WORLD CHAMPIONS OF THE PANHANDLE
From Midget League to the NFL, Fulton Walker Embodied Greatness
Fulton Walker was a lifelong Martinsburg resident, aside from the years he spent at WVU and playing in two NFL franchises. He earned All-Conference, First Team and All-State honors as a Martinsburg High Bulldog before being recruited by WVU, where he earned a bachelor’s degree and later, a master’s. He was drafted by the Miami Dolphins in the sixth round of the 1981 NFL Draft, where he played until 1985. His final season, before injury retired him, was with the Los Angeles Raiders. He is widely remembered for his performance on special teams and played in Super Bowl XVII and Super Bowl XVII. Most memorable was his first Super Bowl appearance, where he recorded four kickoff returns for 190 yards and a touchdown, setting bowl records for most kickoff return yards and highest single game yards per return average (47.5). This included a record 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the second quarter, the first kickoff ever to be returned for a touchdown in Super Bowl history — and he still owns the ball he carried. In 2015, the West Virginia Sports Writers Association began giving out the Fulton Walker Award each year to the state’s top high school special teams player.
He spent the past several years tending his farm in Martinsburg where he had a few animals and baled hay. He was never married but has three sons: Kevin Walker, 39; Jerome Walker, 35, and Michael Johnston, 32.
Walker died suddenly on October 12, 2016 at 58. He gave this interview on September 2, 2016, his last known interview of record.
When did you start playing football and what made you want to play?
Midget league. I was eight years old. I played for the Rams under Rick Wachtel. I took to it well. Berkeley County got to play at the high school every Wednesday night. The first year I played with the 8-10 group then after a year they moved me up to the 11-12’s. I guess I was pretty fast for the league because I’d score two to three touchdowns a night. That’s when I figured I could play football.
Do any memories stand out from those early years?
I remember I ran the ball a lot because I was tired after games. The next day I would be tired and sore going to school and a little hungover from working so hard. I’ve got good memories from those years playing with those guys and winning the championship when I was 12. I remember getting tackled once and I got the wind knocked out of me. I couldn’t breathe and I’d never felt that before. Then it was on to junior high.
They had ball at junior high at that time?
I played varsity the three straight years. That’s when Bob Sparrow, Allen Gates and Vincent Miller were the three coaches. The good thing about those guys…they’d been around and played sports and knew how to teach it. The basis of their knowledge was the fundamentals and they taught me very well. What you learn then is going to take over so that learning — the correct learning — is very important. It’s a blessing to have a good foundation of the sport you’re participating in.
What did you accomplish as a Martinsburg High School Bulldog?
Sophomore year, I played varsity football, basketball and baseball. I ran track too.
That’s hard with baseball going on in the same season.
It was hard but I did it junior and senior year. The coaches worked with us as there were three of us from football that ran track. We’d use our study hall to go to track practice early and we’d do the relays until we had to go to baseball practice. In track, I tied the 100-yard dash. I ran a 10 flat. We had the 4x100 and 880 records and still have them, I think. My senior year, I ran track one more time and I was the last person to do that. They won’t let you do that now. I lettered in four sports my junior and senior year.
That’ll keep you out of trouble.
Sure did. Plus I still had to work at home doing my chores. Cutting the grass, splitting wood — I was the maintenance guy for those jobs. I made sure it was done and my dad rewarded me for it.
He must have been so proud of you.
I think so. He taught me how to do stuff.
Did he teach you sports?
My mom was an athlete in her younger days. She played softball and basketball and my dad played baseball and football, but back then, it wasn’t like today. You had to get a job and go to work. My dad had a big family growing up. You have to help out. Back then, a future in sports for blacks in the 40’s or 50’s wasn’t a possibility. A lot went into the military. You get a check, a place to sleep and fight for the country, but you look at it as a place to eat and get paid. My dad did that. He didn’t teach me sports but he would polish my mechanics. I think my dad knew how advanced my skills were. He never bragged about it or nothing like that, but he knew what to do. When we didn’t have practice, he would take me out to the field, and he’d put my sisters in the outfield and let me hit, helped me figure out the curveball. He always let the coaches do their job but at home, he would always tell me what to work on. The coaches were good back then, and solid on the fundamentals and the game. When he was out working everyday and we weren’t in school, we were playing in yards. I played in the dust bowl at the Bullett’s. It had great soil and was really nice. It was so flat, better than concrete. The only thing is it got muddy when it rained, but we could still play. We never allowed no grass to grow there. It was the best place to play. Anytime we played two-on-two, three-on-three or four-on-four, the Bullets had their own team. Vicky was taller than me, and she knew how to play. The people in the neighborhood made me the athlete that I was. Tony Hill, Don Bullett, Rodney Dodson, Ricky Albright, Sylvester Smith, Johnny Albright, Bobby Fox, Irwin Lee, Robert Sowell and Keith Brooks…these were the guys I played with every day. That was our team on Liberty Street. Those were the ways to polish your skills. I didn’t know one day I would go as far as I did. The Boy’s Club was a big factor, too. When we weren’t at the Dust Bowl, we’d go to the Boys Club and spend time there.
