Gresham, Sooners, all of us might learn from Corey Wilson
Published: 4/15/2009 9:23 PM
Last Modified: 4/15/2009 9:23 PM
It is well within your right to dismiss Wednesday's Jermaine Gresham seatbelt story as no big deal. And it isn't in my interest to pass judgment on you for doing so, just as it's not my place to pass judgment on Gresham.
What I am compelled to do is recall a piece written by Jean-Jacques Taylor of the Dallas Morning News. It ran on the newspaper's Web site March 25, about a month after a highway collision left Oklahoma wide receiver Corey Wilson, who was not wearing his seat belt, paralyzed from the waist down.
Taylor talked to Corey's older brother, Travis Wilson, a former OU wide receiver now with the Dallas Cowboys about "the worst day of Travis' life." Travis called the drive from Dallas to Norman, a trip he made with his mother, the day of the accident "the longest two hours and 15 minutes of my life. It was like driving cross country."
Taylor talked to Bob Stoops about the coach's breakfasts with Corey in the intensive care unit after the accident.
"I try to mix it up," Stoops said. "I've been to Sonic quite a bit. Carl Jr's. Bakers. Burger King. We've sat through quite a few breakfasts together. We had a lunch date today, but we had to cancel because of some rehab work he had to do. Now, we're graduating to lunches and dinners."
Taylor revealed Corey was nicknamed "Superman" as a youth, and wears a tattoo of the superhero on his chest.
"His spirit," Taylor wrote, "has proved to be indestructible."
Corey passed out rubber Superman wristbands to his teammates recently. Several wore them during last Saturday's Red-White Game, with Corey watching from a wheelchair on the sideline.
All of the Sooners, Gresham included, might want to keep them on for a while, as a reminder of many things.
"You can spend a lifetime trying to understand God's plan for your life," Taylor wrote to begin his piece, "and never figure it out."
-- Guerin Emig
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
