At the annual Blue and Gold event in March, Wright City Alderman Ramiz Hakim and his wife, Rachel, won an auction bid for the naming rights to the Wright City Middle School gym.

The Blue and Gold event is an annual fundraising event held every year in March to raise money in scholarships for high school graduates in Wright City.  

Instead of putting their own names onto the new gym, the Hakim’s dedicated it to someone they had recently met in their life, but someone that they believed deserved it: Troy Gladden. 

Troy Gladden started working with the Wright City R-II District in October 2023. With a simple goal in mind that he would save enough money from work to buy tickets to a Chicago Bulls game, his favorite team, Gladden had no idea the impact he would make on the people of Wright City.

Through the district and Warren County Pathfinders, the Warrenton alum was able to work at the school and become integrated with the rest of the staff. He cleans the floors, takes out the trash, builds relationships with the students, moves boxes and more.

While Gladden noted that he loves working at the school, he has an even bigger love for basketball as he is an avid fan of the Chicago Bulls and even has the Bulls logo shaved on the back of his head.

Gladden has been playing basketball for more than 20 years through the Missouri Special Olympics and even won a gold medal with his team in January 2024. 

After Gladden won his Special Olympics medal in January, he made sure to show off his accomplishment to his co-workers. Later that evening while Gladden was at work, the community basketball league was having practice inside the middle school gym.

Janice Hinson, the director of employment services at Warren County Pathfinders, asked Troy if he wanted to show the medal to his kids. Of course, Gladden answered with a yes.

Hakim welcomed Gladden into the gym to talk to the players and introduce him. Gladden encouraged the kids to keep playing basketball because maybe one day they might be able to win a gold medal too.

The next day, Hakim reached out to Hinson and asked her if Gladden would like to be his assistant coach. Gladden was overjoyed and coached his first practice on Feb. 7.

“He would kind of poke in and poke out and the boys started to notice that he was trying to engage, so I asked his assistant if it would be okay for him to join the team,” Hakim said. “The kids took to him well and he’s done an incredible job.”

Soon after his first day, Crystal Norman, a parent with a kid on the team made a shirt for Gladden, marking him as the official assistant coach.

Gladden noted that his favorite part of coaching was just having fun and he does intend to coach again next year.

Hakim added that Gladden was a surprisingly louder coach than he was, but the moment Gladden shouted something out, the kids would listen.

“A lot of the time, I would be the one to go to Troy and say hey, I need you to go talk to Isaiah about not fouling over there in the corner and they would take it much better from him than how they would take it from me,” Hakim said.

Hakim recalled after Gladden’s first few days, many of the kids went to tell their parents about their new coach. The kids did not mention his disability, instead they talked about how fun and outgoing he was.

“It was a much deeper thing than just being an assistant basketball coach,” Hakim said. “He’s teaching us all to be able to see each other at a very simple level.”

“It’s important for people to know that just because someone has disabilities they don’t have to stay inside and be excluded from everyday activities,” Hinson added.

Hinson went on to say that people with disabilities want to be a part of the world and be treated as equals and she would like to see more businesses continue to open their doors to more people with disabilities.

“Inclusion in the workforce has allowed Troy the opportunity to become an assistant coach, a mentor and an inspiration to many people,” Hinson said.

Throughout the season, Hakim saw the impact Gladden made on the kids and he wanted to make a small gesture to show his appreciation.

On July 25, the “Coach Troy Gymnasium” sign in big blue and black letters was officially raised while Gladden was surrounded by all of his friends. Gladden was overjoyed and watched as his name was put front and center on the wall.

“Yup, that’s me,” Gladden said while cheesing at his new sign.