Jeff Griffin remembers being weeks removed from a life-altering injury, relying on nurses to move him around and struggling to accept his new reality. His dreams of running down touchdown passes at BYU's Cougar Stadium? Forever scratched.
"I was having my own pity party," Brother Griffin said.
But life — like many dreams — takes unexpected, sometimes pleasant turns. No, Brother Griffin will never play college football again — but he will compete on a global stage. Despite losing the use of his legs almost a decade ago, the 31-year-old seminary teacher is a world-class athlete. In September he'll represent his country in the wheelchair basketball tournament at the 2004 Paralympics in Athens, Greece.
Learning he'd been selected for the U.S. squad left Brother Griffin "ecstatic and happy, confused and unbelieving. I tried to hide my smile."
He grew up in Utah's Cache County, crazy about sports: soccer, baseball, basketball, golf, tennis, "anything with a ball." After setting aside two years to serve a mission in Spain, he played wide receiver for a Ricks College football team that went 11-0.
During the summer break from school, he found work painting the top of a barn in Preston, Idaho. He lost his footing and fell 40 feet. The accident broke his back and left him paralyzed from the waist down.
He spent weeks convalescing in an Ogden, Utah, hospital. He received several priesthood blessings. The pain was intense and the days often dark as he began to realize the impact the injury would exact on his life. But he was buoyed by an emerging optimism. "I realized being paralyzed wasn't the end of the world."
With a wheelchair taking the place of his once strong legs, he enrolled at Utah State University. While there he met Emily Hollist. The two became friends, began dating, and married a little over a year later. He also began preparing for a career. His injury, he said, brought life's most important matters into clear focus. He decided to become a seminary teacher because he enjoys young people and wanted to share his gospel testimony with them on a daily basis. Now a father of two, Brother Griffin just finished his fourth year teaching Bingham High seminary students in South Jordan, Utah.
Brother Griffin's paralysis didn't douse his competitive fire. Two years after the accident, he was invited by a friend to play with the Utah Wheelin' Jazz, a basketball team for wheelchair athletes. "I fell in love with the sport."
Soon he was playing with one of the top wheelchair teams in the country and began to focus on qualifying for the U.S. Paralympic team. He boosted his physical condition by training for, then winning, the St. George Marathon in 2000.
His hoop dreams were momentarily foiled earlier this year when he was left off the 12-man national team, designated instead as an alternate. Three weeks later the U.S. coach called and said Brother Griffin had been promoted.
His seminary students have become hard-core Paralympics basketball fans.
"I try to teach my students to never give up. Live life. Attack your fears. Achieve your goals," he said.
Everyone, he said, has some sort of disability. "With faith in Christ and hope, all burdens can be lifted."
Athens-bound
Do you know of an LDS athlete who has qualified to represent his or her country at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece? How about a fellow member who will be competing in the 2004 Paralympics?
The Church News would like to hear about them. Please send information about Olympic and Paralympic-bound athletes (including athlete's name, home ward and stake, country and sport) to jswensen@desnews.com.
E-mail: jswensen@desnews.com