The Big Break: How Adversity Shaped a Life

In this episode of “Shooting It Straight,” hosts Randy Black and Coach Jim Clayton delve into a powerful story of resilience and determination. Jim shares his personal journey from a life-threatening accident at the age of 12, where he broke multiple vertebrae and faced the possibility of never walking again, to overcoming the odds and finding a new path in life. This episode is part of a series on resilience, focusing on the mindset, grit, and faith required to bounce back from adversity. Jim’s story is not just about physical recovery but also about the mental strength and perseverance that shaped his life and career.

Listeners are taken through Jim’s harrowing experience, from the accident to his recovery process, and how it ultimately led him to a successful career in basketball coaching. The episode emphasizes the importance of mindset and the power of believing in oneself, even when faced with seemingly insurmountable challenges. Randy and Jim discuss the life lessons learned through adversity and how these experiences can shape one’s journey. This episode is a testament to the human spirit’s ability to overcome and thrive despite life’s toughest obstacles.

Transcript

Speaker: 00:00:01

Coach Jim Clayton: Bam son!

Speaker: 00:00:03

Coach Jim Clayton: This is Shoot It Straight, the podcast where life lessons don't come sugar-coated and excuses get bitched.

Randy Black: 00:00:09

I'm Randy Black, podcast guy, professional question asker, and apparently

Randy Black: 00:00:15

The only one here who doesn't yell pam, son, in public.

Randy Black: 00:00:18

Coach Jim Clayton: Well, we're working on that, Randy.

Randy Black: 00:00:19

Coach Jim Clayton: I'm Jim Clayton, coach, mentor, motivator, and the guy who still thinks a whistle may be the best motivational tool known to man.

Randy Black: 00:00:28

Coach Jim Clayton: Each week we're

Randy Black: 00:00:30

Taking what Jim's learned from the court, the drills, the discipline, the drive, and translating it into real world success.

Randy Black: 00:00:37

Coach Jim Clayton: That's right.

Randy Black: 00:00:37

Coach Jim Clayton: This ain't just about basketball.

Randy Black: 00:00:39

Coach Jim Clayton: It's about showing up when life press is full court.

Randy Black: 00:00:42

Coach Jim Clayton: It's about pushing through when the clocks

Randy Black: 00:00:45

Coach Jim Clayton: Ticking down.

Randy Black: 00:00:45

If you're looking for fluff, well, you might just want to ride the bench.

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Coach Jim Clayton: We're here to help you believe bigger, achieve louder, and motivate strong.

Randy Black: 00:00:53

Coach Jim Clayton: So buckle up and whatever you do, keep shooting it straight.

Randy Black: 00:00:57

Bam, son

Randy Black: 00:00:58

Welcome back to Shooting It Straight.

Randy Black: 00:01:00

I'm Randy Black here with my co-host, Coast Jim Clayton.

Randy Black: 00:01:03

And we're at the SportsCity U Studio in Hurricane, West Virginia.

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Picture this.

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You're a teenager.

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You're full of dreams.

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You're living your life to its fullest.

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And in one split second, it may be over.

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A broken neck, doctors saying you may never walk again.

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For most people, that would be the end of the story.

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But not for my co-host Jim Clayton.

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You know what his response was?

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BAM, son!

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And he wrote a new chapter for his life.

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This episode is part of our series on resilience.

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That deep down determination to get back up.

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when my life knocks you flat to the ground.

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We've talked about what it means to push through adversity, to find strength when the odds are stacked against you.

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But today you're going to hear it from someone who lived it.

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Jim's story isn't just about injury and recovery.

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It's about mindset, grit, faith, and the kind of bounce back that shapes a lifetime.

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From nearly paralyzed to playing ball, coaching athletes, and teaching life lessons, this is resilience in real time.

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So stick around through the episode because you're not going to want to miss it.

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So Jim, take us back to that moment in time.

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What do you remember about the day that this happened?

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Coach Jim Clayton: Well, it was just pretty much an ordinary day.

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Coach Jim Clayton: It was October 17th, a Thursday.

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Coach Jim Clayton: I was twelve years old.

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Coach Jim Clayton: My birthday's October twenty second, so I was almost ready to turn thirteen.

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Coach Jim Clayton: You know, it's that time of the year when, you know, you got Halloween, leaves falling off the trees, all kinds of stuff.

Randy Black: 00:02:47

Coach Jim Clayton: Well, you know, hey, I wasn't the perfect little angel.

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Coach Jim Clayton: I mean I was always getting into stuff.

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Coach Jim Clayton: I was doing stuff I was I was doing stuff I wasn't supposed to do, you know.

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Coach Jim Clayton: But none of it at that point was what I would consider life threatening

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Coach Jim Clayton: So that particular day, we had built a big stock of leaves, and the leaves were probably, oh, they were high.

Randy Black: 00:03:08

Coach Jim Clayton: And right down the street from where I actually live now and up the street from where I grew up, there was a barbecue pit that a person had built.

Randy Black: 00:03:17

Coach Jim Clayton: And it was at maybe five feet off the ground, maybe six feet at the most.

Randy Black: 00:03:21

Okay.

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Coach Jim Clayton: So we had climbed up there on top of that thing.

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Coach Jim Clayton: And you know, there was a stock in the middle where the the smoke would come out.

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Coach Jim Clayton: And we were that that thing was so high

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Coach Jim Clayton: We would do flips off of it, jump in it, because it was really cushioned.

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Coach Jim Clayton: I mean it was ten feet of cushion.

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Coach Jim Clayton: Well we've been doing it

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Coach Jim Clayton: And you know, the lady next to you goes, you better quit that, boys.

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Coach Jim Clayton: You know, somebody's gonna get hurt.

Randy Black: 00:03:43

Coach Jim Clayton: Mm-hmm.

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Coach Jim Clayton: Yeah, we didn't listen.

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Coach Jim Clayton: You know what I mean?

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Coach Jim Clayton: Go back in the house.

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Coach Jim Clayton: You know what I mean?

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Coach Jim Clayton: We we got this

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Coach Jim Clayton: Well, that's what I thought.

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Coach Jim Clayton: So I got up there, we've been doing this for dates.

Randy Black: 00:03:54

Coach Jim Clayton: I've done this hundreds of times off this.

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Coach Jim Clayton: I got up there and my feet were kind of on the sides of the s the the the barbecue and there was that that pipe in the middle and all of a sudden I was standing there and somehow my foot

Randy Black: 00:04:11

Coach Jim Clayton: got went down in that pipe.

Randy Black: 00:04:14

Yeah.

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Coach Jim Clayton: And went down, I leaned forward and my hands went back

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Coach Jim Clayton: And before I knew it, I was going diving face down like underdog.

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Coach Jim Clayton: You know, had my hands back like this?

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Coach Jim Clayton: Yeah

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Coach Jim Clayton: Bam!

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Coach Jim Clayton: I hit my neck, snapped that thing back, flipped over, and I was face down in the leaves

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Coach Jim Clayton: Couldn't move.

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Coach Jim Clayton: Couldn't breathe.

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Coach Jim Clayton: I mean it was like, okay.

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Coach Jim Clayton: You know, total paralysis from the neck down.

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Coach Jim Clayton: And I laid there and I had leaves in my mouth.

Randy Black: 00:04:51

Coach Jim Clayton: I mean it was all over the place.

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Coach Jim Clayton: And my buddies, they're thinking, oh, he's just faking

Randy Black: 00:04:56

Right.

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Coach Jim Clayton: They just stood there and looked.

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Coach Jim Clayton: So finally, it's kind of weird.

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Coach Jim Clayton: About 30 seconds.

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Coach Jim Clayton: Seemed like an eternity.

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Coach Jim Clayton: It's kind of like

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Coach Jim Clayton: Being at your house and your power goes off, then it comes right back on.

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Coach Jim Clayton: That's what happened to me.

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Coach Jim Clayton: All of a sudden I could feel.

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Coach Jim Clayton: I could move.

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Coach Jim Clayton: So I rolled over.

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Coach Jim Clayton: Whew.

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Coach Jim Clayton: Now I can breathe.

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Coach Jim Clayton: They go, man, what's God?

Randy Black: 00:05:20

Coach Jim Clayton: I said, man, man, man, I've hurt my neck, man.

Randy Black: 00:05:22

Coach Jim Clayton: I can't move.

Randy Black: 00:05:24

Coach Jim Clayton: They go, you're just faking.

Randy Black: 00:05:28

Coach Jim Clayton: If I could get up right now, I'd show you who's faking.

Randy Black: 00:05:31

Coach Jim Clayton: And 'cause I busted him right in the mouth.

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Coach Jim Clayton: But I laid down.

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Coach Jim Clayton: So finally I go, Whew, well what's every young p person that's ever been hurt?

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Coach Jim Clayton: What's their first thought?

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Coach Jim Clayton: I gotta get home.

Randy Black: 00:05:44

Yeah.

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Coach Jim Clayton: Gotta go home.

Randy Black: 00:05:46

Been there.

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Coach Jim Clayton: So I said, boys, help me up

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Coach Jim Clayton: So they helped me up.

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Coach Jim Clayton: I stood up.

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Coach Jim Clayton: My bicycle was right over to the side of that.

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Coach Jim Clayton: Had one of those swin, little 16-inch, had the big handlebars, you know, had the banana seat, you know, so I got on the bike.

Randy Black: 00:06:05

Coach Jim Clayton: Broken neck.

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Coach Jim Clayton: Didn't know the severity of it.

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Coach Jim Clayton: Well I'll share with you that later.

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Coach Jim Clayton: And I rode my bike home.

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Coach Jim Clayton: Wasn't very far, maybe half a block

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Coach Jim Clayton: Yeah.

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Coach Jim Clayton: Pulled in the driveway, my mom was standing at the kitchen window, I'll never forget it.

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Coach Jim Clayton: She was cooking spaghetti.

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Coach Jim Clayton: So I parked the bike, went in the house.

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Coach Jim Clayton: Slowly.

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Coach Jim Clayton: Deck I mean I couldn't move it.

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Coach Jim Clayton: If I moved it one

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Coach Jim Clayton: Just anything.

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Coach Jim Clayton: I can't really describe the pain.

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Coach Jim Clayton: And I have a high threshold for pain.

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Coach Jim Clayton: I'll go in, Mom

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Coach Jim Clayton: She looked at me, I had stuff all over me.

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Coach Jim Clayton: She goes, you've been fighting again.

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Coach Jim Clayton: I said, no, I've hurt my neck.

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Coach Jim Clayton: I said, I fell into this leaf pit accidentally and I've hurt my neck.

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Coach Jim Clayton: My dad goes, oh, you just sprained it.

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Coach Jim Clayton: You'll be all right

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Coach Jim Clayton: I said, well, okay.

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Coach Jim Clayton: So I went back to my bedroom.

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Coach Jim Clayton: I laid down.

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Coach Jim Clayton: Yeah.

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Coach Jim Clayton: And I laid there.

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Coach Jim Clayton: My mom says, time to eat.

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Coach Jim Clayton: So I couldn't get up.

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Coach Jim Clayton: I had to roll out a bit.

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Coach Jim Clayton: Got myself up.

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Coach Jim Clayton: My house at that time was like a maze, but I could hold on to both sides of the wall

Randy Black: 00:07:07

Coach Jim Clayton: Kind of went down.

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Coach Jim Clayton: So I remember going down through there slowly.

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Coach Jim Clayton: By that time my neck was swelled up really bit.

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Coach Jim Clayton: Couldn't even see my neck.

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Coach Jim Clayton: It was like

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Coach Jim Clayton: Just that big.

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Coach Jim Clayton: And I forget, I turned a corner to go up the hallway to the kitchen.

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Coach Jim Clayton: My mom stuck her neck out and looked at me.

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Coach Jim Clayton: I said, and I was kinda dragging my foot.

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Coach Jim Clayton: She goes, We're going to hospital right now

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Coach Jim Clayton: I said, okay.

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Coach Jim Clayton: So we got in the car, went to the hospital.

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Coach Jim Clayton: Yeah.

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Coach Jim Clayton: All Cabo Huntington was was like a U.

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Coach Jim Clayton: We went in the mercy's room.

