Posted on 05/14/2005 7:06:30 AM PDT by FlJoePa
By PETE THAMEL Published: May 14, 2005 STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - When Adam Taliaferro walks across a stage to receive his undergraduate degree from Penn State on May 14, his slight limp should hardly be noticeable under his navy-blue graduation gown.
The limp is one of the few visible signs remaining from a catastrophic injury that left Taliaferro temporarily paralyzed from the neck down. The crown of Taliaferro's helmet collided with an Ohio State running back's knee in the waning seconds of a Buckeyes rout in Columbus in September 2000. The blow shattered the fifth cervical vertebra in Taliaferro's neck "like a walnut inside a nutcracker," a doctor said later.
Doctors gave Taliaferro, a freshman cornerback at the time, a 3 percent chance of walking again. But four and a half years later, Taliaferro has returned to a mostly normal life, his remarkable recovery a testament to his will, his family's strength and the support of Coach Joe Paterno and a Penn State community that embraced the Taliaferros in the immediate aftermath of the injury and in the following years.
"Sometimes I feel selfish, because all the credit for my recovery comes to me," Taliaferro said. "But it was more than that that got me through this. I had a tremendous amount of support from a lot of people."
The collision ended Taliaferro's athletic career, and he will probably never run again, doctors said. But he returned to college less than a year after the accident. He will graduate with a 3.19 grade-point average and a degree in labor and industrial relations, he said. He intends to enroll in law school, attending Rutgers-Camden near his family's home in Winslow, N.J.
Tucked away in the basement of that spacious home are boxes of cards and letters that Addie Taliaferro, Adam's mother, did not have the heart to throw away. Duffle bags of cards, letters and gifts arrived at her doorstep every day in the weeks after Adam's injury.
"If Adam didn't get 50,000 cards," Addie said, "he didn't get one."
Cookies came from Montana with blue and white frosting, the Penn State colors, and flowers came from an alumnus of the Class of 1939. Well-wishers wrote from Africa. Addie Taliaferro read the notes nightly back then, letting the misspellings of elementary school students help her temporarily forget her fear and pain.
Paterno dispatched an assistant coach, Joe Sarra, who has since retired, to be with the family around the clock. Taliaferro's parents insisted he move into their home. Paterno flew in weekly. His wife, Sue, prayed for Taliaferro every morning while she swam laps, and she would make the four-hour drive to the hospital in Philadelphia to bring homemade chocolate chip cookies.
Dr. Wayne Sebastianelli, the director of sports medicine at Penn State, flew every week to check on Taliaferro. He began each visit with a kiss on the forehead, the one place he knew Taliaferro could feel. (After Taliaferro began to regain his senses and movement, he asked Sebastianelli to stop.)
Despite the dire outlook, the community and family formed what Sarra called a "feeling of assurance" around Taliaferro. Visitors streamed through, from Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb to Taliaferro's high school friends, who gave up their Saturday nights to visit the hospital.
A former Penn State student sent holy water from the Vatican, and the family rubbed so much on Adam's face that his skin broke out. They instituted a no crying rule for all of their son's visitors at the hospital.
"I didn't ever let them tell him he wasn't going to walk," Addie said. "If you did that, you were going to be in big trouble with me."
About two weeks after the accident, Taliaferro began moving the big toe on his left foot. His father, Andre, broke down crying at the news. As the weeks passed, he regained movement in his hands, feet and legs.
By Christmas, he took his first steps - small ones with the aid of crutches - but steps that had answered his family's prayers.
Only then did Adam's parents tell him of the bleak outlook first offered by the doctors. Soon afterward, he walked out of the hospital.
His rehabilitation continued as he moved from using crutches to a cane to walking without assistance. He also began giving back to others as a way of thanking those who had helped him. Sarra changed roles from that of bedside support to helping Taliaferro schedule speaking appearances around his college work.
Finding His FootingTaliaferro traveled around the country to talk to people who had had similar injuries. He continues to speak to victims of catastrophic injuries at the Magee Rehabilitation Hospital in Philadelphia whenever he returns to his home in southern New Jersey.
"The fact that he's willing to give after what he's lost is much more impressive than if he had never lost it," said Paterno, who added that Taliaferro would have played in the National Football League.
