Faircloth Overcomes Disability

ROGERS HERITAGE SENIOR EXCELS ON FIELD

By Jeff Mores

Posted: November 6, 2009 at 9:20 a.m.

• Print item
• E-mail
• Share
• Tweet

ROGERS — There’s no time for excuses on or o◊the field for the Heritage High School football team.

Adopting that no-excuses philosophy was hardly uncharted territory for Ben Faircloth, a 5-foot-11, 175-pound senior.

“I’ve seen doctors, but I’ve never gotten a diagnosis,” Faircloth said. “My left hand and my left foot are just underdeveloped. They’ve been that way since I was born, so I’ve learned to get along just fi ne the way I am.”

Watching Faircloth, a defensive end, one would never know there’s anything di◊erent about him. He’s had an impact from his end position, as well as on special teams. He’s been clocked at 4.7 seconds in the 40-yard dash.

The senior doesn’t view hisphysical situation as a challenge.

“It’s just the way it is - what I’ve always known,” Faircloth said. “I’m fine with it. I can joke about it with everyone. There are a lot of people dealing with a more serious things. Really, the only thing I can’t do very well is skateboard - and jumping can be more difficult at times.”

Faircloth wears a normal pair of turf shoes, just like every other War Eagle. It’s not until he slips his left shoe o◊that something’s di◊erent. Beneath his white sock, the senior has every bone in his foot that anyone else has, everything is just pushed back and compacted. At the end of his left foot, there are just two toes.

“I wouldn’t really even call them toes,” Faircloth said.

“I keep telling him he needs to be a kicker, maybe the next Dempsey,” said Heritage athletic trainer Mark Haynes, referring to Tom Dempsey, who had an underdeveloped foot and booted an NFL record 63-yard field goal for the New Orleans Saints in 1970.

Faircloth was also bornwith an underdeveloped left hand - his fi ngers webbed together and the bones in his fi ngers altogether missing. At 6 months old, he underwent surgery to separate the fingers, but other than that he’s had to get used to the length of those fingers being di◊erent from his right hand.

Head Coach Perry Escalante said nothing seemsto bother Faircloth.

“He’s a tough kid,” Escalante said. “He’s fast. He’s a good player and leader for us in so many areas.”

Faircloth’s calf on his left leg is smaller than the one on his right, since he’s always had to push off differently. But he’s always managed to get the job done on the field, in the weight roomor anywhere.

“Even when I was little, my mom told me I could do whatever I wanted to,” Faircloth said.

“I’m just like everyone else, but I do have fun with it sometimes,” Faircloth said. “There will be people who ask me what happened to my foot when I’m at the pool or somewhere like that. I tell them it was a shark attack.”

Front page, Pages 1 on 11/06/2009

Comments

To report abuse or misuse of this area please hit the "Suggest Removal" link in the comment to alert our online managers. Please read our comment policy.

Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.