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Coach Jim Clayton: My mom says, my son's hurt his neck.

Randy Black: 00:07:40

Coach Jim Clayton: They said, have a seat in the waiting room.

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Coach Jim Clayton: She's an Italian woman.

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Coach Jim Clayton: She uh wasn't really going for that.

Randy Black: 00:07:46

Coach Jim Clayton: Right.

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Coach Jim Clayton: She said he hurt his neck.

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Coach Jim Clayton: Okay.

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Coach Jim Clayton: He needs to be set down, laid down, I mean, put a support on your neck, can't move his neck

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Coach Jim Clayton: So finally they took me back here and laid me down.

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Coach Jim Clayton: Doctor comes in and uh, you know.

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Coach Jim Clayton: Now they couldn't tell me at that time what happened.

Randy Black: 00:08:11

Coach Jim Clayton: They just know there's a break in there because all the fluid and everything they couldn't really tell what it was.

Randy Black: 00:08:16

Coach Jim Clayton: Right

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Coach Jim Clayton: And I and the crazy part is I had never cried till they told me, well, you're gonna have to spend the night, obviously.

Randy Black: 00:08:25

Coach Jim Clayton: And that's when I lost it, because I'd never really been in the hospital.

Randy Black: 00:08:28

Right.

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Coach Jim Clayton: And uh except for being born.

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Coach Jim Clayton: And so they took me upstairs and when I landed, I kind of broke my jaw.

Randy Black: 00:08:36

Coach Jim Clayton: Here it looked, I landed right on my jaw.

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Coach Jim Clayton: So that wasn't feeling real good.

Randy Black: 00:08:40

Coach Jim Clayton: So they put me in his tracks when he put it on my chin.

Randy Black: 00:08:45

Coach Jim Clayton: That wasn't feeling good.

Randy Black: 00:08:46

Coach Jim Clayton: Oh I can imagine.

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Coach Jim Clayton: So I was like hurting from my neck, my chin, my jaw

Randy Black: 00:08:51

Coach Jim Clayton: Everything.

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Coach Jim Clayton: So I guess they gave me something, kinda knocked me out a little bit, pain medication.

Randy Black: 00:08:56

Coach Jim Clayton: So the next day they come in and, you know, they try to do x-rays again.

Randy Black: 00:09:00

Coach Jim Clayton: It wasn't for about a week or two that they finally figured out what was wrong

Randy Black: 00:09:04my atlas and I had broken my C: 12345Randy Black: 00:09:11

Oh wow.

Randy Black: 00:09:12

Coach Jim Clayton: I broke a mole

Randy Black: 00:09:13

Coach Jim Clayton: Those people don't survive one.

Randy Black: 00:09:16

Coach Jim Clayton: Or if they do, they're totally paralyzed from the neck down.

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Coach Jim Clayton: And so

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Coach Jim Clayton: You know, I I'm thinking, okay, I'm laying there.

Randy Black: 00:09:24

Coach Jim Clayton: They go, well, we know you got a broken jaw.

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Coach Jim Clayton: So now we're going to change the traction.

Randy Black: 00:09:28

Coach Jim Clayton: We're going to put what's called Crestfield Tongs.

Randy Black: 00:09:32

Coach Jim Clayton: So they actually went into my skull above my head with a with almost like a screwdriver.

Randy Black: 00:09:38

Coach Jim Clayton: And they started grinding holes in my skull.

Randy Black: 00:09:41

Coach Jim Clayton: I could hear it going, I was going like, what in the world?

Randy Black: 00:09:45

Coach Jim Clayton: So it ain't on numb now cause you only got skin in school.

Randy Black: 00:09:49

Coach Jim Clayton: That hurt like crazy.

Randy Black: 00:09:51

Coach Jim Clayton: I'm sure.

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Coach Jim Clayton: And I was only 12

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Coach Jim Clayton: And so then they stuck those tongs in those holes.

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Coach Jim Clayton: And then when they put the sandbags over the bed, the pressure kept them in.

Randy Black: 00:10:02

Coach Jim Clayton: So now I didn't have anything on my jaw.

Randy Black: 00:10:04

Coach Jim Clayton: So I could move it, okay?

Randy Black: 00:10:06

Coach Jim Clayton: And I just, I was basically laying there.

Randy Black: 00:10:09

Coach Jim Clayton: And where the paralysis, where the where the pressure was on my spine

Randy Black: 00:10:14

Coach Jim Clayton: One side of my body, my thing was my right side, my my hands started to draw up.

Randy Black: 00:10:19

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, like I was in a paralyzed part, certain parts

Randy Black: 00:10:23

Coach Jim Clayton: And I thought, oh no, this ain't good.

Randy Black: 00:10:26

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, and I didn't know that and I hoped that over time when they relieved that pressure and that swelling went down and everything happened, that everything would go back.

Randy Black: 00:10:36

Coach Jim Clayton: And it did.

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Coach Jim Clayton: Thankfully, by the grace of God, he was looking out for him.

Randy Black: 00:10:42

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, and so basically I just lay there

Randy Black: 00:10:47

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, I couldn't get up, I couldn't go to the bathroom, I couldn't do anything.

Randy Black: 00:10:50

Coach Jim Clayton: I was just laying looking at the ceiling.

Randy Black: 00:10:52

Coach Jim Clayton: I think, well, that's ain't good.

Randy Black: 00:10:54

Coach Jim Clayton: I can't watch TV or nothing

Randy Black: 00:10:56

Coach Jim Clayton: Yeah.

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Coach Jim Clayton: So the TV was over on the wall.

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Coach Jim Clayton: So they brought in these things, which was awesome.

Randy Black: 00:11:00

Coach Jim Clayton: They c they were prism glasses.

Randy Black: 00:11:03

Coach Jim Clayton: I put them on

Randy Black: 00:11:04

Coach Jim Clayton: I looked up, but the prisms looked at the TV so I could watch TV.

Randy Black: 00:11:08

Coach Jim Clayton: I was looking at the ceiling, but watched the TV on the wall.

Randy Black: 00:11:11

Coach Jim Clayton: It was wow.

Randy Black: 00:11:13

Coach Jim Clayton: And so that's the way I was for months.

Randy Black: 00:11:16

Coach Jim Clayton: And back then they said, well, we're going to, you know, see what's going on here.

Randy Black: 00:11:23

Coach Jim Clayton: We're going to let you go home in an ambulance.

Randy Black: 00:11:28

Coach Jim Clayton: But we're gonna they didn't have things called a halo.

Randy Black: 00:11:31

Coach Jim Clayton: Right.

Randy Black: 00:11:32

Coach Jim Clayton: They had cast, body cast.

Randy Black: 00:11:34

Coach Jim Clayton: Yes.

Randy Black: 00:11:35

Coach Jim Clayton: Now you can imagine I'll send you a picture.

Randy Black: 00:11:37

Coach Jim Clayton: Oh I've seen it.

Randy Black: 00:11:37

Coach Jim Clayton: Okay.

Randy Black: 00:11:38

Coach Jim Clayton: The only thing that showed was my face

Randy Black: 00:11:41

Coach Jim Clayton: Top my head, my ears, and had a hole in my belly so when I ate, it would stick out.

Randy Black: 00:11:47

Coach Jim Clayton: The rest of me was in cast, 80 pounds of it

Randy Black: 00:11:50

Coach Jim Clayton: Now I didn't weigh much.

Randy Black: 00:11:52

Coach Jim Clayton: I maybe it was 120.

Randy Black: 00:11:54

Coach Jim Clayton: Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:11:54

Coach Jim Clayton: 80 pounds.

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Coach Jim Clayton: Now 200.

Randy Black: 00:12:00

Coach Jim Clayton: That wasn't good.

Randy Black: 00:12:02

Coach Jim Clayton: So he let me go home, crawled around a little bit, finally got up, said I'm gonna get back to walking a little bit, because I haven't been in there that long, so I haven't forgotten how to walk

Randy Black: 00:12:12

Coach Jim Clayton: And so I started walking around a little bit, and it was right about Thanksgiving, into Thanksgiving.

Randy Black: 00:12:18

Coach Jim Clayton: He called me on the phone.

Randy Black: 00:12:20

Coach Jim Clayton: I said, you got to get back to the hospital immediately.

Randy Black: 00:12:25

Coach Jim Clayton: Okay, any particular reason why?

Randy Black: 00:12:27

Coach Jim Clayton: Yes.

Randy Black: 00:12:29

Coach Jim Clayton: Those vertebras, they were so broken, they're healing, but they could slip at any time.

Randy Black: 00:12:35

Coach Jim Clayton: And if they slip, they're gonna sever your spinal column.

Randy Black: 00:12:38

Coach Jim Clayton: And you might not be as lucky to Sectum said, I'm on my way.

Randy Black: 00:12:43

Coach Jim Clayton: So I go back over there.

Randy Black: 00:12:45

Coach Jim Clayton: Okay?

Randy Black: 00:12:45

Coach Jim Clayton: Didn't know what that journey was going to be like.

Randy Black: 00:12:48

Coach Jim Clayton: So they put me back

Randy Black: 00:12:51

Coach Jim Clayton: On the be in the bed.

Randy Black: 00:12:53

Coach Jim Clayton: And oh no.

Randy Black: 00:12:54

Coach Jim Clayton: Here we go again.

Randy Black: 00:12:57

Coach Jim Clayton: Grind.

Randy Black: 00:12:58

Coach Jim Clayton: They put two more holes in my head

Randy Black: 00:13:00

Coach Jim Clayton: Put those tongs back in there so they could strengthen that up.

Randy Black: 00:13:04

Coach Jim Clayton: Well, they realized that wasn't gonna happen.

Randy Black: 00:13:07

Coach Jim Clayton: So they go, We're gonna have to fuse your neck.

Randy Black: 00:13:10

Coach Jim Clayton: We're gonna have to do a spinal fuse.

Randy Black: 00:13:12

Coach Jim Clayton: Now they hadn't done one of these in Huntington.

Randy Black: 00:13:14

Coach Jim Clayton: Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:13:14

Coach Jim Clayton: Now you know this yeah I was twelve, so that was nineteen sixty seven.

Randy Black: 00:13:18

Coach Jim Clayton: You do the math.

Randy Black: 00:13:20

Coach Jim Clayton: That's been a few years.

Randy Black: 00:13:22

Coach Jim Clayton: So they took this bone off my hip.

Randy Black: 00:13:25

Coach Jim Clayton: Which they didn't tell me they were going to do that.

Randy Black: 00:13:27

Coach Jim Clayton: They don't even do that anymore.

Randy Black: 00:13:29

Coach Jim Clayton: Now they use cadaver bone.

Randy Black: 00:13:30

Coach Jim Clayton: And they don't they cut my neck in the back the back, which looks like a fuse box.

Randy Black: 00:13:36

Coach Jim Clayton: They don't even do that anymore.

Randy Black: 00:13:38

Coach Jim Clayton: They cut you here at the base of your neck and move everything over, go in from the front.

Randy Black: 00:13:43

Coach Jim Clayton: Well, they fuse that together.

Randy Black: 00:13:45

Coach Jim Clayton: And then once they fused it together, I didn't have any vertebrates anymore.

Randy Black: 00:13:50

Coach Jim Clayton: So I laid there.

Randy Black: 00:13:51

Coach Jim Clayton: It's like a broken bone.

Randy Black: 00:13:53

Coach Jim Clayton: You can't speed up the healing process.

Randy Black: 00:13:55

Coach Jim Clayton: And I laid there.

Randy Black: 00:13:56

Coach Jim Clayton: And I laid there.

Randy Black: 00:13:57

Coach Jim Clayton: And I laid there for for m months.

Randy Black: 00:14:00

Coach Jim Clayton: I remember Christmas they took the stitches out.

Randy Black: 00:14:02

Coach Jim Clayton: That was a highlight.

Randy Black: 00:14:04

Coach Jim Clayton: Boy, my hip was killing me.

Randy Black: 00:14:05

Coach Jim Clayton: I rolled over on that soccer.

Randy Black: 00:14:07

Coach Jim Clayton: Ah!

Randy Black: 00:14:08

Coach Jim Clayton: That was worse than any pain I think I've ever had.