The Penn State community raised so much money for Taliaferro that $300,000 earmarked for medical expenses ended up in a scholarship fund. The same thing happened in the community where he attended Eastern High School in Voorhees, N.J. Larry Ginsburg, Taliaferro's high school coach at Eastern, used the extra money raised from the local community to set up the Adam Taliaferro Foundation. The group has given $26,000 to five local athletes who sustained catastrophic injuries. Every year, a high school all-star football game called the Adam Taliaferro Classic in southern New Jersey raises money for the foundation.
Taliaferro's volunteer work helped ease the pain of losing football, an adjustment that he realized would be difficult soon after he returned to Penn State in the fall of 2001. Taliaferro stayed with the team as a student assistant, but he said that he struggled at first. "I was able to work out some with the guys, but when they put their cleats on and go out to practice, you really don't know what your role is anymore," Taliaferro said. "You don't have that camaraderie when you hear guys come in and talk about a hard practice. But I knew I had to realize I'm not going to be out there. I just had to be thankful."
He focused instead on continuing his rehabilitation with the Penn State training staff, and he eased into becoming a regular student. Taliaferro remained on scholarship and received all the perks his teammates got, such as gear and clothing.
But he knew his future now depended much more on his performance in the classroom. After a semester or two of being known around campus as the injured guy, Taliaferro made the transition from student-athlete to plain student.
"The thing that impressed me most about Adam is his gratitude," said Faith McDonald, a lecturer in Penn State's English department. "I'd ask him if he missed football, and he'd say that he's just glad that he can walk."
Taliaferro has already served two internships, working over the summer with the N.F.L. Players Association and for Jerrold Colton, a New Jersey-based sports agent.
While he is uncertain which field of law he will choose, those who have watched his recovery predict success. "I think he has a special place in anyone's heart who has been around him," Paterno said. "There's no bluster or anything to the kid. He's just so likable. Thank God it turned out all right."
Taliaferro said that part of him wonders what might have been. His hands cannot grasp because of the injury, and he will probably undergo surgery to try to improve that. But he has managed to avoid too much second-guessing, focusing instead on a standard college experience, from dating the same girl for the past year to playing video games with his friends to cramming for tests.
Most important, he will flip his white tassel and walk away a graduate.
"My dad thinks it's weird that I've taken it so well," Taliaferro said. "But I think that everything happens for a reason. I think to this point I've done more after getting injured than I ever could have done playing."
< /sarcasm>
Taliaferro was probably going to be a good football player. As I remember at the game, the entire Horseshoe went silent when that happened. You normally just don't see things like that happening. It certainly makes you think about the risks of playing football. I am glad the kid made it through college and now he is moving on....
And on the very next play, with the game in tact and few minutes left in the fourth quarter and the Lions totally demoralized after seeing a player paralyzed, good ole Ohio State coach John Cooper called for a bomb that resulted in a touchdown, instead of running out the clock...what class...>>>Sarcasm>>>
Parenthetically, I was at the game where Taliferro walked at of the tunnel with the team for the first time since his injury...100,000 nittany lions fans were crying and cheering at the same time. Truly a miracle.
You are correct, he was a top five db.
53 seconds left in the game and Cooper ran a pass play on FOURTH DOWN to gain a first down - immediately after watching a kid lay motionless on the ground for nearly a 1/2 hour. Then they scored on the next play while already up 38-6. The disdain I have for John Cooper cannot really be put into words.
I was at that game when Adam was injured. It was late in the 4th quarter and the Buckeyes were way ahead. Adam and other underclassmen were put in the game to get some playing time under their belts. He was a hustling kid eager to make an impact.
It was a tragic injury. People all around me started praying very visibly for him. I'm thrilled to see those prayers have been answered.
You are a winner Mr. Adam. Godspeed to you.
Cooper always was a class A jackass anyway....
not to mention that he was/is a drunk
you know it better than I do.....
That Ohio State team should have been better than they were and thankfully that was the last year for Cooper....
hey man, what section were you in?
I was in section 36B on the South End....
Inspirational story. Thanks for posting.
Great kid!
Great post.
Thanks!
ps ... great coach!
They don't come any better. I'm sure many other coaches would have released Adam from his scholarship to free it up for an incoming Freshman. I'll guarantee you the thought never crossed Joe's mind.
"I'm sure many other coaches would have released Adam from his scholarship to free it up for an incoming Freshman. I'll guarantee you the thought never crossed Joe's mind."
I'm Arizona State fan. But there is no better coach than Coach Joe. God bless him.
Shameless Nittany Lion Ping
Nittany Lion ping
Thanks for the ping.
Ping PSU class of 83
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