to Kanawha Falls, West Virginia native Mandy Barker Price after seeing her post about her daughter. Below is what she wanted us to share about what seeing the players truly meant to Katie.

“The boys stayed for almost an hour I think. When Garrett came in, Kate was very surprised because I had just watched the game the night before with her here at the hospital. We were both VERY excited at the thought of them winning against Dana. Those last three seconds…ugh. So in my head I thought, “he’s going to be so tired, so upset at the close win, I doubt he comes’. So I guess we both got a surprise. That showed me his integrity and commitment. I was very impressed. Both were very nice and talked to Kate like a person, not a patient. Asking her about how school was going and how her treatment plan would play out. Before leaving Garrett said he wanted to come see her the next time she has treatment. I could tell this was something very personal and passionate for him.”

After being down 11 in the fourth quarter, Greene led the Mountaineers down the field with just over a minute left on the clock. Greene found receiver Hudson Clement for a 50-yard touchdown on 4th & 10 to give WVU the lead. After the play, Greene took his helmet off in celebration, resulting in an unsportsmanlike penalty that would go towards the kickoff.

Despite 12 seconds on the clock, Houston’s Donovan Smith lobbed a Hail Mary into the end zone to give the Cougars a 41-39 win. Greene’s penalty ended up putting Houston on their own 43, which was much better positioning than expected.

“That’s 100 percent on me. I messed that one up. If they’re 15 yards back, that last play probably doesn’t happen. I have to be more mature than that, I have to be better than that,” said Greene during his postgame press conference Thursday night.

Garrett Greene may be taking the blame for what happened at the end of the game, but it’s safe to say Katie is one member of Mountaineer Nation who will always love the WVU quarterback no matter what.

Here’s more from Price with some of the backstory on Katie’s journey:

“Kate can’t attend school in person. This happened the summer before her freshman year so she hasn’t gotten to attend high school at all except for sporting activities. Her volleyball team (volleyball is her passion. She played a couple years in middle school before this happened and plan to play in high school) has really stood behind her as well as our schools football teams and other sports clubs. She took the opportunity to show her appreciation to her home school by asking Garrett and Zach to give a shout-out to her team before their game tonight. Both guys were more than willing. So they kinda uplifted an entire town today! Kate and I are thankful for them coming. She said she’s happy to use this situation God has put us in to help anyone she can and encourage anyone. She said she was thankful for their help in that!”