Randy Black: 00:14:11

Coach Jim Clayton: So for about a month

Randy Black: 00:14:13

Coach Jim Clayton: I was like a pen cushion for, you know, where they gave me pain medicine.

Randy Black: 00:14:17

Coach Jim Clayton: I'd go shoulder, shoulder, butt, butt, shoulder, shoulder.

Randy Black: 00:14:22

Coach Jim Clayton: I got so many shots that I had scams

Randy Black: 00:14:27

Coach Jim Clayton: That's how much I did.

Randy Black: 00:14:28

Coach Jim Clayton: So I don't even remember that month.

Randy Black: 00:14:30

Coach Jim Clayton: That January, don't even remember.

Randy Black: 00:14:33

Coach Jim Clayton: So I came to it a little bit, you know what I mean?

Randy Black: 00:14:35

Coach Jim Clayton: They go, well

Randy Black: 00:14:37

Coach Jim Clayton: Okay, it's getting better, but we're not sure.

Randy Black: 00:14:39

Coach Jim Clayton: So I lay there and lay there and lay there.

Randy Black: 00:14:42

Coach Jim Clayton: Then they come up and say, okay, we're gonna put that chaos back on.

Randy Black: 00:14:45

Coach Jim Clayton: I said, oh gosh, not that thing.

Randy Black: 00:14:47

Coach Jim Clayton: Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:14:48

Coach Jim Clayton: So this time had to go down, he put that cast back on me.

Randy Black: 00:14:52

Coach Jim Clayton: I lay there, I lay there.

Randy Black: 00:14:53

Coach Jim Clayton: Well I was a bony I was like 90 pounds with an 80 pound cast

Randy Black: 00:14:59

Coach Jim Clayton: Bones.

Randy Black: 00:14:59

Coach Jim Clayton: So I was laying there and that bone, that cast lay right on my bone, right where that scar was.

Randy Black: 00:15:06

Coach Jim Clayton: And it cut off the circulation.

Randy Black: 00:15:09

Coach Jim Clayton: So I caught the flu of all things in the hospital.

Randy Black: 00:15:12

Coach Jim Clayton: Couldn't breathe nothing, couldn't you know, and so where I'd lay there and had to cut off that's called a decubulus.

Randy Black: 00:15:20

Coach Jim Clayton: That's the size of a quarter

Randy Black: 00:15:21

Coach Jim Clayton: Everybody come and go, man, something smells.

Randy Black: 00:15:24

Coach Jim Clayton: I couldn't smell anything.

Randy Black: 00:15:26

Coach Jim Clayton: So my mom I'd roll over a little bit on my side.

Randy Black: 00:15:28

Coach Jim Clayton: She'd rub my back in her a little bit.

Randy Black: 00:15:30

Coach Jim Clayton: But she put her hand right in that thing.

Randy Black: 00:15:33

Coach Jim Clayton: She pulled that out and she about

Randy Black: 00:15:34

Coach Jim Clayton: threw up, ran out of the room.

Randy Black: 00:15:36

Coach Jim Clayton: I said, oh my God.

Randy Black: 00:15:36

Coach Jim Clayton: So they come in, cut that cast off a little bit, pulled that out.

Randy Black: 00:15:40

Coach Jim Clayton: Those guys, that smell, I must have knocked them out of the room

Randy Black: 00:15:43

Coach Jim Clayton: So then I'm thinking, okay, come on.

Randy Black: 00:15:47

Coach Jim Clayton: Now it's even getting it's getting better.

Randy Black: 00:15:50

Coach Jim Clayton: Got a broken neck, I got a fused spine, I got the cubus.

Randy Black: 00:15:54

Coach Jim Clayton: How are you gonna fix that?

Randy Black: 00:15:55

Coach Jim Clayton: They say, well

Randy Black: 00:15:57

Coach Jim Clayton: We're gonna do what we call a pinch graft.

Randy Black: 00:16:00

Coach Jim Clayton: That's where they go in the back of your legs and take it, take it a skin graft, they go in there and pinch skin.

Randy Black: 00:16:06

Coach Jim Clayton: Look like a tic-tac-toe board

Randy Black: 00:16:08

Coach Jim Clayton: Now you talk about something that hurt, you know, just pulling the skin right out like that.

Randy Black: 00:16:13

Coach Jim Clayton: They put it in a culture, they let it grow, then they put that on that.

Randy Black: 00:16:17

Coach Jim Clayton: And then that's how it healed.

Randy Black: 00:16:19

Coach Jim Clayton: So they said, we're not gonna let you go home until it heals.

Randy Black: 00:16:22

Coach Jim Clayton: That's another month.

Randy Black: 00:16:24

Coach Jim Clayton: So it's been three months.

Randy Black: 00:16:26

Coach Jim Clayton: So they finally go, okay, you go home.

Randy Black: 00:16:29

Coach Jim Clayton: Well, I haven't walked

Randy Black: 00:16:31

Coach Jim Clayton: You know?

Randy Black: 00:16:32

Coach Jim Clayton: Right.

Randy Black: 00:16:32

Coach Jim Clayton: And they go, we're gonna take you home in the ambulance.

Randy Black: 00:16:35

Coach Jim Clayton: Put you in the bed.

Randy Black: 00:16:36

Coach Jim Clayton: You're gonna you crawl around the bed.

Randy Black: 00:16:38

Coach Jim Clayton: You'll

Randy Black: 00:16:39

Coach Jim Clayton: They didn't have physical therapy.

Randy Black: 00:16:42

Coach Jim Clayton: They didn't have all the stuff they had now either.

Randy Black: 00:16:45

Coach Jim Clayton: You just suck it up, get it done.

Randy Black: 00:16:47

Coach Jim Clayton: So I later I said, fine, man, I've had enough of this

Randy Black: 00:16:51

Coach Jim Clayton: So I said, I'm walking to the bathroom.

Randy Black: 00:16:52

Coach Jim Clayton: I'm going to use the bathroom.

Randy Black: 00:16:54

Coach Jim Clayton: Legit.

Randy Black: 00:16:55

Coach Jim Clayton: Something we all take for granted until you can't do it

Randy Black: 00:16:58

Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:16:59

Coach Jim Clayton: 'Cause you're laying bur you know, you're laying horizontally, not vertically.

Randy Black: 00:17:03

So so do you say it's like that was your turning point there?

Randy Black: 00:17:05

Coach Jim Clayton: Hey, I said I'm go.

Randy Black: 00:17:07

Coach Jim Clayton: Okay.

Randy Black: 00:17:07

Coach Jim Clayton: So I stepped off that bed.

Randy Black: 00:17:09

Coach Jim Clayton: I had my hand on my dresser.

Randy Black: 00:17:10

Coach Jim Clayton: My leg was like, you know, I'm like a baby giraffe.

Randy Black: 00:17:15

Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:17:16

Coach Jim Clayton: Basically.

Randy Black: 00:17:17

Coach Jim Clayton: And so it took me like 30 minutes to go ten feet.

Randy Black: 00:17:22

Coach Jim Clayton: I was gone.

Randy Black: 00:17:24

Coach Jim Clayton: So I got five to the bathroom.

Randy Black: 00:17:27

Coach Jim Clayton: I said, Mom, she goes, what's going on?

Randy Black: 00:17:29

Coach Jim Clayton: I said, I'm in the bathroom.

Randy Black: 00:17:31

Coach Jim Clayton: I'm taking a pee for the first time standing up in four or five months.

Randy Black: 00:17:38

Coach Jim Clayton: She comes running in there.

Randy Black: 00:17:39

Coach Jim Clayton: I said, oh Lord.

Randy Black: 00:17:41

Coach Jim Clayton: I said, man, man, it's going to take me another 30 minutes to get back.

Randy Black: 00:17:46

Coach Jim Clayton: So I went back.

Randy Black: 00:17:47

Coach Jim Clayton: I finally got there.

Randy Black: 00:17:49

Coach Jim Clayton: Jumped up there.

Randy Black: 00:17:50

Coach Jim Clayton: You'd have thought I ran a marathon.

Randy Black: 00:17:52

Coach Jim Clayton: Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:17:52

Coach Jim Clayton: Well then my feet got bruises on them, you know, because I ain't had all that weight on there.

Randy Black: 00:17:58

Coach Jim Clayton: I got that cast on.

Randy Black: 00:17:59

Coach Jim Clayton: So I said, I told her, I said, go get me some Chuck Taylors

Randy Black: 00:18:03

Coach Jim Clayton: That was the shoe.

Randy Black: 00:18:05

Coach Jim Clayton: And I said, I need about eleven.

Randy Black: 00:18:07

Coach Jim Clayton: Because I want you to stack as many Dr.

Randy Black: 00:18:10

Coach Jim Clayton: Schultz pads as you can get in there.

Randy Black: 00:18:12

Coach Jim Clayton: Because I'm not going back in that bed

Randy Black: 00:18:15

Coach Jim Clayton: And that's how I started walking.

Randy Black: 00:18:17

Coach Jim Clayton: And I taught myself how to walk again.

Randy Black: 00:18:20

Coach Jim Clayton: And so eventually, you know, I said, okay.

Randy Black: 00:18:23

Coach Jim Clayton: And then it got to summer

Randy Black: 00:18:25

Coach Jim Clayton: And they called me, said, you come back, I need you to come back to the hospital.

Randy Black: 00:18:29

Coach Jim Clayton: I go, okay.

Randy Black: 00:18:30

Coach Jim Clayton: So I got in the car.

Randy Black: 00:18:31

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, I was sitting like this.

Randy Black: 00:18:33

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, I couldn't put my chin down.

Randy Black: 00:18:34

Coach Jim Clayton: Right

Randy Black: 00:18:35

Coach Jim Clayton: And they took it back and they cut that cast off.

Randy Black: 00:18:38

Coach Jim Clayton: Woo!

Randy Black: 00:18:39

Coach Jim Clayton: That was a great day.

Randy Black: 00:18:40

Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:18:41

Coach Jim Clayton: They lifted that thing off and that fresh air coming in there.

Randy Black: 00:18:43

Coach Jim Clayton: How are you taking a shower?

Randy Black: 00:18:45

Coach Jim Clayton: You know what I mean?

Randy Black: 00:18:46

Coach Jim Clayton: I took a bath, you know, sponge bath, whatever.

Randy Black: 00:18:49

Coach Jim Clayton: And they lifted that thing up, they fitted me with a brace, went under my chin, had two metal rods, it was a chest plate, had shoulder pads, went on the back, but I could move my arms, you know, and stuff.

Randy Black: 00:19:00

Coach Jim Clayton: And it only weighed like a couple of pounds.

Randy Black: 00:19:02

Coach Jim Clayton: Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:19:03

Coach Jim Clayton: And I'll never forget that.

Randy Black: 00:19:04

Coach Jim Clayton: They took my hand and they'd raised me up.

Randy Black: 00:19:08

Coach Jim Clayton: For the first time, I sat up.

Randy Black: 00:19:11

Coach Jim Clayton: Every vertebrae in my back went crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack.

Randy Black: 00:19:15

Coach Jim Clayton: Oh, what a what a relief.

Randy Black: 00:19:19

All that decompression from all that weight that was on my gosh.

Randy Black: 00:19:21

Coach Jim Clayton: And I was dizzy.

Randy Black: 00:19:22

Coach Jim Clayton: You know what I mean?

Randy Black: 00:19:23

Coach Jim Clayton: Like, woo.

Randy Black: 00:19:24

Coach Jim Clayton: And so

Randy Black: 00:19:26

Coach Jim Clayton: They did that and he said, now I could take that off when I slept.

Randy Black: 00:19:31

Coach Jim Clayton: And I could take it off when I took a shower.

Randy Black: 00:19:33

Coach Jim Clayton: I said, oh Lord, I get to take a shower.

Randy Black: 00:19:35

Coach Jim Clayton: So went home first thing that took that thing off, took a shower.

Randy Black: 00:19:38

Coach Jim Clayton: I never seen so much dead skin at the bottom of that shower.

Randy Black: 00:19:41

Coach Jim Clayton: Oh, I'm sure.

Randy Black: 00:19:42

Coach Jim Clayton: You can't even imagine.

