A coach's lifesaving assist

Former Hill School baseball player Tom Eccleston said he found people's reactions odd. Why would it surprise them that his teammate from 25 years ago would donate a kidney to a player he now coaches?

That teammate, Tom Walter, the 42-year-old baseball coach at Wake Forest, was discharged from Emory University Hospital in Atlanta on Thursday, three days after undergoing a kidney transplant to benefit Kevin Jordan, a 19-year-old freshman outfielder for the Demon Deacons.

"I wasn't surprised at all," Eccleston said of Walter, his teammate at the Hill School in Pottstown during the 1987 season, when the Blues rolled to a 19-0 record. "He was a great guy, easy to get along with, had a great attitude."

Last February, while a senior at Northside High in Columbus, Ga., Jordan first began to feel the effects of what later was diagnosed as ANCA vasculitis, a type of autoimmune swelling caused by antibodies.

For six months, doctors were unable to pinpoint what was wrong with Jordan, first thinking it was mononucleosis or possibly strep throat.

During his first semester at Wake Forest last fall, Jordan hooked himself up to a dialysis machine each day from 11 p.m. to 8 a.m.

"He's the most courageous kid I've ever coached. It's a scary situation going to a school 400 miles away for a healthy kid, let alone for a kid on a dialysis machine," Walter said.

Walter volunteered to be tested after he learned of Jordan's illness. As it became more likely that Walter's kidney might be needed, the Wake Forest compliance officer checked with the NCAA to make sure there were no violations of the extra-benefits rule.

Jordan's mother and brother weren't compatible for a transplant, and his father wasn't eligible because he has high blood pressure. Walter, it turned out, was a match.

Jordan was overwhelmed by his coach's ultimate act of unselfishness.

"I didn't even ask him," the player said. "He asked me."

Walter was the same when he was at the Hill School, those who knew him recalled. When he went to the boarding school to spend a year as a postgraduate, after graduating from Johnstown High in Western Pennsylvania in the spring of 1986, coach James Finn invited the catcher to watch one of the team's indoor practices.

Finn, still the Blues' coach today, said that all the players had good first impressions of the newcomer.

"When he first came here, we already had a starting catcher in Dave Willman," said Chris Drown, then a sophomore. Willman went on to be all-Southeastern Conference at South Carolina. "But Tom moved to right field and pitched for us. Not many people of that caliber would do that."

Finn spoke to Walter by phone Tuesday, while he was still recovering at Emory. Finn told Walter how "moved he felt" and that he was "filled with admiration."

Walter told his former coach that he was blessed to be able to help.

"He comes from an extraordinary family, and I'm not surprised because that's the type of people they are," Finn said. "He's lived a life full of examples for his players."

Walter returned the sentiment, saying he will never forget Finn for the compassion he showed toward his players.

"A lot of who I am as a coach is because of the way Doc coached us at the Hill. He always cared about his players as people first," Walter said.

Before coaching the Demon Deacons, Walter was head coach at George Washington and later at the University of New Orleans.

In the fall of 2005, Walter and his New Orleans team evacuated to New Mexico after their campus was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. They spent the fall semester trying to keep the program running, despite losing more than half their roster to transfers.

"There were no grocery stores. The dorm rooms weren't fit to live in," said Walter, who guided the Privateers to a Sun Belt Conference title in 2007.

Walter enlisted his team to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity on their days off, rebuilding homes.

"It's meaningful for all, anytime you can see what you have and feel fortunate for it," Walter said.