LEBANON, Ind. — One week ago, an unlikely rivalry was forged when a video of Caitlin Clark blocking a 7-year-old fan’s shot took off on social media.
“It really wasn’t fair because she’s so tall and good,” 7-year-old Eli Krost recalled.
According to Krost’s calculations at the moment, the ball should have flown right over the Indiana Fever’s point guard’s head. But he assured us that he did, in fact, still manage to get two three-pointers past Clark.
“My sister Megan was distracting her, so that’s how I got two threes on her,” he said.
What many online didn’t know is the video was taken during a Habitat for Humanity wall-building event – for the house the young Fever fan’s family will move into later this year.
“We were living in a trailer that was starting to fall apart,” Dusten Krost said. “And we had a house fire and we lost everything.”
Dusten Krost is a hardworking parent of three, facing rising rent costs and doing it all by himself – never expecting the surprises his kids’ favorite basketball team, Gainbridge Fieldhouse and Zionsville company Group 1001 had in store for them.
“She blocked your shot,” Dusten said to Eli on Sunday.
“Yeah, she’s not my best friend for that,” Eli quipped back.
But Eli would soon find it possible to forgive Clark as the Krosts approached their courtside seats at Sunday’s Fever game against the Chicago Sky.
“When he told us, my sisters and me screamed and my dad thought half of Lebanon heard it,” Eli said. “When I saw her [Caitlin], I ran and she picked me up when I was hugging her.”
“It felt unreal,” 10-year-old Ava Krost said. “It definitely felt like I was just sitting up really close to a TV.”
That game drew record-breaking viewership and happened to fall on 9-year-old Megan Krost’s birthday. The opportunity to be there – as love for the family pours in from across the country – overwhelms Dusten with gratitude.
“This is something you don’t get to experience every day so for them to be able to have that is just amazing,” Dusten said. “Even if it’s just reading the story – thank you for giving us that opportunity and loving on us as a family.”
It’s not just Clark’s logo threes that captivated the family. Dusten added that the Boys and Girls Club of Boone County has become like a second home to the kids, a national organization Clark is known to support.
“This is a memory that that family will get to share forever,” Clark told reporters on Sunday. “And for me, that’s super cool. That means so much more to me than getting to suit up and play tonight.”
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