Randy Black: 00:19:43

Coach Jim Clayton: And then I got to go get a haircut, 'cause they'd shaved my head here, done this, done that.

Randy Black: 00:19:47

Coach Jim Clayton: I had about five or six different

Randy Black: 00:19:49

Coach Jim Clayton: levels of hair now.

Randy Black: 00:19:51

Coach Jim Clayton: Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:19:51

Coach Jim Clayton: Probably would be in style now.

Randy Black: 00:19:53

Coach Jim Clayton: Probably so I got it cleaned up and everything and then, you know, I could go get the swimming pump.

Randy Black: 00:19:58

Coach Jim Clayton: So I could walk around, I could swim.

Randy Black: 00:20:01

Coach Jim Clayton: That helped me build everything back.

Randy Black: 00:20:03

Coach Jim Clayton: Now, that was just to get to that point.

Randy Black: 00:20:07

Coach Jim Clayton: Now, here's where it all changed.

Randy Black: 00:20:10

Coach Jim Clayton: I went in five foot tall.

Randy Black: 00:20:13

Coach Jim Clayton: I came out six foot tall.

Randy Black: 00:20:15

Coach Jim Clayton: Wow.

Randy Black: 00:20:16

Coach Jim Clayton: I'd grown to 12 inches in that time frame.

Randy Black: 00:20:20

Coach Jim Clayton: But I didn't have to worry about, you know, growing pains because I was laying in the bed flat.

Randy Black: 00:20:24

Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:20:25

Coach Jim Clayton: Woo!

Randy Black: 00:20:25

Coach Jim Clayton: I said, baby giraffe, I'm talking yes.

Randy Black: 00:20:28

Coach Jim Clayton: So

Randy Black: 00:20:29

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, I said, man, walking around got that like this.

Randy Black: 00:20:33

Coach Jim Clayton: I couldn't so school cook came back to get started.

Randy Black: 00:20:36

Coach Jim Clayton: I couldn't go to school

Randy Black: 00:20:38

Coach Jim Clayton: I took that whole year off from October because I couldn't go to school.

Randy Black: 00:20:41

Coach Jim Clayton: I'll never forget one time a guy came over from Campbell County, the truant officer.

Randy Black: 00:20:46

Coach Jim Clayton: And I was standing out front with that cast on.

Randy Black: 00:20:48

Coach Jim Clayton: And he said, How come you're not in school, son?

Randy Black: 00:20:51

Coach Jim Clayton: Boy, my mom went outside.

Randy Black: 00:20:53

Coach Jim Clayton: She ran that sucker right off the driveway.

Randy Black: 00:20:56

Coach Jim Clayton: But so w when I was, you know, I'd grown a foot.

Randy Black: 00:21:00

Coach Jim Clayton: And I didn't have anything to do.

Randy Black: 00:21:04

Coach Jim Clayton: So I walked up the street.

Randy Black: 00:21:06

Coach Jim Clayton: A friend of mine had a basketball court up there.

Randy Black: 00:21:09

Coach Jim Clayton: And it was only six foot tall.

Randy Black: 00:21:11

Coach Jim Clayton: I was six foot tall.

Randy Black: 00:21:12

Coach Jim Clayton: The rim was the same height as me.

Randy Black: 00:21:15

Coach Jim Clayton: And I just stood there and shot that ball.

Randy Black: 00:21:18

Coach Jim Clayton: And didn't even know what I was doing.

Randy Black: 00:21:20

Coach Jim Clayton: I was teaching myself how to shoot.

Randy Black: 00:21:22

Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:21:23

Coach Jim Clayton: And I was not a good shooter.

Randy Black: 00:21:26

Coach Jim Clayton: I was not really a good basketball player.

Randy Black: 00:21:27

Coach Jim Clayton: I was okay, but I wasn't thinking.

Randy Black: 00:21:29

Coach Jim Clayton: And so I'd grown a foot, developed a jump shot, and I was going back to school.

Randy Black: 00:21:36

Coach Jim Clayton: They told me I could take that thing off now, put that little collar on, like you you if you get in a car wreck.

Randy Black: 00:21:41

Coach Jim Clayton: Right

Randy Black: 00:21:42

Coach Jim Clayton: I took that off.

Randy Black: 00:21:44

Coach Jim Clayton: I was back.

Randy Black: 00:21:46

Coach Jim Clayton: No limitations.

Randy Black: 00:21:47

Coach Jim Clayton: I could run, I could shoot, I could jump.

Randy Black: 00:21:50

Coach Jim Clayton: And so I wanted to go out for the basketball team at Kamak, eighth grader.

Randy Black: 00:21:53

Coach Jim Clayton: And the coach goes, man, I don't know, man.

Randy Black: 00:21:55

Coach Jim Clayton: You're just coming off a broken neck.

Randy Black: 00:21:57

Coach Jim Clayton: I don't know about all this.

Randy Black: 00:21:58

Coach Jim Clayton: I said, man, I'm good, coach.

Randy Black: 00:22:00

Coach Jim Clayton: Ain't nothing wrong.

Randy Black: 00:22:01

Coach Jim Clayton: I said, I've been cleared.

Randy Black: 00:22:02

Coach Jim Clayton: Let's go.

Randy Black: 00:22:03

Coach Jim Clayton: So I went out for the team.

Randy Black: 00:22:04

Coach Jim Clayton: I made the team

Randy Black: 00:22:06

Coach Jim Clayton: Well two ways better, me and Steve Moses.

Randy Black: 00:22:09

Coach Jim Clayton: I didn't get much playing time.

Randy Black: 00:22:11

Coach Jim Clayton: I didn't even care.

Randy Black: 00:22:12

Coach Jim Clayton: I might have only got five minutes the whole year

Randy Black: 00:22:15

Coach Jim Clayton: But I wasn't that good.

Randy Black: 00:22:16

Coach Jim Clayton: All them guys had made it.

Randy Black: 00:22:17

Coach Jim Clayton: We're just happy to be out of the team.

Randy Black: 00:22:18

Coach Jim Clayton: I was on the team and I made something that I look forward to.

Randy Black: 00:22:24

Coach Jim Clayton: Oh man, that's a whole nother story.

Randy Black: 00:22:27

Coach Jim Clayton: Okay, and these are things I figured out why I am the way I am.

Randy Black: 00:22:32

Coach Jim Clayton: These are all the lessons

Randy Black: 00:22:34

Coach Jim Clayton: that I went through that it took me fifteen, sixteen years to figure out what I was going through.

Randy Black: 00:22:39

Coach Jim Clayton: Now I see why how I I I see the journey.

Randy Black: 00:22:42

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, Brad was talking, Brad our last guy we were talking with, he talking about the journey.

Randy Black: 00:22:47

Coach Jim Clayton: You gotta see it.

Randy Black: 00:22:48

Coach Jim Clayton: You gotta visualize it.

Randy Black: 00:22:50

Coach Jim Clayton: And now it was all coming like clarity and clear.

Randy Black: 00:22:54

Coach Jim Clayton: And so then I took off.

Randy Black: 00:22:56

Coach Jim Clayton: And here's the thing: if that had not happened,

Randy Black: 00:23:03

Coach Jim Clayton: And I had not walked up to that little basket, I called it Rogers Arena, Mr.

Randy Black: 00:23:09

Coach Jim Clayton: and Mrs.

Randy Black: 00:23:09

Coach Jim Clayton: Rogers, we would not be sitting here right now having this conversation.

Randy Black: 00:23:14

Coach Jim Clayton: Because that's how my basketball career took off.

Randy Black: 00:23:17

Coach Jim Clayton: As a result of that almost life-ending situation.

Randy Black: 00:23:26

Coach Jim Clayton: That turned into the biggest break of my life.

Randy Black: 00:23:29

Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:23:29

Coach Jim Clayton: And sent me down the path that I'm on right now

Randy Black: 00:23:34

Coach Jim Clayton: And a lot of people don't know that story because I've never really it's been so long ago.

Randy Black: 00:23:38

Right.

Randy Black: 00:23:39

That now I've known you for you know 30 years and I knew that it happened, but I didn't know the details of everything.

Randy Black: 00:23:47

So like this is new like this is a new thing for me and I'm you know flabbergasted with how bad the situation really was.

Randy Black: 00:23:54

Coach Jim Clayton: Oh it was bad.

Randy Black: 00:23:55

Coach Jim Clayton: It was real bad.

Randy Black: 00:23:56

Coach Jim Clayton: It was about as bad as you can get without going over the end.

Randy Black: 00:24:01

Coach Jim Clayton: Over over the edge right there.

Randy Black: 00:24:03

Coach Jim Clayton: And so, you know, like I said, you know, we're talking about resilience.

Randy Black: 00:24:07

Coach Jim Clayton: I didn't even know what that word was.

Randy Black: 00:24:10

Coach Jim Clayton: Right.

Randy Black: 00:24:10

Coach Jim Clayton: At the time.

Randy Black: 00:24:11

Coach Jim Clayton: But I was doing it.

Randy Black: 00:24:12

Yes.

Randy Black: 00:24:13

Coach Jim Clayton: I was in full mode Brazil.

Randy Black: 00:24:17

Coach Jim Clayton: I was bouncing back.

Randy Black: 00:24:19

Coach Jim Clayton: Had no idea why, who, what, when, where.

Randy Black: 00:24:23

Coach Jim Clayton: I was just doing it.

Randy Black: 00:24:25

Coach Jim Clayton: Because I really I didn't have the other choice.

Randy Black: 00:24:27

Coach Jim Clayton: Right

Randy Black: 00:24:28

Coach Jim Clayton: And, you know, I've always said things happen for reasons.

Randy Black: 00:24:31

Coach Jim Clayton: But there's better ways to learn how to shoot a basketball than break your neck and go through what I went through.

Randy Black: 00:24:36

Coach Jim Clayton: Right.

Randy Black: 00:24:37

Coach Jim Clayton: I mean I teach it daily and I I wouldn't approach anybody.

Randy Black: 00:24:40

Coach Jim Clayton: But you know, I look at things now, man, my head was still, focus was where because I couldn't move my neck 'cause it was in cast

Randy Black: 00:24:48

Coach Jim Clayton: My whole body had to step straight, couldn't turn my shoulders, couldn't do all the things that I coach players now on the mistakes because, man, I was in straight body cast mode.

Randy Black: 00:24:59

Coach Jim Clayton: And, you know, I look back at that stuff now and I go, man.

Randy Black: 00:25:03

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, I can't believe I did that, but what other choice did I have?

Randy Black: 00:25:06

Coach Jim Clayton: I wasn't gonna sit around feel sorry for myself.

Randy Black: 00:25:08

Coach Jim Clayton: And I was the kind of guy who don't sit around anyway, just like I am today.

Randy Black: 00:25:11

Coach Jim Clayton: Had to go do something

Randy Black: 00:25:13

Coach Jim Clayton: So I just walked up the street and I taught myself how to do something that I turned into a profession.

Randy Black: 00:25:24

Coach Jim Clayton: We don't know these lessons.

Randy Black: 00:25:26

Coach Jim Clayton: See, these lessons, you know, they're just position us to grow in the direction that God wants us to go.

Randy Black: 00:25:35

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, so I I just know, I know 100%, no questions asked, that had that not happened on that day,

Randy Black: 00:25:45

Coach Jim Clayton: My life would have been turned out totally different.

Randy Black: 00:25:48

Coach Jim Clayton: Don't know what that would be.

Randy Black: 00:25:49

Coach Jim Clayton: Don't even even think about it.

Randy Black: 00:25:51

Coach Jim Clayton: Because I've had a great life and I've gotten to do everything that I wanted to do.

Randy Black: 00:25:56

Coach Jim Clayton: way m way more than I ever thought I would in in different levels that I never thought I would ever achieve.

Randy Black: 00:26:04

Coach Jim Clayton: You know what I mean?

Randy Black: 00:26:05

Coach Jim Clayton: So, you know, I I didn't know I was I didn't want to sell myself short.

Randy Black: 00:26:10

Coach Jim Clayton: But I just didn't know.

Randy Black: 00:26:11

Coach Jim Clayton: And all these things started lining up.

