Long before UCF’s
Shaquem Griffin made headlines as a one-handed football star, B-CU’s Carl Joseph brought new levels of determination and inspiration to the gridiron, writes Mike Bianchi.
In another day and another time, Carl Joseph was Shaquem Griffin before Shaquem Griffin.
Except — if it’s possible — he might have been even more determined, more inspirational and more miraculous.
If you think playing the violent, physical game of football is tough with one hand, try playing it on one leg.
“I was so happy when I saw Shaquem get drafted,” Joseph says of the former UCF linebacker who was just picked in the fifth round of the NFL Draft on April 28 by the Seattle Seahawks. “It brought back so many memories for me. It’s clear Shaquem doesn’t believe he is disabled — and that’s really where it all starts. It’s not in the limb; it’s in the mind. If you believe you’re not disabled, then you’re no disabled. You might have a missing hand or a missing leg, but your mind is your most powerful body part.”
Joseph says he is inspired by
Shaquem, but I’m betting Shaquem might be even more inspired by Joseph. You see, Joseph was born without a left leg 57 years ago and, like Shaquem, refused to bow out and back down to those skeptical coaches, fans and opposing players who doubted him.
He would go on to become a three-sport star (football, basketball and track and field) at Madison High School in Florida’s Panhandle, a football player at Bethune-Cookman and the first disabled athlete ever inducted into the Florida High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame.
Upon his selection to the Hall of Fame a decade ago, famous college football coach Jackie Sherrill, who once recruited Joseph to Pitt, said: “Congratulations to the selection committee for recognizing a young man who is not in the record books for points, total yardage, sacks or tackles, but rather for his ability to inspire the sports world and motivate us to believe we can do anything if we never, ever give up.”
In another day and another time, Carl Joseph was Shaquem Griffin before Shaquem Griffin.
He played nose guard in high school and once recorded 11 solo tackles in a game. On the track team, he won the district championship in the high jump with a leap of 5 feet 10 inches and could throw a shot put 40 feet and hurl a discus 130 feet.
It’s amazing what prosthetics can do these days, isn’t it?
What’s even more amazing is that Joseph did not use a prosthetic leg.
He didn’t run; he hopped on one leg.
That’s right, he sacked quarterbacks, blocked punts, batted down passes, recovered 15 fumbles, dunked basketballs, swatted shots, jumped hurdles and sailed javelins while hopping on one foot. Back in those days, they called him “Sugarfoot” but, in hindsight, his nickname should have been Braveheart.
“Back then [in the 1970s and 80s], artificial legs weren’t what they are today,” Joseph explains now. “They were hard and heavy and uncomfortable. I felt like the wooden leg slowed me down. I grew up hopping and that’s how I felt the most comfortable.”
Besides, he would always end up shattering every prosthetic leg he ever owned. And when you’re raised in poverty on a tobacco farm in the sticks of North Florida by a single mom with 10 kids, you don’t get pampered or babied, and sometimes you just go without. You keep up —– no matter your situation — or you get left behind.
Carl Joseph was bound and determined he was not only going to keep up, he was going to rise up.
The kids he grew up with perceived him as their equal during games of street football or pickup basketball. They didn’t treat him differently or special. They expected him to be as good as they were — and, almost always, he turned out to be better.
“When we were playing pick-up, they didn’t pick me last,” Joseph recalls. “A lot of times they picked me first. They inspired me and motivated me. They made me feel like I was somebody. It wasn’t until I got into the school system and into organized sports when the word ‘handicapped’ was introduced to me. I remember the first time somebody told me I was ‘handicapped’ and I was like, ‘What are you talking about? What does that mean?’ ”
On the playing field in high school, there were times when opposing players would watch him in awe and astonishment. Joseph recalls one time when he blew by an offensive lineman and sacked the quarterback and the opposing coach yelled at the lineman, “Will you quit gawking at him and start blocking him!”
Joseph would end up attending Bethune-Cookman, where he played for four years as a reserve lineman, on special teams and as a backup fullback. In the last few weeks — since Shaquem has become a national inspiration as the first one-handed player ever drafted into the NFL — people have started asking Joseph if he ever wonders how good he might have been if had been born with two legs.
“Let me tell you something,” says Joseph, now a middle school football coach in his hometown, “there are two words that aren’t in my vocabulary and those two words are, ‘What if.’ If I had been born with two legs, maybe I wouldn’t have had the determination and work ethic I had to go out and prove something to the world.”
He pauses and then starts talking about how Shaquem should have been drafted even higher than he was. The reason he lasted until the fifth round, Joseph believes, is because too many of us in the sports world — fans, media, coaches, scouts and draft analysts — have our own disabilities and impairments. We have eyesight, but we are missing the gift of vision — inner vision.
“Your eyes are a wonderful thing, but they can play tricks on you,” Joseph says and laughs. “The thing about your eyes is that they only see the missing hand or the missing leg, but they are blind to the power and the glory of your mind.” See what I mean? In another day and another time, Carl Joseph was Shaquem Griffin before Shaquem Griffin.