Copyright © 2001 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

TAHLEQUAH, OK - I had supper last night, Monday, February 12, 2001, with the most interesting, nicest and inspirational tribal member I've had the pleasure to meet in a long, long time. Brad Cobb, of Bartelsville, was in Tahlequah yesterday to speak to the students at Sequoyah H.S. and the Job Corp. Lavon Cobb, his mother who owns Prairie Winds clothing and gift store, and I have known each other professionally for several years, but I had never met her son. Brad, who is in his early thirties, was in a sever car accident in 1997 and had to have his left leg amputated up to his hip, which means that he can't wear an artificial leg.

During his two month stay in the hospital, he said that he came to the realization that he had two choices -- as he said, it was as plain as black or white and nothing gray about it: he could lay in bed and feel sorry for him self, or he could get up and face life head on with the same determination he had before the accident.

In high school and college he had been a star Sprint Racer, but without a leg what could he do? Brad took up competitive bicycle racing to build his body back into shape and to give him an outlet for his life long interest in athletic racing.

By sheer Cherokee grit and determination, plus months of hard training and as he told the students, lots of tumbles and falls, he was selected as one of a three man sprint team to represent the United States in the Handicap Olympics at Sidney Australia last October, following the 2000 World Olympics.

Cherokee Nation, OK tribal member, Paralympian Brad Cobb, Principal Chief Chad Smith, Deputy Chief Hastings Shade and Council members Nick Lay and Dorothy McIntosh.

Mr. Brad Cobb and his two team mates won Bronze Medals in the international competition. One of his opponents from Austria, who did his training in the alps, was impressed with Brad and asked him what mountains he trained in.

If anyone knows Bartlesville very well, you know that there aren't any mountains, only flint hills: Brand told him "Central Mountain" -- the tallest of the local hills in Washington County.

I got to hear Brad's talk at Sequoyah; at first the kids weren't all that attentive -- kind of like, "Big deal, he's just a one-legged guy!" When he started telling them about the competition, the training and the actual race, they started to get interested. By the time he finished, I believe that he had sparked a genuine rapport with the kids and what he was trying to tell them -- wining and success takes work.

Brad told them one thing that I had never heard before: "If you want to get a cold or the flu, hang around sick people; if you want to be successful, hang around with successful people!"

I've heard a lot of inspirational speakers, but here was a young man that had overcome a nearly hopeless ordeal -- he clinically died twice on the operating table after the accident -- and had the fortitude and spirit to face challenges that most able-bodied people wouldn't even attempt.

Brad was also invited by Principal Chief Chad Smith and Washington County Council Woman, Dorothy McIntosh, to appear before the Cherokee Nation's Tribal Council last night.

I feel personally honored for having had the opportunity to have had supper with him and his mother. It was a great moment to get to know him. In my humble opinion, this is a man that qualifies as a modern day Cherokee hero -- a person that all Cherokee people can be justifiably proud.