The Jim MacLaren Story

Sports history is chock-full of classic stories of athletes overcoming seemingly insurmountable odds; Two years ago, underdog, 5’6 Nate Robinson won the NBA slam-dunk contest. In the 2007 World Series, Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell won the MVP award just a few years after nearly loosing his battle with cancer. In 2002 an Ethiopian cross-country runner won a marathon in Italy by over 9 minutes, he ran the entire race barefoot. In Greece Athena high school in New Jersey a 17 year old known simply as “J-Mac” scores 20 points in the last few minutes of a Varsity basketball game. An amazing feat considering he was only the team manager, had never played in a game before, and he suffers from severe Autism.

Then there is a story about an underprivileged kid named Jim MacLaren, who grew up in a trailer home in the northeast. His mom was drunk most of the time and his dad had left home when the he was just seven. Although Jim was not fortunate enough to have stable home or any money, God had blessed him with a strong physique, define face, and tremendous athletic ability. When he was 14 Vermont Academy offered him a full scholarship to attend their school and play football. Jim took the opportunity and ran with it all the way to a full ride to attend Yale University. Bye the age of 19 he had it all; he was strong, smart, and very attractive. His skills on the gridiron made him an all-American. His good looks and outgoing personality made him a raising star in both acting and modeling. Jim’s future was as bright as the sun and there was no limit to what he could accomplish.

Here was another “rags to riches” story in the making. Sometimes when you reach high levels of success people try and bring you down. They want to see you fail, but everyone wanted Jim to succeed. Other times when you become too powerful or too well liked you self sabotage or get involved in elements that drag you down because you think you are invincible, but not him, he was humble, and drug free. Then there are times when something not of this world comes down and snatches it all away and says “now what are you going to do?” This is the one that leaves you asking “Why me?” Most times this question leads to self-pity, sorrow, and guilt, but in Jim’s case it lead to greatness far beyond football, fame, and TV.

In 1985 Jim was riding his motorcycle home from a late night rehearsal when he was hit by a 40,000-pound bus. He was pronounced dead on arrival. He was revived, and rushed to the hospital where he spent the next 8 days in a coma. When he came to he was cut, bruised and unaware of what had happened to him. He was alive and despite internal injuries he was going to pull through. It wasn’t until Jim regained full consciousness that he became aware of his missing right leg, it wasn’t until much later that he realized the true potential of this blessing.

Jim attacked rehab and in a couple of months he was able to turn his competitive nature into a life saving attribute. He began to run in marathons with the aid of a new prosthetic leg. “I felt like I was back in it, back in life,” he said. “I didn’t compete against other people. I was competing against me. A buddy once said, ‘Mac, nobody cares how fast you go, they just love that you’re doing it.’ “I told him I care. I never wanted to be taken for granted, as that guy with the fake leg. So I just kept pushing myself.”

Jim became media uproar in the new sport of triathlons, paving the way for a new generation of disabled athletes. He not only competed he started to set scores and records at the highest level of the sport. He competed in the most grueling races known to man, including the New York City Marathon and the Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii. He consistently finished ahead of 80 percent of the able-bodied athletes. ESPN was following Jim’s races, he was training all over the world and each race inspired thousands of disabled bodied athletes. Jim became one of the most powerful motivational speakers in the sports world.

He was back on top, and all, which that bus had taken from him, had been earned back through hard work and dedication. Even after all this Jim had not met his true potential, he had not completed his journey. On June 6th 1993 in Mission Viejo, California, he was racing another triathlon. Two miles into the bike leg, on a closed course, a traffic marshal miss-directed a van to cross the street. The van struck Jim sending him flying head first into a signpost breaking his neck at the C5 vertebrae. A few weeks later Jim found himself in another hospital bed paralyzed from the chest down. All hope, all pride, all will driven from his body once again. Slowly, he pulled himself back again. Struggling through enormous physical and mental obstacles he began to reclaim some minor motor function of his right arm. More impressively, he was able to summon an inner force that enabled him to act in ways he couldn’t as an able-bodied athlete. “It took two years of self study, going deep, and then deeper again,” he says. “And, sometime in 2000-2001, I chose life.”

Once again Jim turned tragedy into an opportunity, Jim has received two masters degrees, and then a Ph D. in mythology and depth psychology, he started the Choose Living Foundation, which has helped to inspire thousands to keep fighting through adversity. Through his help with The Challenged Athletes Foundation they have been able to raise nearly 4 million dollars. The money helps to provide over 400 disabled athletes with prosthetics, racing wheelchairs, hand crank bikes, coaching, and travel expenses to compete in national and international events.

Among the disabled athletes who have benefited from the CAF:
* Bloomington, California’s Rudy Garcia-Tolson. Born with his legs webbed together, Garcia-Tolson was told he would be confined to a wheelchair or could elect to have his legs amputated. At 5, Garcia-Tolson opted for amputation. “I wanted to be just like everybody else,” said Garcia-Tolson. “I wanted to go outside and be involved in sports.” Now 14, Garcia-Tolson has run a 6:15 mile. He swam the 1.2-mile relay leg last Sunday. His motto: “A brave heart is a powerful weapon.”

The great philosopher Confucius said, “Our greatest glory is not never falling, but in rising every time that we do.“ This would certainly attest to the greatness of Jim’s courage to get back up. Former US president Winston Churchill said, “We are still masters of our fate. We are still captains of our souls.”
 He was referring to the ability to accomplish great things with our minds when our bodies fail us. This too rings loud in every message Jim has ever taught. Pro-football Hall of Fame player and coach Mike Ditka told us “You are never a looser until you quit trying.” If this is the case, Jim MacLearen should be in the dictionary as the definition for “Winner.”

There are endless pages of inspiring words written by renowned philosophers, great presidents, and famous people, but the one quote that keeps popping up in my mind is not from any of these people its from an 11 year old boy named Jaymin. He said the most important thing he ever learned was, “You can’t tell how far a frog can jump just by looking at him.” Jaymin, at 11 years of age, has already learned one of the most important values in life. Yes it has been said before in other words, and I am sure Jaymin was thinking in a quite literal sense when he said it, but how true it is. You cannot tell what a person can accomplish by how tall they are. You cannot determine the ability of ones mind by the color of their hair. Nor can you estimate the magnitude of change that person will leave behind them based on any of their physical limitations.

“It’s a journey,” says MacLaren today, acknowledging the universal truth of his life. “Rather than overcoming adversity, it’s a journey about living with adversity.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5217525239645617982
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01cuZegJS2c
www.challengedathletes.org