High school athletes can inspire

People sometimes wonder why I enjoy high school sports so much. There are many reasons why, but one of them is because high school athletes have the ability to inspire.

Each year I’ve covered high school sports, and I have in some capacity for more than seven years now, I’ve encountered athletes who have the drive, mental toughness and character that I didn’t have when I was their age. It’s amazing what some of these kids can accomplish and overcome.

I got the idea for this posting when I wrote about Manti’s Dave Hugentobler for the newspaper this week. There have been other inspiring athletes I’ve written about this school year and I thought I’d look back at how some of them overcame adversity.

Here are a few that come to mind:

Quaid Arbon, Clearfield: Football is a tough enough sport to play, let alone trying to do it with one arm. Arbon was born with Amniotic Band Syndrome (ABS), a birth defect that occurs when limbs are caught up and entangled in string-like bands while they are supposed to be forming. Arbon’s left arm didn’t fully develop. He has an elbow, and about a fourth of his radius bone, but no wrist or fingers. Arbon, a junior, played center for Clearfield’s junior varsity football team and was a backup for the Falcons’ varsity team.

Porter Ellett, Wayne: Perhaps my all-time favorite high school athlete, not only for what he’s overcome, but also because of his great personality. Ellett helped Wayne to its second consecutive 1A baseball championship despite playing with just one arm. He lost the use of his right arm in a childhood accident. It was truly amazing to see how he would maneuver his mitt while he would pitch with his left arm and make plays at first base. Inspiring doesn’t even begin to describe what it was like to watch him in action. He was a legitimate player as well, earning the 1A MVP award as a junior and first-team all-state honors as a senior.

Dave Hugentobler, Manti: In case you missed it, he violently crashed his dirt bike at the end of his sophomore year then unknowingly played his junior season of basketball on a broken foot. His pain threshold and ability to deal with adversity without feeling sorry for himself was inspiring.

Skyler Barkdull, Park City: I don’t know if there’s ever been a high school athlete who came closer to dying as a result of an injury in a competition as Barkdull. He suffered a near-fatal subdural hematoma, a brain injury with a high mortality rate, when he took a hard hit in the Miners’ freshman season opener at Logan. He had emergency brain surgery and survived, and expects to play football again next year.

Max Rodriguez, Ogden: Rodriguez also nearly died, but his experience came in an incident away from the playing fields. He was involved in an automobile accident in the fall of 2006 that took the life of one of his friends and nearly claimed his. Rodriguez was in a coma for a couple of weeks, but came out of it and got himself healthy. He played football again this fall and started the season at quarterback before moving to receiver.

Jordan Ballam, Logan: The Miracle Maker hasn’t suffered any devastating injuries or overcome any daunting adversity. I’m just still amazed by the final four weeks of his season ‘ scoring the game-winning touchdown on special teams in the first two rounds of the state playoffs and delivering more clutch plays in the semifinals and championship game. Ballam’s month could make even the most pessimistic person believe that anything is possible.

Those are just a few examples of high school athletes who have inspired me this school year. I’m sure I’m missing some players who have done some extraordinary things. As always, I invite our readers to join in and post their comments. Who has inspired you and why?