Randy Black: 00:26:14

Coach Jim Clayton: Okay, I know it's the power of God.

Randy Black: 00:26:17

Coach Jim Clayton: Because things don't like that don't line up like that

Randy Black: 00:26:19

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, and there was people in the hospital with me that some of them were paralyzed from the waist down, some from the neck down, some different parts.

Randy Black: 00:26:29

Coach Jim Clayton: That had obviously they had a broken something in their spine, but when I added you added all those different people up, none of them

Randy Black: 00:26:40

Coach Jim Clayton: Added up to severity of mind.

Randy Black: 00:26:42

Coach Jim Clayton: And here I was walking down the hallway.

Randy Black: 00:26:46

Coach Jim Clayton: And I go, how can that happen?

Randy Black: 00:26:49

Coach Jim Clayton: Well, I know now

Randy Black: 00:26:51

Coach Jim Clayton: I know exact why that happened.

Randy Black: 00:26:55

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, and that's why my faith is so strong

Randy Black: 00:26:59

Coach Jim Clayton: Because he could have took me out right there.

Randy Black: 00:27:01

Definitely.

Randy Black: 00:27:02

Coach Jim Clayton: He could have said, It's your time, son.

Randy Black: 00:27:04

Coach Jim Clayton: Mm-hmm.

Randy Black: 00:27:04

Coach Jim Clayton: We gotta go.

Randy Black: 00:27:06

But I mean I mean, thinking about it though, do you think maybe it was

Randy Black: 00:27:10

You know, maybe as a a wake-up call, like to change something.

Randy Black: 00:27:15

Something needed to change.

Randy Black: 00:27:16

Something needed to shift direction.

Randy Black: 00:27:17

Do you think that's that might possibly be what this is?

Randy Black: 00:27:19

Or what this was?

Randy Black: 00:27:21

Oh, no doubt.

Randy Black: 00:27:22

Coach Jim Clayton: But I didn't know what to wake up call what.

Randy Black: 00:27:24

Coach Jim Clayton: Mm-hmm.

Randy Black: 00:27:25

Coach Jim Clayton: But you see.

Randy Black: 00:27:26

But that that's the beauty of it though.

Randy Black: 00:27:27

Coach Jim Clayton: Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:27:27

Coach Jim Clayton: It's like, wow, man.

Randy Black: 00:27:30

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, I'm going in this direction.

Randy Black: 00:27:33

Coach Jim Clayton: Then all of a sudden, man, boom, I was going in that direction.

Randy Black: 00:27:36

Coach Jim Clayton: But they were all going up.

Randy Black: 00:27:37

Coach Jim Clayton: They weren't going lateral.

Randy Black: 00:27:38

Coach Jim Clayton: They were going they were going up.

Randy Black: 00:27:40

Coach Jim Clayton: So I was growing through all these experiences

Randy Black: 00:27:44

Coach Jim Clayton: And this wake-up call.

Randy Black: 00:27:46

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, that's why I call it the break.

Randy Black: 00:27:48

Coach Jim Clayton: The big break.

Randy Black: 00:27:48

Coach Jim Clayton: It wasn't the big break I got in life.

Randy Black: 00:27:50

Coach Jim Clayton: It was the big break that set me into life.

Randy Black: 00:27:53

Coach Jim Clayton: Okay?

Randy Black: 00:27:53

Coach Jim Clayton: That set me on my journey.

Randy Black: 00:27:55

Coach Jim Clayton: And I'm still on that journey.

Randy Black: 00:27:57

Coach Jim Clayton: Mm-hmm.

Randy Black: 00:27:58

Coach Jim Clayton: I'm still on that journey.

Randy Black: 00:28:00

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, and it I you know I I I don't think it ever stops.

Randy Black: 00:28:05

Coach Jim Clayton: Unfortunately for a lot of people it does.

Randy Black: 00:28:08

Coach Jim Clayton: They stop their journey.

Randy Black: 00:28:09

Coach Jim Clayton: They get complacent.

Randy Black: 00:28:10

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, and success is a complacency disease.

Randy Black: 00:28:14

Coach Jim Clayton: You're happy where you are because you feel like, oh yeah, but what about where you could have gone?

Randy Black: 00:28:19

Coach Jim Clayton: Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:28:19

Coach Jim Clayton: What about what you could have done?

Randy Black: 00:28:21

Humans like being comfortable.

Randy Black: 00:28:23

Coach Jim Clayton: Oh.

Randy Black: 00:28:24

Coach Jim Clayton: Oh yeah.

Randy Black: 00:28:25

Coach Jim Clayton: Like if you go out on my court right there, you look out, I got all these squares all over the court.

Randy Black: 00:28:29

Coach Jim Clayton: Those are called comfort zones.

Randy Black: 00:28:31

Coach Jim Clayton: I tell people, go step in that square.

Randy Black: 00:28:33

Coach Jim Clayton: Now look, not much room for growth in there, is there?

Randy Black: 00:28:37

Coach Jim Clayton: Nope.

Randy Black: 00:28:38

Coach Jim Clayton: So you're bound by that right there.

Randy Black: 00:28:41

Coach Jim Clayton: I said, well, where's your comfort zone, coach?

Randy Black: 00:28:43

Coach Jim Clayton: I said, look at the sideline and the baseline around this court.

Randy Black: 00:28:46

Coach Jim Clayton: That's how big my comfort zone is.

Randy Black: 00:28:48

Coach Jim Clayton: Woo!

Randy Black: 00:28:49

Coach Jim Clayton: Because hey, guess what?

Randy Black: 00:28:51

Coach Jim Clayton: I'm keeping growing.

Randy Black: 00:28:53

Coach Jim Clayton: Life's a long life learning is a lifelong skill.

Randy Black: 00:28:57

Coach Jim Clayton: And I'm going to soak up everything I can do.

Randy Black: 00:29:00

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, we today had an opportunity to talk with Dr.

Randy Black: 00:29:03

Coach Jim Clayton: Brad Miller.

Randy Black: 00:29:05

Coach Jim Clayton: I learned so much

Randy Black: 00:29:06

Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:29:07

Coach Jim Clayton: Oh my God.

Randy Black: 00:29:08

Coach Jim Clayton: I was like a sponge.

Randy Black: 00:29:10

Coach Jim Clayton: I soaked up everything that God said, 'cause he is speaking my language.

Randy Black: 00:29:14

Coach Jim Clayton: And everybody can do the same thing every day.

Randy Black: 00:29:16

Coach Jim Clayton: And that's the hopes of this.

Randy Black: 00:29:19

Coach Jim Clayton: You can soak up stuff, well, golly, if that guy can overcome that, my little hangnail over here, that ain't nothing

Randy Black: 00:29:26

Coach Jim Clayton: Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:29:26

Coach Jim Clayton: Well you're right, it isn't anything.

Randy Black: 00:29:27

Coach Jim Clayton: You just make that little hangnail a big thing.

Randy Black: 00:29:30

Coach Jim Clayton: And we don't need to do that.

Randy Black: 00:29:32

Coach Jim Clayton: And you know, that just set me on like a a new foundation.

Randy Black: 00:29:36

Coach Jim Clayton: Right.

Randy Black: 00:29:37

Coach Jim Clayton: And you can't have a small foundation and try to build a big house.

Randy Black: 00:29:42

Coach Jim Clayton: Nope.

Randy Black: 00:29:42

Coach Jim Clayton: It's just gonna crumble and fall down.

Randy Black: 00:29:44

I mean you can you can even go back to the the biblical story of

Randy Black: 00:29:48

The man who builds his house upon the rock and the one who builds his house upon the sand and what happens?

Randy Black: 00:29:53

The one on the sand collapses because it doesn't have the solid foundation.

Randy Black: 00:29:56

Coach Jim Clayton: And you gotta have that foundation.

Randy Black: 00:29:58

Coach Jim Clayton: Everybody doesn't want the foundation.

Randy Black: 00:29:59

Coach Jim Clayton: They don't want to build the foundation.

Randy Black: 00:30:01

Coach Jim Clayton: And I know this for a fact.

Randy Black: 00:30:03

Coach Jim Clayton: I've never seen anybody show up at a house with a roof before the built house was built.

Randy Black: 00:30:08

Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:30:09

Coach Jim Clayton: Where's the roof?

Randy Black: 00:30:10

Coach Jim Clayton: I got a roof here.

Randy Black: 00:30:11

Coach Jim Clayton: Where's it going to?

Randy Black: 00:30:11

Coach Jim Clayton: I don't see a house.

Randy Black: 00:30:13

Coach Jim Clayton: You just don't see that.

Randy Black: 00:30:14

Coach Jim Clayton: So you gotta build that.

Randy Black: 00:30:16

Coach Jim Clayton: And it takes what?

Randy Black: 00:30:18

Coach Jim Clayton: It ain't gonna happen overnight.

Randy Black: 00:30:21

Coach Jim Clayton: Nothing great happens overnight.

Randy Black: 00:30:22

Coach Jim Clayton: I've said that once, I'll say it a billion times.

Randy Black: 00:30:25

Coach Jim Clayton: And so, you know, I look at this stuff and I look how it is it's shaped my life

Randy Black: 00:30:31

Coach Jim Clayton: you know, uh on and off the court.

Randy Black: 00:30:33

Coach Jim Clayton: Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:30:34

Coach Jim Clayton: See, on and off the court.

Randy Black: 00:30:37

Coach Jim Clayton: And, you know, I look back and I go, man, what you know, what has really motivated me to start things?

Randy Black: 00:30:45

Coach Jim Clayton: And you know, it wasn't really the accident that did that.

Randy Black: 00:30:49

Coach Jim Clayton: I take it back to elementary school.

Randy Black: 00:30:52

Coach Jim Clayton: And in elementary school, the coolest thing you could become

Randy Black: 00:30:57

Coach Jim Clayton: was a patrol.

Randy Black: 00:30:59

Oh yeah.

Randy Black: 00:31:00

Coach Jim Clayton: And you had a badge.

Randy Black: 00:31:01

Yep.

Randy Black: 00:31:02

Coach Jim Clayton: And you had a thing that you wore that you put the badge on.

Randy Black: 00:31:06

Coach Jim Clayton: And you had a a bamboo stick with a flag on it.

Randy Black: 00:31:10

Coach Jim Clayton: And when it rained you gotta put those yellow big things on and go out in the water.

Randy Black: 00:31:14

Yep.

Randy Black: 00:31:15

Coach Jim Clayton: I was not a patrol.

Randy Black: 00:31:17

I was not a patrol.

Randy Black: 00:31:18

Coach Jim Clayton: Well, my sister was.

Randy Black: 00:31:20

Coach Jim Clayton: Mm-hmm.

Randy Black: 00:31:21

Coach Jim Clayton: I didn't even know what it was.

Randy Black: 00:31:23

Coach Jim Clayton: And she was a patrol.

Randy Black: 00:31:24

Coach Jim Clayton: She brought that stuff home.

Randy Black: 00:31:26

Coach Jim Clayton: And I got kind of connected to that bass.

Randy Black: 00:31:29

Coach Jim Clayton: And I'd take she'd wrap it up a certain way.

Randy Black: 00:31:32

Coach Jim Clayton: And I take it apart, put it on.

Randy Black: 00:31:35

Coach Jim Clayton: Drove her nuts.

Randy Black: 00:31:37

Coach Jim Clayton: I said, man, I'm gonna be a patrol one day.

Randy Black: 00:31:41

Coach Jim Clayton: And then there was a red patrol.

Randy Black: 00:31:43

Coach Jim Clayton: That was a lieutenant.

Randy Black: 00:31:44

Coach Jim Clayton: And the captain was blue.

Randy Black: 00:31:46

Coach Jim Clayton: Mm-hmm.

Randy Black: 00:31:47

Coach Jim Clayton: And I swatched him.

Randy Black: 00:31:48

Coach Jim Clayton: And I said, how do you got to be a patrol?

Randy Black: 00:31:50

Coach Jim Clayton: They got to get picked.

Randy Black: 00:31:52

Coach Jim Clayton: So I took sheets and cut them up in strips and I made me that little thing.

Randy Black: 00:31:58

Coach Jim Clayton: Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:31:58

Coach Jim Clayton: And I made me a bass.

