I AM NOT A WRITER, SO I WILL PASTE, I KNOW THIS WILL BE A GREAT MOVIE
Florida athlete only needed one leg to have a Hall of Fame career
Carl Joseph, who earned 13 letters in football, basketball and track, has been elected to the Florida High School Athletic Hall of Fame *
By Christine Brennan, USA TODAY
As a rookie reporter at the Miami Herald in 1981, I was assigned to write about a one-legged linebacker at Bethune-Cookman College. His name was Carl Joseph, and although he was born without a left leg, he had been a star at Florida's Madison High, earning 13 letters in football, basketball and track.
VIDEO: YouTube clip of Carl Joseph
Joseph started two years at nose guard and captained the football team his senior year, cleared 5-10 in the high jump and dunked a basketball. He did all of this by hopping on a right leg that was almost as wide as his waist. He didn't wear an artificial limb. They were not allowed in competition. People who watched him said he looked like a "bewitched jackhammer" on the playing field.
In college, Joseph became known for his special-teams play. "The impact on all our kids and on how they perform is something," Coach Bobby Frazier told me back then. "When it's rough and Carl's in there, we know we can do it. I'd love to see what he'd do with all his limbs."
As inspiring as Joseph was, I lost touch with him in the nearly three decades that had gone by — until I opened a recent e-mail announcing that he had been elected to the Florida High School Athletic Hall of Fame.
Joseph's induction will take place Sunday in Gainesville.
"It's an accomplishment beyond my wildest imagination," Joseph said. "To see a one-legged guy be blessed to become part of a Hall of Fame with elite athletes like Emmitt Smith and Cris Collinsworth, it's a wonderful honor."
Joseph, now 48, is senior bishop at Tallahassee's Holy Jerusalem Church of God. He has had some health problems and no longer plays sports, although he coached high school football for 15 years. He gets around these days on crutches.
"I've always said that I never thought of myself as handicapped," he said. "It was never talked about in my household, so I always considered myself an average kid. I always felt I could do with one leg what kids did with two legs."
|
Last update: 28-10-2010 15:41 |
| Published in : Sports |
|
|
|
Users' Comments (0) 
|
|
|
