As good as this weekend has been to Bridgeport’s Mark Duez with graduation and family and friends together to celebrate with him, last weekend proved pretty special too. For those that think it was because he was a member – and a key one – of the Indians’ boys Class AA state championship title run at Laidley Field you’d only be partially correct.

 

Duez wasn’t just a casual contributor to the Indians’ state title. He was the anchor in the state championship 4x800 relay team, the runner-up in the 1600 meter run and finished fourth in the 800.

 

On most days, that would be enough to make the day just about flawless. Instead, what made it unflawed was knowing a certain woman who was watching and the message he got to send her and then tell her to her face.

 

Mark Duez, in his last meet of his high school career, made sure he knew where his “Grammy” was at in the stands in Charleston. He also made sure, as he did before every meet and every time he sees her that he got to give her a hug and a kiss.

 

That, in and of itself, isn’t what makes it special. What makes it special is that his grandmother is Norma Duez. The same Norma Duez who somehow managed to work 37 years for the City of Bridgeport and never take a single sick day. And the same Norma Duez who has been battling and staring down cancer with the same heart of a warrior that her grandson displayed last Friday and Saturday at the Class AA State Track Meet.

 

I imagine that’s one of the reasons he ran so hard. I’m sure the training, the coaching and the fact that he didn’t want to let his family and teammates down was extremely important too.

 

But Mark Duez is a young man who knows of his surroundings. He’s very much aware of the battle his Grammy is facing with colon cancer that has caused her to not be as energetic as she would most certainly want to be and has been for almost his entire life. He’s very much aware, too, that no matter what he’s battling out on that oval track that it pales in comparison to what his own flesh and blood is facing every single second of every single day and has done so for half a decade now.

 

“She’s been through a lot and knowing what she’s been through is something I think about because she’s been to just about every meet I’ve ever been in. If she can make it to my meets and travel sometimes pretty far going through what she’s going through then I can run four laps or two laps and not give up,” said Duez. “Knowing she’s there is something that really has driven me and she’s on my mind a lot when I’m running.”

 

She was immediately on his mind shortly after the winning 4x800 meter relay win May 18. And it was Grammy that initiated it.

 

“I just sent him a text that said ‘great job’ with some hearts after it,” Norma, who only missed one BHS track meet this year, said. “It was less than 10 minutes later I heard my phone buzz. I got a text back from him that says ‘thanks Grammy. I did it for you’ and he added all these hearts. I still get emotional thinking about it. Let’s put it this way, you cry every time you read it.”

 

“The funny thing is after I read it and I looked down and he has all these friends and girls around him and he still took that time for me,” she continued. “It was just all pretty super.”

 

As Norma Duez has continued her battle with cancer, spending time watching her local grandchildren in athletics has been a huge diversion. She’s watched the oldest of the local Duez group, Michael, compete in cross country at Wheeling Jesuit. She’s watched Mark in cross country and track and field at BHS. And the youngest, Mitchell, in basketball games all across the state as well as right here at Bridgeport Middle School.

 

“I’ve enjoyed watching the two oldest running and we’re on the road to see (Mitchell) play any chance we get. They’re all such terrific young men,” said Norma. “Sports has proven to be really good therapy because it takes your mind off of things and it’s allowed me to get so much closer to those boys and they’re still terrific even though they’re all at the age where they’re interested in girls. Some kids get that age and they’d rather talk to the girls than their grandparents or any adult.

 

“The best thing about those boys is that if I walk into a room or a place they’re at they always hug me and give me kiss no matter who’s around. They’ve been raised properly,” she continued. “They’ve got good genes.”

 

Here’s the thing that makes it even more special in our digital day and age. The first text came after Mark’s relay win on the first day of the track meet. The next text came when the Indians had clinched their second boys’ title on the second day.

 

“It was a nail biter that they won and when it was over I let him know he had done a wonderful job. He told me ‘he couldn’t have done it without me.’ That just made it about as perfect as it can get,” she said.

 

And she helped make her grandson’s day perfect too.

 

“It’s probably one of the best moments that I can visualize right after we won. I got to see her smiling. She’s happy no matter what I do, but I know she was smiling because she was happy for me,” said Duez. “All I wanted to do was to give her a hug as soon as I saw her waiting for me.”

 

Turns out that was the best medicine on the day.

 

“It was wonderful. The whole thing was wonderful. I wasn’t thinking of anything else,” she said. “He even made sure I got to my car.”

 

For the person who’s inspired him, it was the least he could do.

 

“I wanted to make sure she could get to her car so she could get to the home. I kissed her and told her I loved her,” said Duez. “That ended a pretty good day.”

 

A good day indeed. One where Bridgeport not only beat the rest of the Class AA field, but managed to beat down cancer as well.

 

Because of that Duez walked away as a champion in more than just track and field Saturday. He simply walked away a champion.

 

Editor's Note: Mark Duez is shown leading the pack at a track meet earlier this year, while he's shown far left with his grandfather Richard Duez, grandmother "Grammy" Norma Duez and brother Michael Duez at a cross country meet. In the third photo he gives Grammy a hug after winning regionals in cross country. Bottom photo, despite all the hoopla, Mark Duez made sure his Grammy was able to get back to her car for a safe trip home at the state Track meet.