No Ordinary Joe

No Ordinary Joe

By STEVE KODAD

Herald Sports Editor

This sports writer has had the pleasure of meeting many outstanding people through my employment in the newspaper business through the years. Many coaches, athletes and sports fans have left lasting memories for yours truly via their accomplishments, deeds, and actions both on and off the fields of play. Many of these fine people I have continued to keep on a long list of lifetime friends.

I'm covering the Evanston Outlaws, the local Legion baseball team, a fewweeks back. The Outlaws players generally allow me easy access to their dugout at the Evanston High School baseball diamond, allowing me to get as close to the action as possible. I'm doing my usual in-between conversation with any of the players and coaches who will lend me an ear. I didn't pay too much attention to the umpires working the contest. As the teams were coming off the field and going on the field betweens innings, I heard someone call out my name. I turned in the direction of home plate, and here's this strapping young man, in umpire uniform, starting a conversation. Now, he knows me, but I have to do a double take. Do I know this guy? The voice sounds familiar. For a split second, I'm staring at this fellow, trying to dig into the rapidly failing memory banks. Who is this guy? Joe! It hits me. Joe Sisson, EHS graduate, former U.S. bobsled driver who had high hopes for a chance to compete in the Olympics before an injury several years ago ended that dream.

Joe's currently living in Logan, Utah, married, taking college classes, umpiring baseball, serving as an assistant for the Logan High School football team. I hadn't seen Joe in quite some time. We continued our conversation between innings and after the game, catching up on his life. Joe agreed to sit down for an interview (see the results in last Tuesday's Sports section). Yours truly was working for the Herald on an interim basis back in February, 2002. I met Joe and followed his progress as the home-grown product gained experience piloting the bobsled in national and international competitions, all the while building toward a chance to fulfill his dream of racing in the Olympics.

Sisson knew his chances of making the 2002 U.S. Olympic Team were very slim. He was ranked fourth or thereabouts entering the U.S. Team Trials in Park City, Utah the week before Christmas, 2001. But he would gain experience in the Trials, continue to train, and hopefully climb up the ladder to one of the top two driver spots for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. What a thrill for this old sports fan to be able to attend the U.S. Trials. I got close to the track to snap photos of Joe, as a guest of his dad, Brian. Brian and I rode to Park City to watch Joe race, and Joe rode back to Evanston with us after the competition had ended.

At that time, young Sisson was looking forward to a trip to Switzerland in early February for the World Junior Championships. Joe was also set to be a forerunner in the Olympic bobsled events, where he would drive a bobsled down the course in Park City to test timing equipment just prior to daily Olympic competition.

Fast forward to that first week of February, 2002. The city of Evanston was buzzing with Olympic excitement. Sisson was in Switzerland, getting ready tocompete in the Junior Worlds. Then the bad news. Very bad news. Joe had suffered severe head injuries during a practice run in Switzerland. His prognosis was bleak, the braininjuries he suffered life-threatening.

It's very seldom that a small-town, average Joe like yours truly gets to meet a world-class athlete, let alone become friends. There were dark days here, waiting word on this promising athlete, thinking that his Olympic aspirations probably ended sliding down a fast sheet of ice halfway around the world - would Joe Sisson live or die, and if he lived, would he be able to lead a normal life?

Joe recovered from his injuries, and through rehabilitation regained normal functions. If you talked to him today and didn't know his history, you wouldn't be able to tell Joe had experienced serious injuries just under five years ago. You might be curious about the wicked scars he sports on his wrists, a result of friction burns he suffered while sliding nearly a mile down the bobsled course in Switzerland.

I figured Joe was done with the bobsled for good after the crash. I was totally surprised during our conversations a few weeks ago when he talked about the sport. He talked about having run seven races last winter, and my jaw probably dropped. "You're back in a bobsled?" That was amazing to me that he could crawl back in that sled. And he's once again thinking about the Olympics, back on the U.S. Team and training for team trials in the near future. Very seldom do we get a second chance in life. Mr. Sisson has apparently been rewarded with a second opportunity to reach his Olympic dream. An amazing story of a young man who battled through adversity and now has that second chance to make his dream come true. While Joe, his dad and I rode back from Park City after the 2001 U.S. Bobsled Trials, we talked about taking a ride down the bobsled track, with Joe driving. Brian had taken the trip before, but not with Joe as thedriver. We joked about hopefully getting the chance to do that, yours truly half thinking about how thrilling a ride that would be, the other half scared out of my You-won't-get-me-on-a-ride-like-that mind.

We never got a chance to take that trip, but maybe, perhaps, that can become reality in the future.

Good luck Joe, drive safe, hopefully we'll see you in Vancouver, 2010.