New shoes for Hayden

Parents with boys who have very sturdy bases, also known as big feet, understand the struggle and expense of finding shoes that will fit, especially if those shoes start inching their way into size 18 or 19.

Not only are those sizes hard to find, but the larger they are the more expensive they are, too, some dipping into $200 or more per pair.

This has been an ongoing problem for Bobcat play-by-play announcer, Hayden Mayne who is well into a size 16.

For years, Mayne's former pre-school teacher, Karen Leyba would look for shoes that would fit him when she would go out of town, bringing home a pair when she could find one.

Now that his feet have reached a size beyond what a majority of stores carry on their shelves, Leyba was having a hard time finding anything that would fit the still growing high schooler.

As luck would have it, a family connection came to the rescue for Leyba in the form of Sparky Gonzalez, the equipment manager for the Denver Nuggets.

Leyba met Gonzalez through her brother in law and talked with him about how difficult it is to find shoes in basketball-player sizes.

Lo and behold, a short later a large box arrived at Leyba's containing Nike and Under Armour basketball shoes from about a size 16 all the way up to a size 20, compliments of Gonzalez.

Last week, those shoes were given to Mayne as a surprise after school, ensuring he'd have sneaks to last him at least a couple of years.

Complete shock is the only way to describe his reaction to the gifts as he took each pair out of their boxes, turning them around and around to get a good look at them, still not believing they were his.

That is until he tried a pair on.

So if you see him sporting his new sneakers, know there are good people in the world like Leyba and Gonzalez who do good things out of the kindness of their hearts.

This time, thinking outside the shoe box.