Randy Black: 00:32:00

Coach Jim Clayton: And I went out and got a stick and I made a flag and I practiced being a patrol.

Randy Black: 00:32:07

Coach Jim Clayton: Well, guess what?

Randy Black: 00:32:09

Coach Jim Clayton: I got the word.

Randy Black: 00:32:11

Coach Jim Clayton: I got to be a patrol.

Randy Black: 00:32:12

Coach Jim Clayton: I got my badge.

Randy Black: 00:32:13

Coach Jim Clayton: I got my thing.

Randy Black: 00:32:15

Coach Jim Clayton: And that's what set me forward on looking at stuff and then having a goal to go get it.

Randy Black: 00:32:23

Coach Jim Clayton: So the next thing I wanted was where I got to make that team.

Randy Black: 00:32:27

Coach Jim Clayton: Because Kamak had the coolest uniforms ever.

Randy Black: 00:32:31

Coach Jim Clayton: There wasn't any way to buy that uniform.

Randy Black: 00:32:34

Coach Jim Clayton: You had to earn it.

Randy Black: 00:32:36

Coach Jim Clayton: There was no mall to go get the uniform.

Randy Black: 00:32:39

Coach Jim Clayton: Well, I remember when I made that team in eighth grade.

Randy Black: 00:32:41

Coach Jim Clayton: I didn't care about the mess.

Randy Black: 00:32:43

Coach Jim Clayton: By gosh, I got that uniform.

Randy Black: 00:32:46

Coach Jim Clayton: And I remember running home, running in my bedroom, putting that thing on, staring in that mirror, going, yes, yes

Randy Black: 00:32:54

Coach Jim Clayton: You know?

Randy Black: 00:32:55

Coach Jim Clayton: But I know I wasn't gonna play much.

Randy Black: 00:32:57

Coach Jim Clayton: But the next year those old guys graduated and I got that uniform again with a different number.

Randy Black: 00:33:02

Coach Jim Clayton: Well you know what

Randy Black: 00:33:03

Coach Jim Clayton: Then I started thinking, well, what about the next level?

Randy Black: 00:33:06

Coach Jim Clayton: Well that was Pony Express.

Randy Black: 00:33:08

Coach Jim Clayton: I did the same thing with my Express services.

Randy Black: 00:33:11

Coach Jim Clayton: I made them

Randy Black: 00:33:12

Coach Jim Clayton: Preparing for being there.

Randy Black: 00:33:14

Coach Jim Clayton: Now people might think you're crazy, laugh at this.

Randy Black: 00:33:18

Coach Jim Clayton: You can say what you want.

Randy Black: 00:33:19

Coach Jim Clayton: But guess what

Randy Black: 00:33:20

Coach Jim Clayton: I still got those jerseys framed at my house in my man cave.

Randy Black: 00:33:25

Coach Jim Clayton: And I look at that and I look at that jersey and I think what I went through to get to that.

Randy Black: 00:33:30

Coach Jim Clayton: And that jersey and that jersey.

Randy Black: 00:33:32

Coach Jim Clayton: I got my college jersey.

Randy Black: 00:33:33

Coach Jim Clayton: I got all those things.

Randy Black: 00:33:35

Coach Jim Clayton: And they don't mean much to anybody else.

Randy Black: 00:33:38

Coach Jim Clayton: I got my patrol badge.

Randy Black: 00:33:41

Coach Jim Clayton: I still have that in my drawer.

Randy Black: 00:33:43

Coach Jim Clayton: Nice.

Randy Black: 00:33:44

Coach Jim Clayton: I mean, I've got all that stuff.

Randy Black: 00:33:45

Coach Jim Clayton: I saved it because those are life-changing moments.

Randy Black: 00:33:51

Coach Jim Clayton: None of that would have happened.

Randy Black: 00:33:53

Coach Jim Clayton: Well the patrol would have.

Randy Black: 00:33:55

Coach Jim Clayton: But everything else down the way, if it wasn't for that break.

Randy Black: 00:33:58

Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:33:59

Coach Jim Clayton: You see, but the patrol got me into a leadership mode of going and being doing able to do something, have a skill, crossing that thing.

Randy Black: 00:34:08

Coach Jim Clayton: How important was that that that person got from one side to the other?

Randy Black: 00:34:13

Coach Jim Clayton: Well, it's how important to that is that the parent?

Randy Black: 00:34:17

Coach Jim Clayton: A parent that thinks about losing their child.

Randy Black: 00:34:19

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, we've seen that disaster that's happened the last that just makes me cry every day when I see that

Randy Black: 00:34:26

Coach Jim Clayton: And it gives me cold chills.

Randy Black: 00:34:28

Coach Jim Clayton: So I can't, I mean, imagine if they got hit by a car.

Randy Black: 00:34:32

Coach Jim Clayton: Whatever means that it was they were taken away from you at an early age

Randy Black: 00:34:38

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, I look back at that, so I had a big responsibility.

Randy Black: 00:34:42

Coach Jim Clayton: Okay, and I still use that big responsibility

Randy Black: 00:34:46

to share what we're sharing.

Randy Black: 00:34:47

So so have you have you ever had the opportunity to to to to share this story with with athletes you've worked with or students you've worked with who've

Randy Black: 00:34:57

Who've, you know, maybe come to you and said, Coach, I've I've kind of got some tough stuff going on here and I don't know what to do.

Randy Black: 00:35:04

Have you ever had that opportunity?

Randy Black: 00:35:06

Coach Jim Clayton: Well, I've shared it with a few people, but not a lot of people.

Randy Black: 00:35:10

Coach Jim Clayton: Okay.

Randy Black: 00:35:11

Coach Jim Clayton: I I I don't know no particular reason why I didn't.

Randy Black: 00:35:14

Coach Jim Clayton: I just kept moving on.

Randy Black: 00:35:16

Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:35:16

Coach Jim Clayton: And I said, well, that's in the past, but that was a life-changing moment for me.

Randy Black: 00:35:20

Coach Jim Clayton: And and everybody has life-changing moments.

Randy Black: 00:35:24

Coach Jim Clayton: They all have them.

Randy Black: 00:35:25

Coach Jim Clayton: We don't know when you're going to have them.

Randy Black: 00:35:26

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, what's going to be that big impactful moment?

Randy Black: 00:35:30

Coach Jim Clayton: I don't know for you.

Randy Black: 00:35:32

Coach Jim Clayton: I know what it was for me, but you know what the crazy part is, it still's happening.

Randy Black: 00:35:37

Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:35:38

Coach Jim Clayton: I'm having impactful moments now, like the journey my mom with cancer.

Randy Black: 00:35:42

Coach Jim Clayton: Yeah

Randy Black: 00:35:44

Coach Jim Clayton: There are certain things that have happened in my life that are unbelievably fantastic that I would have never ever had.

Randy Black: 00:35:54

Coach Jim Clayton: If it wasn't for going through this cancer journey.

Randy Black: 00:35:57

Coach Jim Clayton: So I look at it and go, man, that's I'm growing.

Randy Black: 00:36:01

Coach Jim Clayton: I'm still growing.

Randy Black: 00:36:03

Coach Jim Clayton: I'm getting better.

Randy Black: 00:36:04

Coach Jim Clayton: I'm learning.

Randy Black: 00:36:05

Coach Jim Clayton: I'm sharing.

Randy Black: 00:36:06

Coach Jim Clayton: I'm expanding.

Randy Black: 00:36:08

Coach Jim Clayton: My horizon from just being a dumb jock, you know, to be an athlete to all the things I've encountered now.

Randy Black: 00:36:17

Coach Jim Clayton: And

Randy Black: 00:36:18

Coach Jim Clayton: It's like we talked about that ball one day when you put it down, it'll stop bouncing.

Randy Black: 00:36:25

Coach Jim Clayton: But I always say get in the game, stay in the game.

Randy Black: 00:36:28

Coach Jim Clayton: The ball don't bounce for me anymore like it did up and down the court, shooting jump shots, making moves, doing all those things I did when I was playing.

Randy Black: 00:36:36

Coach Jim Clayton: But it's steered me in another direction where I'm still in the game.

Randy Black: 00:36:41

Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:36:42

Coach Jim Clayton: Just in a different version.

Randy Black: 00:36:44

Coach Jim Clayton: Just in a different different different application.

Randy Black: 00:36:47

Well, I know, you know, we can look at, you know, you know, the journeys you go through.

Randy Black: 00:36:51

Like in

Randy Black: 00:36:51

This right here, what we're doing, sitting here each week and recording and and sharing these ideas and thoughts, this is another journey you're on.

Randy Black: 00:36:59

It's another way for

Randy Black: 00:37:01

for you, based on everything that's happened in your life and the things you've learned and the the things you've experienced to get that out there and share it.

Randy Black: 00:37:09

Oh, absolutely.

Randy Black: 00:37:10

Coach Jim Clayton: And they look at that and they go.

Randy Black: 00:37:12

Coach Jim Clayton: Gosh, now that's pretty big, coach.

Randy Black: 00:37:15

Coach Jim Clayton: Maybe this thing I'm going through ain't so big.

Randy Black: 00:37:18

Coach Jim Clayton: No, it doesn't it's not the the bigness of it, okay, how big it is.

Randy Black: 00:37:24

Coach Jim Clayton: It's that

Randy Black: 00:37:25

Coach Jim Clayton: that you attack it and you figure out how to make it better.

Randy Black: 00:37:29

Coach Jim Clayton: So even though this might be, you might think that's what your problem is is small compared to what I went through, and your mind is big.

Randy Black: 00:37:38

Coach Jim Clayton: And you gotta fix it.

Randy Black: 00:37:40

Coach Jim Clayton: Well it's gonna get bigger.

Randy Black: 00:37:43

Coach Jim Clayton: And you know those are the things

Randy Black: 00:37:46

Coach Jim Clayton: that I use, you know, as this right here.

Randy Black: 00:37:49

Coach Jim Clayton: I use this for me.

Randy Black: 00:37:50

Coach Jim Clayton: I say, man, look how far you've come.

Randy Black: 00:37:52

Coach Jim Clayton: What would happen if you gave up

Randy Black: 00:37:55

Coach Jim Clayton: I don't even want to go down that road.

Randy Black: 00:37:56

Coach Jim Clayton: Right.

Randy Black: 00:37:57

Coach Jim Clayton: Because I'm not going, I'm not about regression.

Randy Black: 00:37:59

Coach Jim Clayton: I'm about progress.

Randy Black: 00:38:01

Coach Jim Clayton: And so, you know, it it it's you just got to go from recovery of something to how's it going to impact your life

Randy Black: 00:38:08

Coach Jim Clayton: And so I look at it, you know, like you said, it's saying, man, I'm back in the game.

Randy Black: 00:38:16

Coach Jim Clayton: And what's so funny is, sometimes these things throw your life totally upside down.

Randy Black: 00:38:20

Coach Jim Clayton: And here's what I mean.

Randy Black: 00:38:23

Coach Jim Clayton: Basketball was not my sport.

Randy Black: 00:38:26

Coach Jim Clayton: I was a baseball player.

Randy Black: 00:38:28

Coach Jim Clayton: I was a good pitcher.

Randy Black: 00:38:30

Coach Jim Clayton: But then what happened was

Randy Black: 00:38:33

Coach Jim Clayton: I couldn't turn my neck.

Randy Black: 00:38:35

Coach Jim Clayton: My neck will only turn certain so far.

Randy Black: 00:38:38

Coach Jim Clayton: Right.

Randy Black: 00:38:39

Coach Jim Clayton: And I couldn't figure out why I was throwing the ball every which way but loose, but down the

Randy Black: 00:38:44

Coach Jim Clayton: a strike.

Randy Black: 00:38:45

Coach Jim Clayton: I was hitting people.

Randy Black: 00:38:46

Coach Jim Clayton: I was I was going, oh my God, I'm gonna kill somebody.

Randy Black: 00:38:50

Coach Jim Clayton: And you know what funny thing was, I was twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen.

Randy Black: 00:38:54

Coach Jim Clayton: I didn't pitch in high school

Randy Black: 00:38:56

Coach Jim Clayton: And and one time I pitched a a pitch down at Old St.

