BleedGopher
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per STrib:
“Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.”
The words of cancer-stricken former North Carolina State basketball coach Jim Valvano from 1993 resonate today for Taquarius Wair.
“It’s something I use every day. I go through stuff, and I fight through and never give up,” said Wair, who suffered severe burns in a 2005 house fire and was given only a 20% chance to live. He went on to become a starter for the Minneapolis North High School football team and last fall competed as a backup running back at Mesabi Range College in Virginia, Minn.
Valvano’s words are even more fitting because Wair will be honored with the 2020 Jimmy V Award for Perseverance during the ESPYs on June 21 (8 p.m., ESPN). The award is given to a member of the sporting world who has overcome great obstacles through perseverance and determination.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the ESPYs won’t be awarded live on stage. Instead, ESPN producers and executives used creative ways to surprise the honorees, and their stories will be told during the awards show. ESPN aired a heartwarming “SportsCenter” feature on Wair last fall, and that led to his ESPY.
“When we all viewed TQ’s story again, we just realized he was actually the embodiment of perseverance, the spirit of the Jimmy V Award,” said Rob King, a senior vice president for ESPN.
The story Wair’s perseverance started March 22, 2005, when a fire swept through the Minneapolis house where his mother, Shawnee Wair, and her four children lived. Three children — Richard, 9, Taquarius, 4, and Ulani, 3 — made it out alive, but Shawneece, 6, died of smoke inhalation.
Taquarius suffered third-degree burns over 55% of his body and lost four fingers on his left hand. He was in a coma for a month and required a series of skin grafts and other surgeries while growing up. Through it all, he tried to stay positive.
“Every surgery I had helped me,” he said. “If I knew I needed it, I was going to get it, and it was going to help me in my future. I wasn’t really stressing over it.”
Along the way, Wair was bitten by the football bug. At age 7, he was determined to play the sport.
“I fell in love with football the moment I touched the field,” he said.
www.startribune.com
Go Gophers!!
“Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.”
The words of cancer-stricken former North Carolina State basketball coach Jim Valvano from 1993 resonate today for Taquarius Wair.
“It’s something I use every day. I go through stuff, and I fight through and never give up,” said Wair, who suffered severe burns in a 2005 house fire and was given only a 20% chance to live. He went on to become a starter for the Minneapolis North High School football team and last fall competed as a backup running back at Mesabi Range College in Virginia, Minn.
Valvano’s words are even more fitting because Wair will be honored with the 2020 Jimmy V Award for Perseverance during the ESPYs on June 21 (8 p.m., ESPN). The award is given to a member of the sporting world who has overcome great obstacles through perseverance and determination.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the ESPYs won’t be awarded live on stage. Instead, ESPN producers and executives used creative ways to surprise the honorees, and their stories will be told during the awards show. ESPN aired a heartwarming “SportsCenter” feature on Wair last fall, and that led to his ESPY.
“When we all viewed TQ’s story again, we just realized he was actually the embodiment of perseverance, the spirit of the Jimmy V Award,” said Rob King, a senior vice president for ESPN.
The story Wair’s perseverance started March 22, 2005, when a fire swept through the Minneapolis house where his mother, Shawnee Wair, and her four children lived. Three children — Richard, 9, Taquarius, 4, and Ulani, 3 — made it out alive, but Shawneece, 6, died of smoke inhalation.
Taquarius suffered third-degree burns over 55% of his body and lost four fingers on his left hand. He was in a coma for a month and required a series of skin grafts and other surgeries while growing up. Through it all, he tried to stay positive.
“Every surgery I had helped me,” he said. “If I knew I needed it, I was going to get it, and it was going to help me in my future. I wasn’t really stressing over it.”
Along the way, Wair was bitten by the football bug. At age 7, he was determined to play the sport.
“I fell in love with football the moment I touched the field,” he said.
Minneapolis' Taquarius Wair, who overcame burns to play college football, to receive ESPYs' Jimmy V Award
Taquarius Wair overcame severe burns in a fire to play football in college.
www.startribune.com
Go Gophers!!
