No one has more rings than Beechwood’s Miles Laird nor has anyone given out more hugs and high-fives

By Dan Weber NKyTribune sports reporter His name is Miles. From the Latin meaning “soldier.”

Which seems on the money for the 25-year-old Beechwood grad who has become a happy warrior for his beloved Tigers, a team he adopted back in junior high and hasn’t left since. Miles Laird cannot stop smiling when it comes to talking about all his buddies on all the Beechwood teams he’s helped win championships over the years. He has the rings – nine championship rings at last count – to show for it. Six in football, three more in baseball. Which makes sense since, as Miles was saying the other day after his Tigers came from behind on the last out to beat Louisville St. Xavier, he’s “been doing this since I was a freshman in high school.” “Love you,” Miles tells the Beechwood players coming by to exchange high-fives and hugs, drawing the same responses from the teen athletes. “He tells them that more than he tells me,” said his mom, Mary Kay Laird, of her Down syndrome son who shines a special light to everyone in his life. “He knows he has Down syndrome and he’s very aware he’s different, he knows it makes it harder for him to read and talk.”

But he has a great deal of confidence. “He’s very good at advocating for himself,” his mother says. Like after graduating from Beechwood when he told his mother: “I want to go to college with my friends.” And so he did. The Laird’s found the SHEP (Supportive Higher Education Program) at NKU for students who need additional help and mentoring. “He had the greatest time,” his mom said, completing the program in 3 ½ years, then got to wear the cap and gown and receive his certificate at graduation. Even helped with the baseball program and interned with the Athletic Department. “He was able to keep his friends from Beechwood and made a whole bunch of new friends,” his mother says. It’s a pattern for Miles since kindergarten. Miles’ confidence and advocacy pretty much knows no bounds. He’s just finished sending off a resume to Bengals’ Coach Zac Taylor, who has a younger sister with Down syndrome, to see if he might need an assistant coach with all of Miles’ experience. You can tell his sense of humor and belonging with the postgame banter from Beechwood baseball coach Kevin Gray who wants Miles to say he likes baseball best. “He really likes chirping in the dugout, don’t you?” he says to Miles, who admits with a big grin that indeed he does.

Miles makes it clear how much he likes being part of the action. In baseball, in the dugout with all his buds, you’re just a bit closer to the game. Which is where Miles has always wanted to be. A Special Olympics state champion in golf and swimming – butterfly and freestyle, Miles often goes golfing with his grandfather, Dr. Howard Anneken. When he competed in the Special Olympics this year, all his Beechwood guys showed up for him the way he shows up for them. They’ve been there from the first days, guys like Logan Castleman, John Odom and then whole families like Ben Meier’s, who’s now playing in college but succeeded by his younger brothers – football player Jack and baseballer Bobby Meier – “my best friend,” Miles calls Bobby in addition to current players like Carson Welch and Chase Flaherty. For that, and for them picking him up and bringing him to the games, Miles rewards them with Chipotle as his treat. Miles used to do basketball, as well, but arranging the driving to all the games and practices all year long got to be a little much, even though the players gladly have volunteered to do so when the family can’t. The scheduling got to be pretty hectic with Myles’ job as a kitchen support/do-everything type at Camporosso Restaurant in Ft. Mitchell, a position he’s held for the last six years. “It’s the greatest place,” Mary Kay says of “the Redfield family who let him off whenever he needs to be at a game.” In football, Miles keeps busy with getting water for the players and helping with the kickers and with offensive coordinator Greg Hergott. He’ll also clean the workout room and wipe down the equipment. As a reward, he was brought on to score a touchdown when he was a freshman.

In baseball, after taking care of the helmets, his biggest duty: “Morale builder,” it’s clear. After the St. X game, with a shared pizza party for the Louisville team, Gray nodded to Miles with all the pizza boxes around them. “Miles bought it all,” the coach kids him. Miles accepts the compliment with a smile and a nod of his own. Just hanging out with his buds after a big game. A part of the team. And in the middle of the action. Exactly where he’s always wanted to be. Watching her son interact with players a decade younger than he is now and “seeing them react to him as he brings so much joy to them” is one of her own greatest joys. “I tell myself that we need to be more like them,” Mary Kay says of her son and all those classified as “disabled.” “God made them perfect,” she says, “it’s the rest of us who need work.” Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @dweber3440.