Does anything else stand out from what you accomplished in your sports?
My junior year, I didn’t get to play football because I broke my wrist. My senior year we went 10-0, the first team to do that. But we got beat in the semi-finals. That’s the Super Bowl of high school to go to the state championships. We should have won that game. The third thing was being drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates out of high school. I played shortstop and pitched. I could throw hard, but I didn’t like pitching. I got drafted and that was a big highlight. At the time then, for the draft for baseball or football, you had to make a commitment by February 14. If I made a commitment to baseball, they would have drafted me in the low rounds. I got afraid, thinking what if I don’t make it and then I miss college and don’t get the education? I talked to my parents and they said if I get the education now, and didn’t pursue the sports dream, I’d have something to fall back on.
How did you get to WVU?
Jack Beavers had been in my life since I was 7 or 8 years old. He was The Man at the Boys Club. If you ever speak to anyone my age or even 10 years younger than me, they would know him. He was the father figure for the kids who never had a father and he was the second father if you already had one. He knew all of our parents and if you acted up there, he’d kick you out for a week and then make it hard on you when you got back. No one wanted to get kicked out of the Boys Club. Plus if you got kicked out, you’d get your butt beat. Jack used to take me to Morgantown in his Volkswagen. We’re talking Interstate 48 back then — it took five and half hours to get there. Jack was retired from the Navy and didn’t drive much during those years so he got his license again and had a bus for the Boys Club. Bobby Bowden was the coach at WVU and Jack was good friends with him. He would get tickets and we’d watch the games, and he introduced me to the coach. I was still in high school but they came to know who I was. My senior year, Bobby left to go to Florida State. Frank Cignetti became the coach and WVU recruited me hard. Penn State recruited me, too. Joe Paterno and Jerry Sandusky came several times to the house as did the University of Maryland and University of Kentucky. I narrowed it down to four. Penn State said I could play baseball and football. WVU said the same thing.
You had a good football career at WVU. You were first in punt return yardage in 1980’s independent conference leaders with 307 yards (and 8th in the NCAA) and in the top ten for punt returns, kickoff returns and kickoff return yardage. You also ranked in the top ten for punt return touchdowns between 1977 and 1980 in your conference and the NCAA. Did you think you’d be drafted into the NFL?
I was hoping. I was still not playing my best position. I was a running back for real and successful at that because I had the skill of running with the football. My advisor in college used to say ‘Be a total athlete.’ I didn’t understand what he meant, but he said a total athlete could pick up and play any sport and adjust and adapt to it. And people look at that. So I would find the best person and they wouldn’t even know it, but I would work to become as good as they were. That’s what I did. I knew I had something and I had a good feeling about being drafted. My senior year, I finished second in punt returns to Hershel Walker. I ended up spraining my ankle my senior year and so I couldn’t run punts the next week and he beat me by not even five yards. I would have been number one in the nation.
Did you have a specific team you wanted to play for?
It didn’t matter. I didn’t care. At the time, I liked the Colts. I liked the Houston Oilers because I liked Earl Campbell. I was actually drafted by Minnesota, but they owed the Dolphins their sixth round draft pick, so I went to Miami. I went down in April for mini-camp, which lasts three or four days. It was my birthday on April 30 and that was the best birthday present I could ever get. Going down there and seeing all the athletes, doing drills and doing our work, it was fascinating. That was the time I was sitting back thinking, ‘This is where it’s at. This is the elite. I’m here with the best athletes in the world.’ It was mind blowing but I’m big into dreams, and pray for stuff and it happens. People don’t believe in dreams coming true but I knew something special was with me. Good things kept happening. The people I played with growing up told me now how tight my skill was. It gives me cold chills. It takes me back to childhood. We played hard and competitively. We didn’t like to lose. But if we did, we’d go home and practice. We were in that yard tearing it up. Laying in bed as a kid, hot as hell, no air conditioning, having that dream, then seeing it come true.
