Last Friday’s Mount Si boys’ basketball game against the Mercer Island Islanders was highly anticipated. Not for what the game could mean to the Wildcats in the win-loss column, or the fact the Islanders are among the best in the state. Instead, the anticipation and intense community interest in the game centered around one young man and his special moment.

It was about two and a half years ago when Mount Si senior Caleb Williams, then just finishing up his freshman year, was just starting what should have been a great summer with friends and family. That all changed very early that summer when he was seriously injured in a swimming accident on the Snoqualmie River. Initially, it appeared that Caleb would never pick up a basketball again.

However, he recovered and last Friday, what had been considered to be unthinkable happened. Caleb came back to play one last game of basketball for his Mount Si Wildcats team as they hosted the Islanders.

His parents were on hand for the occasion and they were proud to be there. “We never thought this would happen. I really didn’t think we’d ever get to see him start a varsity game, so it’s been really amazing in itself,” said Caleb’s mother, Kim Williams.

The return to the court for Caleb has been a long time in the making, according to his mother. “Well, last year he asked us if he could play one game his senior year, so we talked about it and we talked to our doctor and he felt that that would be okay, and we were pretty intent about picking Mercer Island because he’s got real close relationships with a lot of the senior boys on that team. He’s grown up playing with them, competing against them and on some teams with them, so we wanted it to be Mercer Island,” said Kim.

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