Randy Black: 00:38:59

Coach Jim Clayton: Cloud's Commons.

Randy Black: 00:39:00

Right.

Randy Black: 00:39:01

Coach Jim Clayton: I threw the ball literally out of the ballpark.

Randy Black: 00:39:04

Coach Jim Clayton: Oh my gosh.

Randy Black: 00:39:05

Coach Jim Clayton: It went over the pi the batter's head

Randy Black: 00:39:08

Coach Jim Clayton: And in the back of back there they had a screen.

Randy Black: 00:39:10

Coach Jim Clayton: Yep.

Randy Black: 00:39:11

Coach Jim Clayton: And it shot up the screen over the screen on the first pitch.

Randy Black: 00:39:17

Coach Jim Clayton: Wow.

Randy Black: 00:39:18

Coach Jim Clayton: And I go, oh, this is not good.

Randy Black: 00:39:21

Coach Jim Clayton: Mm-hmm.

Randy Black: 00:39:21

Coach Jim Clayton: Well the funny thing, I'm thinking, coach, take me up.

Randy Black: 00:39:24

Coach Jim Clayton: He looked at me like this.

Randy Black: 00:39:26

Coach Jim Clayton: I'm thinking, okay

Randy Black: 00:39:28

Coach Jim Clayton: I finished I pitched that game.

Randy Black: 00:39:30

Coach Jim Clayton: And I pitched a no-hitter.

Randy Black: 00:39:32

Wow.

Randy Black: 00:39:33

Coach Jim Clayton: Now that was pure, had to be pure luck.

Randy Black: 00:39:36

Yeah

Randy Black: 00:39:37

Coach Jim Clayton: Okay.

Randy Black: 00:39:37

Coach Jim Clayton: But I didn't realize until about four or five years ago why I couldn't do pitch anymore.

Randy Black: 00:39:42

Coach Jim Clayton: Mm-hmm.

Randy Black: 00:39:43

Coach Jim Clayton: I'm thinking, well that's a long time between being a high school so so what happened was and I was listening to who

Randy Black: 00:39:50

Coach Jim Clayton: One of the great quarterbacks of all time, Peyton Banning.

Randy Black: 00:39:53

Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:39:53

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, he had neck surgery.

Randy Black: 00:39:54

Right.

Randy Black: 00:39:55

Coach Jim Clayton: And after his neck surgery, his bone was not the same.

Randy Black: 00:39:57

Coach Jim Clayton: It was going high, low.

Randy Black: 00:39:59

Coach Jim Clayton: And he goes, I just couldn't turn, I can't get that range of motion in my neck that it didn't.

Randy Black: 00:40:03

Coach Jim Clayton: I go, the light went off.

Randy Black: 00:40:05

Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:40:07

Coach Jim Clayton: Boy, I wish I'd have known that a long time ago

Randy Black: 00:40:10

Coach Jim Clayton: But it doesn't matter when you know it.

Randy Black: 00:40:13

Coach Jim Clayton: It just matters that you know.

Randy Black: 00:40:16

Coach Jim Clayton: And you know, I it's just I look back at this stuff and I just go, it amazes me how this

Randy Black: 00:40:24

Coach Jim Clayton: Caused this, present a dis fact.

Randy Black: 00:40:27

Coach Jim Clayton: So everything that I was good at, now I became not good at.

Randy Black: 00:40:32

Coach Jim Clayton: Everything I was not good at

Randy Black: 00:40:34

Coach Jim Clayton: It flipped.

Randy Black: 00:40:36

Coach Jim Clayton: And I'm going, who could predict that?

Randy Black: 00:40:38

Coach Jim Clayton: Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:40:39

Coach Jim Clayton: Who could have predicted that was ever going to happen?

Randy Black: 00:40:42

Coach Jim Clayton: Only one person.

Randy Black: 00:40:45

Man upstairs.

Randy Black: 00:40:46

Coach Jim Clayton: My head coach.

Randy Black: 00:40:47

Coach Jim Clayton: The coach of all coaches.

Randy Black: 00:40:49

Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:40:49

Coach Jim Clayton: The master coach.

Randy Black: 00:40:51

Mm-hmm.

Randy Black: 00:40:51

You know, I mean he He he has a path for all of us.

Randy Black: 00:40:55

Oh, he does.

Randy Black: 00:40:56

You know

Randy Black: 00:40:56

We we ha we we may not understand it.

Randy Black: 00:40:59

And we might not like it.

Randy Black: 00:41:00

And we may not like it.

Randy Black: 00:41:02

But eventually, eventually that path is going to go right where it's supposed to take us.

Randy Black: 00:41:06

Coach Jim Clayton: But you got to believe.

Randy Black: 00:41:07

Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:41:07

Coach Jim Clayton: And we we're not on his time.

Randy Black: 00:41:11

Coach Jim Clayton: See, that's why years and years down the road, it comes to truth.

Randy Black: 00:41:16

Coach Jim Clayton: Well boy, why wish that would have come to truth a year, a few years back?

Randy Black: 00:41:20

Coach Jim Clayton: That ain't about you.

Randy Black: 00:41:21

Coach Jim Clayton: Right.

Randy Black: 00:41:22

Do you understand?

Randy Black: 00:41:24

You have to be patient for the time to unfold.

Randy Black: 00:41:27

Coach Jim Clayton: We already talked about that.

Randy Black: 00:41:28

Yes.

Randy Black: 00:41:28

Coach Jim Clayton: Patience.

Randy Black: 00:41:29

Coach Jim Clayton: One of my worst things.

Randy Black: 00:41:31

Coach Jim Clayton: But I ask God for that every day.

Randy Black: 00:41:33

Coach Jim Clayton: Give me patience

Randy Black: 00:41:35

Coach Jim Clayton: Please give me places.

Randy Black: 00:41:36

Coach Jim Clayton: Be be the goldfish.

Randy Black: 00:41:39

Coach Jim Clayton: Breathe.

Randy Black: 00:41:40

Coach Jim Clayton: Relax.

Randy Black: 00:41:41

Coach Jim Clayton: Chill out.

Randy Black: 00:41:42

Coach Jim Clayton: And so I have a place at my house.

Randy Black: 00:41:45

Coach Jim Clayton: that I've designated as my patience zone.

Randy Black: 00:41:48

Mm-hmm.

Randy Black: 00:41:48

Coach Jim Clayton: And when I need patience or I need to just chill, guess what I do?

Randy Black: 00:41:52

Coach Jim Clayton: I go right to that place.

Randy Black: 00:41:54

Coach Jim Clayton: And it's just like

Randy Black: 00:41:58

Coach Jim Clayton: Wow.

Randy Black: 00:41:59

Coach Jim Clayton: I go, okay, I'm good.

Randy Black: 00:42:01

Coach Jim Clayton: I'm back.

Randy Black: 00:42:02

Coach Jim Clayton: Okay.

Randy Black: 00:42:03

Coach Jim Clayton: But that's that's my story, man.

Randy Black: 00:42:05

So I've got I got two questions about this.

Randy Black: 00:42:07

Okay.

Randy Black: 00:42:09

And they're reflections.

Randy Black: 00:42:10

It's not something about what happened.

Randy Black: 00:42:11

There's ways to reflect on things.

Randy Black: 00:42:13

So the first thing is, if you could go back in time and talk to the teenage gym.

Randy Black: 00:42:19

about what's happened here.

Randy Black: 00:42:20

Talk to yourself about the events.

Randy Black: 00:42:24

What would you say?

Randy Black: 00:42:25

Coach Jim Clayton: I'd say, well, things aren't going your way at the current moment.

Randy Black: 00:42:32

Coach Jim Clayton: So you really don't have a choice.

Randy Black: 00:42:34

Coach Jim Clayton: What are you gonna do about it?

Randy Black: 00:42:36

Coach Jim Clayton: What you gonna do about it?

Randy Black: 00:42:38

Coach Jim Clayton: Mm-hmm.

Randy Black: 00:42:39

Coach Jim Clayton: You gonna whine?

Randy Black: 00:42:41

Coach Jim Clayton: Complain, feel sorry for yourself, or are you gonna kick it into new gear and figure out a way you're gonna beat this

Randy Black: 00:42:51

Coach Jim Clayton: Well what's gonna happen?

Randy Black: 00:42:52

Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:42:52

Coach Jim Clayton: See, because you know, back in those days, we didn't know any of this stuff.

Randy Black: 00:42:59

Coach Jim Clayton: So when things happened to you that what, you know, made you mad, you'd fight.

Randy Black: 00:43:09

Coach Jim Clayton: That was our mentality.

Randy Black: 00:43:11

Coach Jim Clayton: That's not a good mentality.

Randy Black: 00:43:12

Coach Jim Clayton: By any way means importantly against it.

Randy Black: 00:43:15

Coach Jim Clayton: But, you know, I didn't have ways of coping with these things.

Randy Black: 00:43:19

Coach Jim Clayton: I didn't know ways of coping with.

Randy Black: 00:43:20

Coach Jim Clayton: They didn't teach this stuff in school.

Randy Black: 00:43:22

No.

Randy Black: 00:43:23

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, I've taught a lot of this in my class.

Randy Black: 00:43:26

Coach Jim Clayton: Hey, coach, you're teaching life lessons.

Randy Black: 00:43:29

Coach Jim Clayton: Well, yeah.

Randy Black: 00:43:31

Coach Jim Clayton: Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:43:32

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, that's what it's all about.

Randy Black: 00:43:34

Coach Jim Clayton: I mean, you know, I'm not worried about whether I can diagram a sentence right now.

Randy Black: 00:43:41

Coach Jim Clayton: But back in the day, that was an important thing.

Randy Black: 00:43:44

Coach Jim Clayton: You fucked if you didn't know how to do that.

Randy Black: 00:43:47

Coach Jim Clayton: But you look back at that and you just go, you know, uh I'm gonna fight

Randy Black: 00:43:53

Coach Jim Clayton: In a different way.

Randy Black: 00:43:55

Coach Jim Clayton: Not fisticuffs.

Randy Black: 00:43:57

Coach Jim Clayton: I'm gonna fight with all my heart.

Randy Black: 00:44:00

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, I'm gonna give it my best.

Randy Black: 00:44:02

Coach Jim Clayton: That's my attitude.

Randy Black: 00:44:03

Coach Jim Clayton: That's my effort

Randy Black: 00:44:04

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, and you can get through this.

Randy Black: 00:44:08

Coach Jim Clayton: You just gotta believe you can.

Randy Black: 00:44:10

Coach Jim Clayton: And those are the three things right there.

Randy Black: 00:44:12

Coach Jim Clayton: Attitude, effort, and belief.

Randy Black: 00:44:13

Coach Jim Clayton: Mm-hmm

Randy Black: 00:44:14

Coach Jim Clayton: That's what you try to change.

Randy Black: 00:44:17

Coach Jim Clayton: Kids today just don't really hear those three words except in a negative sense.

Randy Black: 00:44:21

Right.

Randy Black: 00:44:23

Coach Jim Clayton: Okay.

Randy Black: 00:44:24

Coach Jim Clayton: So that's what I would say to a young version of me.

Randy Black: 00:44:28

So what's one thing that you hope the people listening to this podcast today take away from your story?

Randy Black: 00:44:37

Coach Jim Clayton: That tough times don't la tough times happen, but they don't define you.

Randy Black: 00:44:42

Coach Jim Clayton: Mm-hmm.

Randy Black: 00:44:43

Coach Jim Clayton: Okay?

Randy Black: 00:44:44

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, it's like you got some

Randy Black: 00:44:45

Coach Jim Clayton: gentleman today said, you can't let cancer define you.

Randy Black: 00:44:48

Coach Jim Clayton: You can't let a setback define you.

Randy Black: 00:44:50

Coach Jim Clayton: You can't let a broken neck define you.

Randy Black: 00:44:53

Coach Jim Clayton: You can't let those things happen.

Randy Black: 00:44:54

Coach Jim Clayton: What are you going to do about it?

Randy Black: 00:44:56

Coach Jim Clayton: And how is that going to steer you in the right direction?

Randy Black: 00:44:58

Coach Jim Clayton: Because it will.

