Show Standard-Examine- r CD Golden Moments Terrace fees head up Ogden Utah v 1 D 4D Sunday July 12 1981 were treated to various recreational events and competitions at the hospital Saturday morning rsA 'Year of the Disabled' crowd told w Disabled persons perhaps as well as anyone know about adversity And some of them like Morgan High School football coach Jan Smith knowT that life’s hardstreets ships need not be dead-en- d a told Smith crowd gathered to Everyone observe the International Year of the Disabled Person is subject to adversity “There are financial drug abuse sickness and other problems too” said Smith who suffers from multiple sclerosis “And it’s how we confront adversity that makes the difference “Some look upon adversity as a dead-eninstead of an obstacle to be removed Nobody said life is fair and it isn’t” he said Smith was one of several speakers who addressed the 200 or so persons gathered at the Stewart Rehabilitation Center at McKay Dee Hospital to observe the International Year of the Disabled Person Other speakers Friday night were LaVell Edwards Brigham Young University football coach Curt Brinkman Boston wheelchair marathon winner and Gary Smith handicapped photographer and singer In addition a dozen or more disabled persons related some of their problems and described what they felt is needed for improvements On Saturday various recreational events and competitions were held at the hospital Edwards told the crowd that the “greatest tragedy is a disability of the mind and attitudes that prevent us from realizing our full potential” He said he has had several players who had great potential stand on the sidelines while smaller and lighter members were out on the field playing “The basic difference was one of attitudes” he said “The smaller players were well disciplined playing to as near their potential as possible” Curt Brinkman an Idaho native lost his legs 11 years ago at the age of 16 “Achieving doesn’t mean that you have to be the best at everything you do all the time but to do your best to achieve all the time” he said “It depends upon you regardless of your handicap if you really want to achieve I can do a little bit better each year and that makes me feel better about myself Take the attitude that if we do not reach our goal we sure can get close by doing our best” Curt set a new record in the Boston wheel-- ( chair marathon in 1980 Gary Smith photographer and singer recommended setting goals and striving to reach them no matter what the difficulties He said he and many disabled persons “want more than anything else to be an instrument of giving” A multiple sclerosis victim he spoke from a wheelchair His many activities were shown in d of the Disabled Person chairman earlier told a gathering of principally disabled persons and their friends that a disability need not always be a handicap “It may take you all day to plant a small garden or to clean a room or to fix a car In looking for a job you may need twice the d education of an person If this is the case do it” he urged “We as disabled individuals need to speak up able-bodie- This coach is slides Vance Anderson representing the Weber County Commission as the International Year ' £ A Stephen Dirks a two-hand- Staff er 2-- A “Coach of the Year” honors he has received since he was hired as Morgan High School’s head coach in 1972 Rather Jan Smith has captured the imagination of people across the nation because he’s a fighter While other coaches have done their battling on the gridiron Smith has been waging a second battle — a grim struggle with a formidable opponent who knows no rules and is almost never beaten: multiple sclerosis So far despite his will to triump over adversid ty the battle has been somewhat Over the past nine years Smith said “my one-side- abilities have constantly (physical) diminished” “Multiple sclerosis is a degenerative ed Dirks is a partner with Asset Exchange a local real estate in belt-tighteni- low-co- st dis- of the most there is no cure ease” he explained “It’s one frustrating diseases known ng “I’d get to a point where I would say ‘nothing could be worse than this’ — and sure enough a few months later something else would be gone” But Smith doesn’t waste much time feeling sorry for himself There’s plenty to do getting ready for the coming fall football campaign and working on his autobiography which must be completed by a January deadline The book will be titled “Fourth and Goal” and is being written with a collaborator Dr Olin Briggs of Southern Methodist University author with several Briggs a books will published spend time in Morgan on to the volume during August work And there will be a change in his teaching assignment at Morgan High this fall In addition to his coaching duties Smith will assume a new role as a counselor But football is still the focal point of his life well-establish- and Smith ed who does his coaching from an electric golf cart these days is now laying the groundwork for what he expects will be another winning season That tradition of winning seasons began back in 1972 when Smith graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in physical education and took the head coaching job at Morgan High He arrived in Morgan Valley full of aspirations that summer He had been successful as a varsity halfback at BYU and looked forward to a promising coaching career He didn’t expect to be blind-side- d by an MS like opponent “In July of 1972 I began to have recurring symptoms of blurred vision and a stiffening of my left leg” he said “Up to that time I had never had anything