Tell me about life as a Miami Dolphin, especially since you grew up in relatively small town America.
Miami was different. When I went down there, they were having the same thing going on today. Cops killing people of color — kids. I was there when the riots were going on over a police officer shooting a kid on a bicycle. But I was so focused on being a Miami Dolphin and being at camp, that was the first thing on my mind. That first year was a big experience — going somewhere and playing in the pros. It took the first preseason game for it to sink in.
You made a big contribution in your four years with the Dolphins, most notably your record 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown during Super Bowl XVII, the first kickoff ever to be returned for a touchdown in Super Bowl history. Elaborate on that moment.
You know how I was telling you dreams come true? That night, we came back late, and I was looking at the program they leave on your bed and it has stats of Super Bowls, like how many yards and kick returns had been done, and no one had ever scored a touchdown. So that night, I prayed to God I would have a successful game and be the first one to run a kickoff back for a touchdown. I had a vision that night as I slept. Something must have touched me because the next day, every time they kicked off, I would almost break it. Coach Shula always let me do what I wanted. The third time they were going to kick, I told him I’m gonna set it up to look like I’m going right then at the last minute, I’m going to cut it back left. When I cut it back, I saw the hole open and I hit it. The two guys on the left were coming hard but I knew they were going to pass me and they couldn’t cut in time to catch me. It was a footrace and the next thing I know, I was in the end zone. Roy Foster got the ball and brought it to sidelines and gave it to me. I’ve still got it.
You played for the Los Angeles Raiders your final year. What ended your career?
I had torn my right ankle when I was running a punt. It was at the end of my first year in LA. During preseason the second year, the coach told me go in there. He didn’t have me return any punts the whole preseason. He said he was saving me. He told to fair catch the punt, but the guy shanked it so I had to run and get it. I couldn’t wave the fair catch and when I ran out of bounds, my back foot was out and a guy came across the back ankle and tore my ligaments. I was out for four weeks and placed on injured reserve but when I came back, it was still bothering me. I taped it up real good, but it still hurt. I struggled that year. I had surgery then came back after it healed. I went to camp but it still didn’t feel right, and I got cut. I could have gotten another year if I’d been healthy. Today, they cover all that and the technology is better. Now we’re dealing with the concussion stuff.
What’s the protocol for that?
The NFL sent everybody a paper. I had already signed up but they said you’ve got to file a report by the filing date. They’ll give you a file number then you submit that back to the NFL and you’re registered. I’ve already been through the tests.
And you’re good?
No, I’m not good. The treatments for it are depression and anxiety medicine. My problem is I can’t multi-task. I can’t get my brain full of stuff because it puts me in a place of confusion. Stuff in the present I can have problems with, but stuff in the past, I still have good recollection. I have to write things down now, so I remember. It’s what we guys have been going through but we didn’t understand what was going on. It’s been frustrating and overwhelming sometimes.
Is the NFL taking you care of guys?
They are taking care of the testing. My insurance pays for the treatment and therapy. I see a therapist and they keep me grounded. It’s an outlet. A lot of people think it’s all about being on medicine but it’s bigger than that. Dementia, Parkinsons and I think, Lou Gehrig’s disease…those are the things the concussions can bring to you. As far as the psych doctors, the one I have is really good and she knows what she’s doing. Now they have tools and can make a tighter diagnosis. I do suffer from dementia, but it’s a different kind than you usually hear about. It’s from the inside of the brain coming out. Mine is slower acting. I took it in my hands to do the treatment, and I have my NFL disability. Once the lawsuit takes place, I’ll be compensated. I think the movie, Concussion, really helped with awareness. The impact I took was different but greater. It’s like getting hit by a car, more or less. Doing that from age 8 until 28, when I played football, is 20 years of impact. They always taught us to use our head. That’s the wrong way to tackle. I’m sure concussions happened in all walks of my career. The NFL is getting blamed and they got to put it on somebody. It took 20 years for them to do something about the concussions stuff and I’m just glad I’m still around for it.
