In history’s biggest moments, sometimes it is the smallest things that carry the most significance. Sometimes, amid history’s greatest tragedies, the slightest glimmers of hope can help a nation carry on. Because in tragedy, there is always hope when there is determination to remember, recover, and rebuild
This is the forgotten history of the first soccer ball in space.
Janelle Onizuka loved soccer, absolutely loved it. A member of the Clear Lake High School girls team, she played every chance she could. And her father Ellison loved to watch her play. She was his pride and joy, and her love of soccer was his, too. In early 1986, though, both Ellison and Janelle were thinking about something more pressing than their shared love of soccer. In just a few days, Ellison would be going to space. Janelle was just as proud of her dad as he was of her when she played soccer, so she had an idea. She had the entire Clear Lake girls varsity and junior varsity teams sign a ball for her father and his crewmates.
On it, they wrote in big, bold letters, “Good luck Challenger crew.”
Ellison was so touched that he promised his daughter that he would bring that ball with him and that at least a small part of the team that he and his daughter loved so much would make it all the way to space. After a few delays, Ellison and six other crew members were cleared for launch on January 28th, 1986.
The Clear Lake soccer team, like thousands of other schoolchildren across America watched. But suddenly something went wrong. Flames erupted from the shuttle. In just a matter of seconds, America went from exuberance to horror to overwhelming grief.
Janelle Onizuka was devastated. Her father was gone and, with a nation in mourning, it was unclear whether his dream of space exploration would ever fully resume. A few days after the disaster, recovery crews found something small, but somewhat extraordinary. Inside Ellison’s duffel bag, tattered and faded, but still intact, was the autographed soccer ball.
It was a monument to Ellison’s heroism and his love for his daughter and her soccer team, and she donated it to Clear Lake High School as a permanent memorial. There it stayed for 30 years as America’s space program resumed and flourished, reminding generations of students of Ellison Onizuka’s sacrifice in the name of exploration. It was a symbol of hope in the face of overwhelming tragedy and of the indomitable will to overcome.
In 2015, Shane Kimbrough was helping in that effort. The astronaut was also the parent of a Clear Lake junior high school student and stopped to look at the ball every time he was in the high school. Soon, he would be taking off for the International Space Station, and Clear Lake principal Karen Engle and girls soccer coach Jared Schreiber had an idea: What if Shane finished the mission that Ellison started and took that soccer ball into space.
In 2017, he did, and posted to social media a picture of that tattered, faded monument to heroism, sacrifice, and undying love. Coach Schreiber said he was moved to tears, and so was Janelle Onizuka, who in a statement said "The soccer ball in many ways has continued the mission my father embarked upon so many years ago. It has continued to travel and explore space while inspiring so many through its history. I am grateful for the memories and future of this one special item that touched my dad and me, along with so many others."
And when Shane returned home, he gave the ball back to Clear Lake High School.
"About two years ago, Dr. Engel and Coach Schreiber had an idea, a vision to get this ball to space where it was supposed to be and returned back to Earth," he said at a ceremony. "Dr. Engel, Coach Schreiber, mission accomplished."