For Heath LaChance, a favorite player has become a friend
At nearly every Carolina baseball game, Heath LaChance sits along the first base line of Carolina Stadium sporting his white USC cap with garnet trim and his garnet jersey.
The number eight is embroidered on the back of Heath's jersey, and, naturally, Heath's jersey is signed by the player who wears the same number for Carolina, Scott Wingo.
But Heath, an elementary school student at Calhoun Academy, shares more than just a boyhood fandom for Wingo.
It all started at USC's annual baseball camp last summer when Heath's parents Heather and Jim LaChance noticed Heath sitting in the dugout with Wingo when their son was actually supposed to be on the field playing.
"I told [Heather], Heath is getting some good advice," Jim LaChance recalled. "He must be picking Scott's brain. How to play second, how to do this."
According to Heath, the conversation was actually about "America's Funniest Home Videos."
"That's when she and I realized, hey, this is different. They're at a baseball camp and they're not talking about baseball," Jim LaChance said. "They're talking about everything but baseball, and that's something you wouldn't expect."
So when Wingo signed to play with the Columbia Blowfish, the local summer team, Heath was desperate to go see his favorite player perform. But Heather LaChance was quick to temper her son's expectations.
"Look, he's not going to remember who you are," Jim LaChance recalled his wife saying. "There were 200-some kids at the camp. To you, he's one of a kind, but to him, you're one of 200. He won't remember you."
But Wingo did remember him, by name and all. That's when Heath and Wingo developed a strong relationship, which continues to this day. And now the LaChances, who were hardly big college baseball fans prior to last season, attend nearly every USC home game and plan on purchasing season tickets next spring.
The relationship hasn't impacted just Heath and his family, but Wingo as well.
"I always talk to him; we have a real good relationship," Wingo said. "I feel like I am pretty close to him. He's like a real good friend to me. I see some kids and say, 'What's up?' and 'Good seeing you' and stuff, but him, I feel like he's pretty close to me."
The bond between the young men with such a disparaging difference in age has impacted both of Heath's parents on vastly different levels.
"Scott does mean a lot to us. Especially for a mom, for him to take the time like he has with Heath, it means a lot," Heather LaChance said. "Their relationship, you can't even put it into words because it is so unique."
For Heath's father, it stretches to an appreciation for Wingo's ability to be a role model — something he doesn't see much of in his current job setting.
"I'm a state trooper, and I work in Orangeburg, which is one of the worst one of the counties there is," Jim LaChance said. "So I see that stuff every day. I believe parents should be role models, but if there is anybody he has to look up to, it could not be anybody better than Scott."
Now Heath does whatever Scott does.
"Now, when I see him get in the batter's box, he's hitting his feet just like Scott does. He gets on base and he's making his mark in the dirt like Scott does," Jim LaChance said. "Now he's starting to get beamed like Scott does, but he doesn't like that part."
Wingo, an outgoing personality to all he encounters, is proud to be a role model for one of the young children in the community.
"That's awesome. I'm glad I'm a role model to him," Wingo said. "I try to do things the right way and hopefully be a role model to other people, too. It's a good compliment."
Now when the couple attends home games without Heath, Wingo looks around for his favorite pal.
"He and I came to a game without Heath, and the first thing he said was not 'Hey, how are y'all?' It was 'Hey, where's Heath?'" Heather LaChance recalled.
Heath was at a birthday party that day. But for his birthday?
"I know his birthday is this Friday," Wingo said prior to Heath's ninth birthday. "I think he's bringing some of his friends down.