A hockey star learned about life at an early age from his parents, who opened their home to kids in need

	Tapper started the season with the Philadelphia Phantoms and is trying to work his way back to the NHL from Germany. Courtesy of Philadelphia Phantoms

By Joseph Santoliquito, Special to SI.com

They would cry and scream, their tiny limbs writhing in pain from withdrawal, and Donna Tapper would squeeze a little tighter as if her caress would make the sudden twitching stop. Those were the nights Brad Tapper rarely got any sleep, listening as his mother walked up and down the creaky hallways of their Scarborough, Ontario, home, gently rocking another crack baby that she had taken in.

Tapper, now 28 and a right winger with NHL experience who plays for the Hannover Scorpions of the German Elite League, was around five when he began to sense something was slightly different about his parents. He remembers frequently asking himself, Why are there so many kids running around here?

For the past 30 years, Tapper's parents, Bill, 66, and Donna, 64, have converted their home into a haven for children of cocaine addicts, prostitutes and abusive parents. Some stayed with the Tappers for a few days, others for years. Tapper figures his parents have had more than 300 children come through the family's doors, and have directly raised 110 foster kids entrusted to them by the Toronto division of the Catholic Children's Aid Society (CCAS).

Police officers would come knocking at the Tapper's door in the middle of the night and say, "We have a child for you."

"We never said 'No,'" Bill Tapper says

The Tappers home is a modest, four-bedroom house in a residential area. Bill was in the heating business for 20 years, working the latter part of his career as a private contractor. He made a good living and had eight men working for him, including his sons. He's retired now, resting with two new knees -- and still has a house full of kids.

Brad is one of Bill's and Donna's four biological sons. He started this season with the Philadelphia Phantoms in the American Hockey League, recording a hat trick in his first game back after recovering from a severe concussion (He was hit from behind in a pre-season game against the Lowell Lock Monsters.)

He had hopes of being called up to the NHL by the Flyers, but those chances faded with the October resignation of Philly GM Bobby Clarke, who had signed Tapper. Now he's continuing his professional career in Germany, where he played in 2005.  

House of hope

Hockey has taken Tapper all over the world, including three stints in the NHL with the Atlanta Thrashers, with whom he appeared in 71 games from 2000-2002 and scored 14 goals and seven assists. But it was his unique experience as a child that prepared him for personal hardship, when close friend Danny Snyder tragically died following a Sept. 29, 2003, car accident involving Thrashers teammate Dany Heatley.

Bill and Donna Tapper had seemingly endless room in their home and hearts for kids from the most tragic backgrounds. Courtesy of the Tapper Family

"My home was my foundation," Tapper says. "I remember my mother always losing it when one of the kids left, more so for the long-term kids. These were high-risk kids. There's always a problem with foster care. Most of these kids came to my parents addicted to crack or coke. We had two Filipino boys who cried for six months straight and we didn't know why."

Those were the trying times, the occasions when Donna's caring and patience were tested.

"That's when you have to think that this poor child didn't ask for this," says Donna, who was so drawn to one special child named J.J., she adopted him. "You do what you have to do, but it does make you feel good knowing that you helped these kids, and that you're doing the best you can do for them. I spent three or four months walking the house night and day, taking turns with my husband with some of them. The withdrawal makes them stiffen up. Their stomachs hurt because of the need for drugs. It's happened a number of times with the children, and they're up all night crying, because of the pain they're going through. They eventually grow out of it. But we've had some doctors tell us no. We had one child, a girl who is now 17. We were told she wouldn't lead a normal life. She does. She visits us every year at Christmas. She totally amazes me."

Donna's caring and commitment often left Brad wondering how much care and commitment she could give? Wasn't he her biological child? He didn't get it then. He does now. It just took some adjusting -- and some growing up.

"Your mother is supposed to love you, not four other kids staying with you," Tapper says. "There was a lot of jealousy with the other kids when I was younger, because that's just human nature. You're going to get jealous when someone else is taking your mother's time when you think it should be yours. I was young then. I didn't realize all of the good work they were doing. But you learn what life is all about. You learn about sacrifice, and what it means to help one another. I mean one simple act could change someone's day."