Randy Black: 00:45:00

Coach Jim Clayton: If you pay attention to the signs.

Randy Black: 00:45:02

Coach Jim Clayton: Yes.

Randy Black: 00:45:02

Coach Jim Clayton: See the signs along the way.

Randy Black: 00:45:05

Coach Jim Clayton: And sometimes we don't see the signs because we're going too fast.

Randy Black: 00:45:09

Coach Jim Clayton: And driver's ed, which I taught for a long time, that's called speed smear.

Randy Black: 00:45:13

Coach Jim Clayton: The faster to go, the less you can see on site.

Randy Black: 00:45:17

Coach Jim Clayton: And you know, it's that peripheral vision, the ability to look out and see side to side that helps you get a better vision of where you're going and what you're going to do.

Randy Black: 00:45:29

Coach Jim Clayton: And that's what I would say to people, man.

Randy Black: 00:45:31

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, that that's just I think that's huge.

Randy Black: 00:45:35

Coach Jim Clayton: And that's that's undertaught

Randy Black: 00:45:39

Coach Jim Clayton: And overdone by people today.

Randy Black: 00:45:41

Coach Jim Clayton: We don't teach it.

Randy Black: 00:45:42

Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:45:43

Coach Jim Clayton: We don't teach it.

Randy Black: 00:45:45

Coach Jim Clayton: We just expect it's gonna happen.

Randy Black: 00:45:47

Coach Jim Clayton: Well guess what?

Randy Black: 00:45:49

Coach Jim Clayton: It's not

Randy Black: 00:45:51

Coach Jim Clayton: It's not gonna show up.

Randy Black: 00:45:52

Coach Jim Clayton: Everything just didn't show up, doesn't show up.

Randy Black: 00:45:55

Coach Jim Clayton: It shows up for reasons.

Randy Black: 00:45:57

Coach Jim Clayton: And I call that preparation

Randy Black: 00:46:00

Coach Jim Clayton: Okay, and I always use the six P's of success that I learned from my coach in college.

Randy Black: 00:46:05

Coach Jim Clayton: I walked in one day and he goes, Coach, you know the six P's?

Randy Black: 00:46:08

Coach Jim Clayton: I said, No, I do not know the six Ps.

Randy Black: 00:46:11

Coach Jim Clayton: He says, repeat after me.

Randy Black: 00:46:14

Coach Jim Clayton: Didn't have any choice.

Randy Black: 00:46:15

Coach Jim Clayton: I said, prior, proper planning prevents poor performance.

Randy Black: 00:46:23

Coach Jim Clayton: Mm-hmm.

Randy Black: 00:46:24

Coach Jim Clayton: He said, could you say that fast?

Randy Black: 00:46:25

Coach Jim Clayton: Prior, proper planning, prevents poor performance.

Randy Black: 00:46:28

Coach Jim Clayton: Every day for 18 weeks of that semester.

Randy Black: 00:46:33

Coach Jim Clayton: I walk in, sit down, he'd look at me and go, point his finger.

Randy Black: 00:46:36

Coach Jim Clayton: I go, proper proper planning prevents poor performance.

Randy Black: 00:46:39

Yep.

Randy Black: 00:46:40

Coach Jim Clayton: So in other words, whatever you're ready for, that's what's going to show up.

Randy Black: 00:46:46

Coach Jim Clayton: Every day, every minute, every hour, for the rest of your life.

Randy Black: 00:46:53

Coach Jim Clayton: Nice.

Randy Black: 00:46:54

Coach Jim Clayton: That's the end of the story, as Paul Harving would say.

Randy Black: 00:46:59

So that means it's time for Jimmy's Wisdom of the Week.

Randy Black: 00:47:06

Cheesy Announcer Guy: Now it's time for Jimmy's Wisdom of the Week.

Randy Black: 00:47:09

Cheesy Announcer Guy: This is where Jimmy shares one of his famous Jimmy-isms to inspire the listener.

Randy Black: 00:47:16

Okay, so the Jimmyism for this week that you gave me was somewhat

Randy Black: 00:47:20

Someone else is happy with less than you have.

Randy Black: 00:47:25

What's that mean?

Randy Black: 00:47:26

Coach Jim Clayton: Ooh, that's a good one.

Randy Black: 00:47:27

Coach Jim Clayton: Because you know, we all get stuck on that me, me, me, me, and not we, we, we, we.

Randy Black: 00:47:31

Coach Jim Clayton: I said, think about this.

Randy Black: 00:47:33

Coach Jim Clayton: Mm-hmm.

Randy Black: 00:47:34

Coach Jim Clayton: You come into life with nothing.

Randy Black: 00:47:38

Right.

Randy Black: 00:47:39

Coach Jim Clayton: You go out of this life with nothing.

Randy Black: 00:47:43

Coach Jim Clayton: Nothing.

Randy Black: 00:47:43

Coach Jim Clayton: But you spend your entire life chasing.

Randy Black: 00:47:48

Coach Jim Clayton: The things that really don't mean the most.

Randy Black: 00:47:52

Coach Jim Clayton: How big a house you live in, how big a car you drive, what's the status quo?

Randy Black: 00:47:58

Coach Jim Clayton: I gotta keep up with the Joneses.

Randy Black: 00:48:02

Coach Jim Clayton: And when you look at that, you see, that's why people have this attitude.

Randy Black: 00:48:09

Coach Jim Clayton: You don't have to have everything in life to be happy

Randy Black: 00:48:13

Coach Jim Clayton: And here's a kicker to the deal right here.

Randy Black: 00:48:17

Coach Jim Clayton: If you're not happy, what else is?

Randy Black: 00:48:22

Coach Jim Clayton: Mm-hmm.

Randy Black: 00:48:24

Coach Jim Clayton: That's how it is.

Randy Black: 00:48:25

Coach Jim Clayton: If you're not happy, what else is it?

Randy Black: 00:48:27

Coach Jim Clayton: So you know what I encourage all of you guys?

Randy Black: 00:48:30

Coach Jim Clayton: Be happy.

Randy Black: 00:48:31

Coach Jim Clayton: Be happy for other people.

Randy Black: 00:48:33

Coach Jim Clayton: Which most people can't.

Randy Black: 00:48:34

It's tough for a lot of people.

Randy Black: 00:48:36

Coach Jim Clayton: And be happy with what you're doing, but understand you can always do better.

Randy Black: 00:48:41

Coach Jim Clayton: And you can always be happy.

Randy Black: 00:48:43

Coach Jim Clayton: Because it ain't what you got.

Randy Black: 00:48:46

Coach Jim Clayton: It's what you do with what you have.

Randy Black: 00:48:48

Coach Jim Clayton: It doesn't matter if you have a lot or less.

Randy Black: 00:48:51

Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:48:52

Coach Jim Clayton: Hey, love.

Randy Black: 00:48:54

Coach Jim Clayton: Love your neighbor, love yourself, be happy for other people, smile, pass it on, you know what I mean?

Randy Black: 00:49:02

Coach Jim Clayton: So when they see you,

Randy Black: 00:49:04

Coach Jim Clayton: When you lead a life of significance, here's how you know.

Randy Black: 00:49:12

Coach Jim Clayton: Not a great life, but a life of significance.

Randy Black: 00:49:17

Coach Jim Clayton: When you're gone, they'll always wish you were there.

Randy Black: 00:49:20

Coach Jim Clayton: Yep.

Randy Black: 00:49:21

Coach Jim Clayton: Because you were significant in their life.

Randy Black: 00:49:23

Coach Jim Clayton: Exactly.

Randy Black: 00:49:24

Coach Jim Clayton: Not just valuable in their life.

Randy Black: 00:49:25

Coach Jim Clayton: They miss you when you're not there.

Randy Black: 00:49:28

Coach Jim Clayton: Even though you're not there, they still miss you.

Randy Black: 00:49:30

Coach Jim Clayton: And they don't forget about you.

Randy Black: 00:49:33

Coach Jim Clayton: That's significance.

Randy Black: 00:49:35

Coach Jim Clayton: That's what I got to say about that.

Randy Black: 00:49:37

Randy Black: 00:49:38

Thank you, Jim, for being open and honest about this really defining moment in your life.

Randy Black: 00:49:44

You know, it's it's it's a story that it's not just about the physical recovery.

Randy Black: 00:49:49

It's about the strength that it took to keep going when everything says you can't.

Randy Black: 00:49:55

You know, if if

Randy Black: 00:49:57

If you're listening to this episode and you've had your own setbacks in your life that have that that you've been able to overcome adversity, been able to move forward, we would love

Randy Black: 00:50:08

To hear your story.

Randy Black: 00:50:09

100%.

Randy Black: 00:50:10

So head over to the website, leave us a comment on the post for this episode.

Randy Black: 00:50:14

The address for that is shooting itstraight podcast.

Randy Black: 00:50:17

com/slash zero zero four.

Randy Black: 00:50:20

Or there's a contact form on our website where you can send in an email.

Randy Black: 00:50:24

We would love to not only hear from you about what you've been able to overcome.

Randy Black: 00:50:29

But we'd also love it if you'd be willing to be on the show that we can feature you on here about it.

Randy Black: 00:50:34

Coach Jim Clayton: And don't be afraid to reflect on that.

Randy Black: 00:50:38

Coach Jim Clayton: Because people need stories are powerful.

Randy Black: 00:50:41

Coach Jim Clayton: And your story is very, very important.

Randy Black: 00:50:44

Coach Jim Clayton: So don't think it's not.

Randy Black: 00:50:45

Coach Jim Clayton: Yeah.

Randy Black: 00:50:46

Coach Jim Clayton: Okay?

Randy Black: 00:50:46

Coach Jim Clayton: Because it is.

Randy Black: 00:50:47

Coach Jim Clayton: And it's a teaching moment.

Randy Black: 00:50:48

Coach Jim Clayton: And what you're going to say in that story, I'll guarantee you.

Randy Black: 00:50:52

Coach Jim Clayton: I'm going to take something out of that and I'm going to pass it forward into somebody else that's going to help them.

Randy Black: 00:50:59

Coach Jim Clayton: When you're helping other people, again, it doesn't get any better, adding value to people.

Randy Black: 00:51:05

So on our next episode, we're going to be joined by Dr.

Randy Black: 00:51:07

Brad Miller.

Randy Black: 00:51:08

We had the chance to chat with him.

Randy Black: 00:51:11

He's the host of the Cancer and Comedy Podcast.

Randy Black: 00:51:14

And

Randy Black: 00:51:15

He's going to share how he found purpose and laughter in the middle of his own cancer journey.

Randy Black: 00:51:21

It's a conversation about mindset, about humor.

Randy Black: 00:51:25

And chasing or sorry, choosing to to rise up even when life brings you down to your knees and you're not going to miss, don't not want to miss that at all is a fantastic conversation.

Randy Black: 00:51:38

So we're going to finish up.

Randy Black: 00:51:39

We're going to call this one a done deal.

Randy Black: 00:51:42

I'm Randy Black.

Randy Black: 00:51:43

I'm Coach Jim Clayton.

Randy Black: 00:51:45

And we hope you have a great week and that you'll come back and join us for the next one.

Randy Black: 00:51:49

If you've enjoyed today's episode, make sure to subscribe, share it with someone who needs a boost, and follow us online at shootingitstraightpodcast.

Randy Black: 00:51:57

com.

Randy Black: 00:51:57

That's where you'll find every episode, updates, and more.

Randy Black: 00:52:01

Coach Jim Clayton: You miss a shot?

Randy Black: 00:52:02

Coach Jim Clayton: Get back on date.

Randy Black: 00:52:03

Coach Jim Clayton: You get not

Randy Black: 00:52:04

Coach Jim Clayton: Down, get back up.

Randy Black: 00:52:05

Coach Jim Clayton: Life's not about staying permanent.

Randy Black: 00:52:07

Coach Jim Clayton: It's about staying in the game.

Randy Black: 00:52:09

Coach Jim Clayton: And remember, keep shooting it straight.

Randy Black: 00:52:11

Coach Jim Clayton: Bam, son!

Randy Black: 00:52:13

Coach Jim Clayton: Woo!

The Big Break: How Adversity Shaped a Life

Transcript

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