One Shirt One Body ... and goose bumps aplenty

Yes, those of elementary-school age may be prone to hyperbole, but one student did his best to put words to the electricity of the small gym at Lowell Elementary in Missoula on Friday morning at an all-school assembly.

Having picked out the newest -- and likely now the most popular -- shirt for his collection, he exclaimed, "This is the best day of my life!"

It summed up the 15 minutes of all-out excitement, the distribution of more than 300 t-shirts to nearly as many students as part of Montana's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee's One Shirt One Body campaign.

"It was absolutely chaos but totally worth it," said SAAC co-president Darby Henthorn, thrower of the javelin for the Griz track and field team. "I think we made a lot of kids' days."

Gallery: (5/31/2019) SAAC: One Shirt One Body (5.31.19)

Started at Notre Dame in 2015, One Shirt One Body has a simple mission: use the power of sport to enhance to lives of youth by connecting them with student-athletes.

More than 15,000 t-shirts have changed hands since, passed down from student-athletes at schools across the country to those who most look up to them.

On Friday, with the seated students listening to the message while keeping their eyes on the neat piles of t-shirts behind him, Griz football player Colin Bingham, SAAC's other co-president, opened the assembly with a few words on the importance of school.

He knows what he's talking about. He has a 3.93 GPA as a health and human performance major, has three times been named Academic All-Big Sky Conference and is a one-time winner of the President's Award for having the department's top GPA.

"It's important for our students to not only meet the athletes who were here today but to hear them talk about the importance of school," said Barb Gmeiner, Lowell Elementary's family resource specialist.

"It's easy to say you want to be a college athlete, but I don't think a lot of kids see the steps you need to take to get there."

And then the fun began, as class by class made its way to the line of distribution, Grizzlies handing out Griz-themed t-shirts in dozens of styles, donated not just by them but by the Missoula community last winter.

Some picked out shirts they'd been eyeing since they stepped foot in the gym, some played the waiting game, passing on the early stacks of shirts in hopes of finding a hidden gem later down the line.

And when it was done, it had the feel of Christmas: everyone fulfilled, with only a handful of shirts remaining, the seeds of next year's collection.

Even those students who were absent from school on Friday will have something waiting for them upon their return.

"I love I got to be a part of this," said Griz golfer Kylie Esh. "You could tell having some of us there to give them the t-shirt was really important to them.

"When you're getting a Griz t-shirt from a Griz, it's way different. It's more than just a t-shirt."

But sometimes it isn't more than just a t-shirt. Sometimes it's literally the shirt, Griz-themed or not, that makes the difference.

That's the realm of Gmeiner, in her role as family resource specialist.

"My role is to connect families with social services and point those who need it to the resources that are available," she said, "so kids can come to school without having to be worried about what they're eating that night or where they're going to be able to sleep."

It's why Henthorn targeted the school to be the first of what she hopes will be an on-going program that rotates through Missoula's school system.

"When I was in high school (at Hellgate in Missoula), we did a fundraiser for Lowell, and the parents and students were so appreciative," she said.

"I feel like it's a school that isn't always reached out to, so I thought it was a really good place for us to start. I think it worked out perfectly."

Indeed. For at least one student, Friday was the best day of his life.

University of Montana Athletics

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