Charlie Winovich is a rabid Cleveland Indians fan who had a dream come true this week. Not only was his beloved baseball team in the World Series for the first time since 1997, he also had tickets to Game 1 of the Fall Classic, thanks to his father who bought a pair for Charlie and his brother.
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The snag for the Ohio University student was that he had class Tuesday night.
That didn’t stop Winovich. The student checked into class, gave his homework to another student to turn in and then quietly slipped away to attend the game at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Fox Sports reported.
When Charlie’s professor, R. Damian Nance, took attendance at the end of class, the student naturally was not there. Charlie then received an email from Nance, a distinguished professor of geological sciences who said he had "zero tolerance" for such absences.
Charlie responded with the truth. “I’ll be completely honest,” he wrote. “I came and swiped and gave a kid next to me my homework because my dad got us tickets to the World Series in Cleveland. I’m sorry I didn’t want to miss the attendance and I did the homework. I understand if you have repercussions.”
Winovich then attached a photo of himself and his brother at the game.
ROLL TRIBE @Indians pic.twitter.com/1Cz2L1McK5
— Charles Turner (@C_tWINO) October 26, 2016
Damian’s response was one any geological sciences student could dig.
“Charlie. That looks like an impeccable excuse,” he wrote. “No repercussions. Go Tribe!”
Winovich posted a screen shot of the email exchange. He and his brother Will were rewarded by the home team, as the Indians won Game 1 6-0 against the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland pitcher Corey Kluber pitched a masterful game — nine strikeouts in six-plus innings.
“It was me and my little brother and probably the closest time we’ll ever share together,” Winovich told CBS News. “I can’t even explain to you what this past year has been like for your everyday Cleveland fan. It’s surreal.”
It was even more special to get the tickets as a present from his dad, a quadriplegic who has been living with Lou Gehrig’s disease for the past 12 years.
Winovich’s grandfather had season tickets that he planned on selling so Winovich’s dad could get a better wheelchair, CBS News reported. But his dad refused, and instead, insisted that Charlie and Will go to the game.
"Whatever the (repercussions were going to be), it was worth it to make it to a World Series game," Winovich told CBS News, adding that it was his first — and perhaps last — World Series game ever. "No matter what the case, if you are a Clevelander and something big is going to happen, we will be there to support our own."
Nance’s email was flooded with well-wishers because of his response to Winovich, the student-run Post Athens of Ohio University reported.
“I realized I had become twitter famous at 5:40 a.m. this morning when I got a text from my son Christopher in Barcelona, Spain,” Nance said in an email to the newspaper.
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