Sports have changed quite a bit since your time in the limelight. What advice do you have for today’s young athletes with pro dreams?
My thing with the athletes today is to put in the work. It’s like the Olympics. You’ve got four years to train for the Olympics. When you’re in high school or college, you have to look at that the same way. You’ve got to get in the best shape you can to perform and get the best out of you. You’re going to be rewarded for it down the road. Chances and opportunities come around once. You have to be ready. The sporting view is the same as the real world view — you have to go out into the world and be prepared if you want to succeed.
He spent the past several years tending his farm in Martinsburg where he had a few animals and baled hay. He was never married but has three sons: Kevin Walker, 39; Jerome Walker, 35, and Michael Johnston, 32.
Walker died suddenly on October 12, 2016 at 58. He gave this interview on September 2, 2016, his last known interview of record.
When did you start playing football and what made you want to play?
Midget league. I was eight years old. I played for the Rams under Rick Wachtel. I took to it well. Berkeley County got to play at the high school every Wednesday night. The first year I played with the 8-10 group then after a year they moved me up to the 11-12’s. I guess I was pretty fast for the league because I’d score two to three touchdowns a night. That’s when I figured I could play football.
Do any memories stand out from those early years?
I remember I ran the ball a lot because I was tired after games. The next day I would be tired and sore going to school and a little hungover from working so hard. I’ve got good memories from those years playing with those guys and winning the championship when I was 12. I remember getting tackled once and I got the wind knocked out of me. I couldn’t breathe and I’d never felt that before. Then it was on to junior high.
They had ball at junior high at that time?
I played varsity the three straight years. That’s when Bob Sparrow, Allen Gates and Vincent Miller were the three coaches. The good thing about those guys…they’d been around and played sports and knew how to teach it. The basis of their knowledge was the fundamentals and they taught me very well. What you learn then is going to take over so that learning — the correct learning — is very important. It’s a blessing to have a good foundation of the sport you’re participating in.
What did you accomplish as a Martinsburg High School Bulldog?
Sophomore year, I played varsity football, basketball and baseball. I ran track too.
That’s hard with baseball going on in the same season.
It was hard but I did it junior and senior year. The coaches worked with us as there were three of us from football that ran track. We’d use our study hall to go to track practice early and we’d do the relays until we had to go to baseball practice. In track, I tied the 100-yard dash. I ran a 10 flat. We had the 4x100 and 880 records and still have them, I think. My senior year, I ran track one more time and I was the last person to do that. They won’t let you do that now. I lettered in four sports my junior and senior year.
That’ll keep you out of trouble.
Sure did. Plus I still had to work at home doing my chores. Cutting the grass, splitting wood — I was the maintenance guy for those jobs. I made sure it was done and my dad rewarded me for it.
He must have been so proud of you.
I think so. He taught me how to do stuff.
Did he teach you sports?
My mom was an athlete in her younger days. She played softball and basketball and my dad played baseball and football, but back then, it wasn’t like today. You had to get a job and go to work. My dad had a big family growing up. You have to help out. Back then, a future in sports for blacks in the 40’s or 50’s wasn’t a possibility. A lot went into the military. You get a check, a place to sleep and fight for the country, but you look at it as a place to eat and get paid. My dad did that. He didn’t teach me sports but he would polish my mechanics. I think my dad knew how advanced my skills were. He never bragged about it or nothing like that, but he knew what to do. When we didn’t have practice, he would take me out to the field, and he’d put my sisters in the outfield and let me hit, helped me figure out the curveball. He always let the coaches do their job but at home, he would always tell me what to work on. The coaches were good back then, and solid on the fundamentals and the game. When he was out working everyday and we weren’t in school, we were playing in yards. I played in the dust bowl at the Bullett’s. It had great soil and was really nice. It was so flat, better than concrete. The only thing is it got muddy when it rained, but we could still play. We never allowed no grass to grow there. It was the best place to play. Anytime we played two-on-two, three-on-three or four-on-four, the Bullets had their own team. Vicky was taller than me, and she knew how to play. The people in the neighborhood made me the athlete that I was. Tony Hill, Don Bullett, Rodney Dodson, Ricky Albright, Sylvester Smith, Johnny Albright, Bobby Fox, Irwin Lee, Robert Sowell and Keith Brooks…these were the guys I played with every day. That was our team on Liberty Street. Those were the ways to polish your skills. I didn’t know one day I would go as far as I did. The Boy’s Club was a big factor, too. When we weren’t at the Dust Bowl, we’d go to the Boys Club and spend time there.
