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wow..what a story
The Biggest Man on the Field
|| SportsShooter.com: News Item: Posted 2005-10-31
The Biggest Man on the Field
By Thomas E. Witte
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Photo by Thomas E. Witte
Bobby Martin of Colonel White High School in Dayton, Ohio talks with his coach on the sideline during warmups prior to Saturday nights game against Belmont High School.
It all started so innocently really; an article in the local newspaper, an idea and an email. As quickly as I set the ball in motion, the story became one of the most moving, inspirational and educational stories I've ever had the privilege of photographing.
When Robert Hanashiro first asked me to write this story, we couldn't figure out what I should key in on, so I'm just going to talk about it all in hopes that you gain something from it. Be it a more compassionate approach to photojournalism, learning how to submit a story proposal or the complexities of embargos and exclusivity clauses when it comes to maintaining your copyright.
It was just another day. I was sitting in Dallas waiting to board my flight home and decided to surf the web for a few minutes. Rarely do I check my hometown newspaper's (The Middletown Journal) website, but that day I did. On the sports page, there was a story that caught my eye and immediately grabbed my attention. It was the story of Bobby Martin.
The story in a nutshell involved a rather stubborn and defiant young man by the name of Bobby Martin who was born without any legs. His three-foot tall body starts at his pelvis and that's it. Never knowing a life with legs, Bobby from an early age just adapted to using his arms and the pendulum motion of his body for movement. And after perfecting this method of locomotion for 17 years - and seeing it first hand - I can tell you this kid can move with the best of them. This is the ONLY life he's ever known.
So when he wanted to go try out for the football team that was perfectly natural to him. Like any man his age, he wants to be active and play sports. Football would be one answer. (Bobby also wrestles and is a shot putter.) The article went on to explain the absurdity of why Bobby was disqualified in his fourth game of the season (after playing in three without incident) for not wearing shoes, knee or thigh pads.
"What the... Are you seriously kidding me?" I thought to myself. "These idiots would probably throw the Headless Horsemen out of a baseball game for not wearing a batting helmet too."
Before I even finished the article I thought of Sports Illustrated writer Rick Reilly. I knew that we both share the same disdain for indubitable stupidity; only where he excels with the pen I just stomp around in circles and shout expletives. "Rick will have a field day with this", I thought and promptly fired off an email to two of the Sports Illustrated picture editors I'm close with.
SOURCE - http://www.sportsshooter.com/news/1477
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