Glencoe Community Hosts Baseball Tournament To Support Principal, Coach Battling ALS

People in Glencoe are surrounding the high school principal with love in his fight with ALS. They're holding a special baseball tournament this weekend in his honor.

The principal and coach said the good wishes have changed his outlook on life.

It's been a rough few years, with things only getting tougher since Chad Speer's diagnosis three years ago, but in that time he's found support that he never knew.

"I didn't realize what I had, until I'm like, you know what, this is, it's all going away eventually. And it's going away eventually for everybody, but for me it's going away a little bit faster," Speer said.

Speer has learned not to dwell on the bad days.

"You wake up the next day and you remember, I got a friends like this, I got a community like this, and people are coming out of the woodworks to tell you they're behind you," he said.

Brady Maxwell is one of those friends, and he has been since the two were kids.

"We've been pretty much inseparable since." Maxwell said.

Speer and Maxwell coach the baseball team together. Maxwell is one of the main organizers of the Chad Speer Classic Baseball Tournament and auction to raise money for Speer's treatment - and ALS research.

"I just, I’m blown away," Speer said. “I’m just in awe, I mean, there are no words. I guess one word, it’d be love.”

It's been a tough journey since Speer's ALS diagnosis three years ago.

"The question, 'Who do bad things happen to good people?' is always on my mind," Maxwell said.

But no matter how bad it gets, Speer had plenty of shoulders to lean on.

For more information about the tournament and auction, click the Facebook page here.