Does anything else stand out from what you accomplished in your sports?
My junior year, I didn’t get to play football because I broke my wrist. My senior year we went 10-0, the first team to do that. But we got beat in the semi-finals. That’s the Super Bowl of high school to go to the state championships. We should have won that game. The third thing was being drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates out of high school. I played shortstop and pitched. I could throw hard, but I didn’t like pitching. I got drafted and that was a big highlight. At the time then, for the draft for baseball or football, you had to make a commitment by February 14. If I made a commitment to baseball, they would have drafted me in the low rounds. I got afraid, thinking what if I don’t make it and then I miss college and don’t get the education? I talked to my parents and they said if I get the education now, and didn’t pursue the sports dream, I’d have something to fall back on.
How did you get to WVU?
Jack Beavers had been in my life since I was 7 or 8 years old. He was The Man at the Boys Club. If you ever speak to anyone my age or even 10 years younger than me, they would know him. He was the father figure for the kids who never had a father and he was the second father if you already had one. He knew all of our parents and if you acted up there, he’d kick you out for a week and then make it hard on you when you got back. No one wanted to get kicked out of the Boys Club. Plus if you got kicked out, you’d get your butt beat. Jack used to take me to Morgantown in his Volkswagen. We’re talking Interstate 48 back then — it took five and half hours to get there. Jack was retired from the Navy and didn’t drive much during those years so he got his license again and had a bus for the Boys Club. Bobby Bowden was the coach at WVU and Jack was good friends with him. He would get tickets and we’d watch the games, and he introduced me to the coach. I was still in high school but they came to know who I was. My senior year, Bobby left to go to Florida State. Frank Cignetti became the coach and WVU recruited me hard. Penn State recruited me, too. Joe Paterno and Jerry Sandusky came several times to the house as did the University of Maryland and University of Kentucky. I narrowed it down to four. Penn State said I could play baseball and football. WVU said the same thing.
You had a good football career at WVU. You were first in punt return yardage in 1980’s independent conference leaders with 307 yards (and 8th in the NCAA) and in the top ten for punt returns, kickoff returns and kickoff return yardage. You also ranked in the top ten for punt return touchdowns between 1977 and 1980 in your conference and the NCAA. Did you think you’d be drafted into the NFL?
I was hoping. I was still not playing my best position. I was a running back for real and successful at that because I had the skill of running with the football. My advisor in college used to say ‘Be a total athlete.’ I didn’t understand what he meant, but he said a total athlete could pick up and play any sport and adjust and adapt to it. And people look at that. So I would find the best person and they wouldn’t even know it, but I would work to become as good as they were. That’s what I did. I knew I had something and I had a good feeling about being drafted. My senior year, I finished second in punt returns to Hershel Walker. I ended up spraining my ankle my senior year and so I couldn’t run punts the next week and he beat me by not even five yards. I would have been number one in the nation.
Did you have a specific team you wanted to play for?
It didn’t matter. I didn’t care. At the time, I liked the Colts. I liked the Houston Oilers because I liked Earl Campbell. I was actually drafted by Minnesota, but they owed the Dolphins their sixth round draft pick, so I went to Miami. I went down in April for mini-camp, which lasts three or four days. It was my birthday on April 30 and that was the best birthday present I could ever get. Going down there and seeing all the athletes, doing drills and doing our work, it was fascinating. That was the time I was sitting back thinking, ‘This is where it’s at. This is the elite. I’m here with the best athletes in the world.’ It was mind blowing but I’m big into dreams, and pray for stuff and it happens. People don’t believe in dreams coming true but I knew something special was with me. Good things kept happening. The people I played with growing up told me now how tight my skill was. It gives me cold chills. It takes me back to childhood. We played hard and competitively. We didn’t like to lose. But if we did, we’d go home and practice. We were in that yard tearing it up. Laying in bed as a kid, hot as hell, no air conditioning, having that dream, then seeing it come true.
Tell me about life as a Miami Dolphin, especially since you grew up in relatively small town America.
