Sun. Dec 22nd, 2024

Look at that picture for a minute.

That is no joke. It’s also not a novelty. This man, Carl Joseph, was just elected to the Florida High School Hall of Fame.

Thanks to the incredible Christine Brennan for this piece in USA Today.

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.

Wow.

If only some video footage of this existed.

Oh. My bad.

Wow.

What can a mere mortal like myself add here? Kudos to Brennan, again, for making sure some people saw this story. And thanks to Carl Joseph for exploding convention and excusing the use of Cliche: this is inspirational, empowering and compelling stuff: how can you look at this story and not feel motivated to do something, anything, that you might think is beyond your grasp? How could you not try? How dare you not try?

One more time, for the record: Wow.

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