Sam's Club Magazine- September 2003

HOLDING COURT

Roger Crawford teaches others how to reach their goals.

It took Roger Crawford 16 years to learn to tie his shoes. “And then, someone invents Velcro,” he says with a laugh. No matter. It was a lesson in persistence and creativity that’s helped him overcome countless challenges.

Doctors once told Crawford’s parents that their newborn son would never walk. He had a rare condition called ectrodactylism that resulted in physical deformities from the knees down and elbows down. He has underdeveloped forearms with only a thumb on his right hand and thumb and forefinger on his left. Both his arms and legs are shorter than normal, he has three toes on his right foot, and his lower left leg was amputated when he was five.

But he was blessed with parents who refused to see their son as “handicapped” and who helped him find new ways to do things that other children took for granted. They also gave him tools to bounce back when people didn’t look past his physical challenges to see what he could accomplish.

Like most children, it wasn’t long before Crawford found something he really wanted to do. For him, it was playing tennis. With the help of tennis pro Tony Fisher, Crawford devised a grip – and a playing strategy – that accommodated his limitations and maximized his strengths. His commitment to mastering the game earned him a position on the Loyola Marymount University tennis team. He remains the only person with four impaired limbs to compete in the NCAA Division one sport.

“I was never going to be the most powerful or fastest player,” he says. “However, if I hit the ball over the net one more time than my opponent, I won the point. I did that by following some basic fundamentals of optimism, clarity, and utilizing your resources. If we embrace them, we will be successful.”

A communications major in college, he was asked one day to share his personal story at an inner-city high school. He couldn’t imagine what he could say that would be meaningful to young people whose worlds were ruled by poverty, drugs, and gang violence. But he spoke from the heart, and his message of overcoming life’s challenges resonated with the students. He had found a new passion – public speaking.

He also had a goal to be certified by the United States Professional Tennis Association (USPTA). Many accomplished players fail the rigorous test, which includes a written exam and a challenging series of court assessments. His USPTA certification remains one of his proudest achievements.

Today, as an author and motivational speaker to top companies and organizations, he shares a message of persistence, creativity, surrounding yourself with people who encourage you to be your best, and resilience.

“I think resiliency is always the proper combination of optimism and realism,” he says. “You can’t control what happens to you but you can control what you dwell on. The velocity and complexity of business is changing rapidly, and the ability to rebound from daily stresses is so important. As an objective self-observer, I’d rather have one leg and a positive attitude than two legs and a negative attitude. The most powerful resource we have is our mind.” 

By Pat Curry