Miami was different. When I went down there, they were having the same thing going on today. Cops killing people of color — kids. I was there when the riots were going on over a police officer shooting a kid on a bicycle. But I was so focused on being a Miami Dolphin and being at camp, that was the first thing on my mind. That first year was a big experience — going somewhere and playing in the pros. It took the first preseason game for it to sink in.
You made a big contribution in your four years with the Dolphins, most notably your record 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown during Super Bowl XVII, the first kickoff ever to be returned for a touchdown in Super Bowl history. Elaborate on that moment.
You know how I was telling you dreams come true? That night, we came back late, and I was looking at the program they leave on your bed and it has stats of Super Bowls, like how many yards and kick returns had been done, and no one had ever scored a touchdown. So that night, I prayed to God I would have a successful game and be the first one to run a kickoff back for a touchdown. I had a vision that night as I slept. Something must have touched me because the next day, every time they kicked off, I would almost break it. Coach Shula always let me do what I wanted. The third time they were going to kick, I told him I’m gonna set it up to look like I’m going right then at the last minute, I’m going to cut it back left. When I cut it back, I saw the hole open and I hit it. The two guys on the left were coming hard but I knew they were going to pass me and they couldn’t cut in time to catch me. It was a footrace and the next thing I know, I was in the end zone. Roy Foster got the ball and brought it to sidelines and gave it to me. I’ve still got it.
You played for the Los Angeles Raiders your final year. What ended your career?
I had torn my right ankle when I was running a punt. It was at the end of my first year in LA. During preseason the second year, the coach told me go in there. He didn’t have me return any punts the whole preseason. He said he was saving me. He told to fair catch the punt, but the guy shanked it so I had to run and get it. I couldn’t wave the fair catch and when I ran out of bounds, my back foot was out and a guy came across the back ankle and tore my ligaments. I was out for four weeks and placed on injured reserve but when I came back, it was still bothering me. I taped it up real good, but it still hurt. I struggled that year. I had surgery then came back after it healed. I went to camp but it still didn’t feel right, and I got cut. I could have gotten another year if I’d been healthy. Today, they cover all that and the technology is better. Now we’re dealing with the concussion stuff.
What’s the protocol for that?
The NFL sent everybody a paper. I had already signed up but they said you’ve got to file a report by the filing date. They’ll give you a file number then you submit that back to the NFL and you’re registered. I’ve already been through the tests.
And you’re good?
No, I’m not good. The treatments for it are depression and anxiety medicine. My problem is I can’t multi-task. I can’t get my brain full of stuff because it puts me in a place of confusion. Stuff in the present I can have problems with, but stuff in the past, I still have good recollection. I have to write things down now, so I remember. It’s what we guys have been going through but we didn’t understand what was going on. It’s been frustrating and overwhelming sometimes.
Is the NFL taking you care of guys?
They are taking care of the testing. My insurance pays for the treatment and therapy. I see a therapist and they keep me grounded. It’s an outlet. A lot of people think it’s all about being on medicine but it’s bigger than that. Dementia, Parkinsons and I think, Lou Gehrig’s disease…those are the things the concussions can bring to you. As far as the psych doctors, the one I have is really good and she knows what she’s doing. Now they have tools and can make a tighter diagnosis. I do suffer from dementia, but it’s a different kind than you usually hear about. It’s from the inside of the brain coming out. Mine is slower acting. I took it in my hands to do the treatment, and I have my NFL disability. Once the lawsuit takes place, I’ll be compensated. I think the movie, Concussion, really helped with awareness. The impact I took was different but greater. It’s like getting hit by a car, more or less. Doing that from age 8 until 28, when I played football, is 20 years of impact. They always taught us to use our head. That’s the wrong way to tackle. I’m sure concussions happened in all walks of my career. The NFL is getting blamed and they got to put it on somebody. It took 20 years for them to do something about the concussions stuff and I’m just glad I’m still around for it.
Sports have changed quite a bit since your time in the limelight. What advice do you have for today’s young athletes with pro dreams?
My thing with the athletes today is to put in the work. It’s like the Olympics. You’ve got four years to train for the Olympics. When you’re in high school or college, you have to look at that the same way. You’ve got to get in the best shape you can to perform and get the best out of you. You’re going to be rewarded for it down the road. Chances and opportunities come around once. You have to be ready. The sporting view is the same as the real world view — you have to go out into the world and be prepared if you want to succeed.
