This past weekend, the Seattle Seahawks (full disclosure: I’m a fan) drafted University of Central Florida linebacker Shaquem Griffin, who joined his twin brother, Seahawks cornerback Shaquill Griffin — marking the first time that twins were drafted in back-to-back years for the NFL. But that’s not the most remarkable aspect of this story.
As I joked on Twitter — echoing a famous slogan from “Friday Night Lights”:
Two heads, two hearts, three hands … CAN’T LOSE!
When he was four years old, Shaquem left the Florida bedroom he shared with Shaquill and went to the kitchen and grabbed a knife, determined to cut off the fingers of his left hand, underdeveloped and severely painful because of amniotic band syndrome, a prenatal condition.
Luckily, his mother, Tangie Griffin, found him before he could harm himself. The decision was made to have the hand amputated.
From The Washington Post:
Tangie rubbed Shaquem’s hand even after he drifted off to sleep, and she would recall talking to God until the sun came up. She was certain her decision was the right one. But if she asked for anything, it was for Shaquem’s comfort as the next few hours came and went, and as the years passed and the challenges gathered, maybe something or someone would watch out for him.
Shaquem’s father, Terry Griffin, became a huge part of his development. From a letter Shaquem wrote for The Players Tribune:
My dad used to build all kinds of contraptions to help me lift weights. We had this one thing — we called it “the book,” and it was basically a piece of wood wrapped up in some cloth that I would hold up against the bar with my left arm when I bench pressed so my arms would be even. We had another block that I used for stuff like dips and push-ups, and I had chains and other straps to hold dumbbells for things like curls and shrugs. And my dad used to work me, Shaquill and our older brother, Andre, hard. In our backyard, we had a couple of stacks of cinder blocks with a stick across the top, like a hurdle. And when we would run routes, we would have to jump over the hurdle and do other obstacles mid-route. Then my dad would throw us the ball, and he’d throw it hard, right at our chest. And every time we dropped it, he would say, “Nothing comes easy.” That was kind of his motto — not just for me, but for all of us.
Griffin goes on to write, not about his successes, but about how he overcame challenges, not just physical ones but the attitudes of coaches and other players. This included being redshirted his first year at UCF, meaning he couldn’t play until the next year. From the couch, he had to watch his brother play — and then be drafted a year ahead of him.
It wasn’t even certain that Griffin would be invited to the NFL combine — the chance to show off for coaches and scouts. But eventually he was, and then he did this.
And this:
From everything I’ve seen, Shaquem and Shaquill Griffin are great kids from a great family, and their love gave us this great moment, as Shaquem finally got word on Saturday (the draft started on Thursday) that he was a fifth-round pick:
The best thing about Shaquem Griffin’s story is that no one who loved him gave up on him — not his parents, not his brothers, and not himself — but no one made allowances for him either.
No bars were lowered; no standards changed; no paths smoothed out.
Shaquem Griffin didn’t get drafted because he has one hand, or in spite of having one hand. He got drafted because he can play.
That’s why his favorite hashtag is #AgainstAllOdds.
As he said in a story at ProFootballTalk at NBCSports.com:
I am a football player at the end of the day and if you want to feel sorry or have any pity on me, well then, they’re going to be the ones who got to get up off their back.
So, for everyone who started out life with a challenge, you might not be able to do everything, but don’t let anybody tell you what you can’t do until you’ve given it your all. And if you lose heart, just say, “I am Shaquem Griffin.”
https://youtu.be/GS9KR83ovg0
Images: Courtesy Seattle Seahawks; Wikimedia Commons
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