COEUR d'ALENE - Karsten Fagan held up the purple Vikings jersey, inspecting the yellow "8" with a big smile on his face.

Even though the Canfield Middle School sixth-grader doesn't normally play on a Coeur d'Alene Jr. Tackle football team, he was chosen to be an honorary team captain for the Jr. Vikings' final game of the season, on the Coeur d'Alene High School football field Wednesday evening.

"I have a lot of friends," Karsten said, grinning.

Karsten, 12, has been friends with many of the players on the Jr. Vikings team since about first grade. Karsten has battled a brain tumor since he was only 9 months old - he has undergone 49 surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation. Although the tumor has not been active for several years, he is still affected by the physical damage it caused his young body.

His classmates are aware of his condition, and love him all the more for his strength and kindness to others.

"We all knew that he's been through a lot," said Zander Kerns, 11. "It means a lot to us to have him be a part of us."

Zander, Roddy Romero, 11, and Tyson Pottenger, 11, are proud to be Karsten's friends. Tyson said they got the idea to have Karsten as their special captain partially because of a video they watched in one of their classes.

"It had another kid like Karsten and they put him in a play and scored him a touchdown and we just kind of thought off of that," Tyson said. "We decided that we wanted him to be one of our team captains."

As the special team captain, Karsten was the first name called as the players were announced and ran down the bleachers, then through two rows of cheering football moms. He was given a team-autographed football as well as a jersey and was on the field for the coin toss to start the game between the Jr. Vikings and the Chargers.

"It feels really good because he never gets to do anything," Roddy said. "He actually gets to have some excitement."

Roddy, Zander and Tyson were eager to talk about Karsten's kind nature and his willingness to be a good friend to everyone. They said he is their role model.

Roddy said he shakes his head in disbelief at other kids who are rude or make fun of people who are different or have special needs.

"They judge people by their appearance, they don't judge people by what's inside of them," he said. "Karsten has a very special thing inside of him. He's kind and I've never seen him say he hated anybody, never once. He always says something positive."

Karsten gave his mom, Angie, several hugs before he went with the others.

"This is like a dream come true, I think, for the entire family," she said. Angie said Karsten is "the cutest and most inspirational kid you'll ever meet," a sweet guy who never complains about anything. She said his classmates from elementary school really love him and continue to look over him now as they are all in middle school, a transition which made Angie a little nervous.

"The Dalton kids treated him like he was King Tut and just really made him feel accepted and loved," she said.

Angie said when Karsten found out he would be part of the team for the game, he read the letter sent home from Coach Tony Prka and he "just giggled."

"He's been talking about it non-stop," she said.

Tate Hochberger, 11, has been one of Karsten's best friends since before kindergarten. She came to the game to see her pal be honored by the football team.

"I think it's pretty neat that they wanted him to be team captain," she said.

"We hope this is the beginning of something that he can look forward to in the near future," Angie said. "It comes down to the parents too, and how they raise their kids, to love others."