major wrong with me” Smith went to a neurologist and the diagnosis came in two or three days before his first high school football game as head coach “I was totally unfamiliar with what multiple sclerosis was” he related “and I had to dig out the old textbooks That’s when I found out there is no cure I thought it was the end of the world” Smith admits he “totally pushed the panic See page 2D column 1 t Two persons killed re-elect- ion vestment and marketing firm He City Council organized the 1977 was formerly associated with the Ogden City Charter Review ComBank of Utah as a business de- mission for the purpose of streamvelopment officer and later with St lining city government Benedict’s Hospital as developIn his announcement Dirks ment officer pointed out Ogden has just gone through a decade of great achievement citing specifically the fruiDuring the past eight years tion of the Ogden City Mall and its Dirks has directed and supported a vigorous campaign to bring in new promise of bringing about further of the downtown industry to the Weber Industrial revitalization same time he forecast at But the Park as well as establish the Ogden Industrial Park He has helped some economic within the structure of the city orwith the establishment of a housing program for the aged ganization “Ogden has just completed one and handicapped brought about the construction of the Hilton Hotel of its most difficult budgets in reconvention center worked for the cent years The number of employrestoration of Union Station and ees has been reduced as has the 25th Street and together with the total dollar amount y stand against MS football championships or the numerous he will seek ' 12-mi- le tion But it’s not because of the two state Stricken with multiple sclerosis Jan Smith of Morgan has coped with his adversity by refusing to be beaten into inactivity " ed best-know- r 'v'-- pass down court during a fast break is Jim Peterson Layton He participated in a wheelchair basketball marathon earlier in the day game after winning a Flicking But while the body may have deteriorated the mind is still alert It has matured — even developed a philosophic inclination And whether applying itself to engineering a touchdown against a high school opponent or working out a new perspective on life it still has that steel-edge- d will that drove him to athletic achievement During the past nine years the distinction between mind and body has become an important one for Jan Robert Smith His life has changed drastically He’s the first to admit it The changes have not been of his own choosing n At age 31 he has become one of the nahigh school football coaches in the announced Saturday he will seek a fifth term to the city’s top elective post in the fall election Saying Ogden in the past eight years has made great progress in its rebirth and renewal both in a physical sense and community spirit Dirks said he would like to continue this partnership with the citizens for the revitalization of the community Dirks was first elected mayor in 1973 becoming the youngest person ever to hold that post He was in four subsequent elections running unopposed in the 1975 and 1979 elections re-elect- r of water Ogden Mayor A Stephen Dirks ' - MORGAN — Once not so long ago his body was a finely tuned athletic machine that ground out yardage and scored touchdowns against tough collegiate foes Today those powerful legs that used to romp through opposing backfields are inert and nearly useless The hands that used to deftly cradle a leather football now struggle to steady a glass Dirks makes it official ' y By DON BAKER Standard-Examin- BoamStandard-Examine- ' s'- e goal-lina making Rod s f and show people that even though our bodies are disabled our minds are not We need to do we need to get involved and be more assertive in dealing with the world” Linda Greshan said there are “all kinds of things the mentally retarded can do They may be slow but they’re not stupid” Richard Digel said the disabled are able to learn a trade “We should have a chance at working” he said self-motivat- ed "--i- ' isobslity need not be a handicap H- - 1 1 x' Jan Kirkhan left a therapy aide at Mckay Dee Hospital supports paraplegic Debbie Jones in the therapy pool as disabled persons il 7D Branch library advances “The state-mandate- d property program will cause to taxes individual homeowners to increase because of a shifting of property tax burden from business property to residential property “The solution is not to stop revitalization but to encourage it so that the tax burden can be lifted from the homeowner Such uncompleted projects as 25th Street Redevelopment and the Ben Lomond Civic Center will encourage the development that will help all taxpayers of Ogden” Dirks said “I would appreciate the opportunity to continue as mayor to help bring about the completion of these projects” Dirks said in auto accidents A Layton woman and a Laramie Wyo youth were killed Saturday in separate accidents Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Joe Crispen said Gwendolyn Leigh Bass 29 was killed when she went to sleep while driving through Cat Canyon on US Highway 6 near Price Her husband Benny Bass 29 received only minor accident injuries in the one-ca- r In the other accident Todd Criss Lawless 13 of Laramie was killed in a two-ca- r collision at about 2:45 a m Saturday on SR 84 in Box Elder 24 miles from the Idaho border the Highway Patrol reported Bobby Lawless 12 was injured in that same accident and was in critical condition at McKay Dee Hospital The youths were two of five persons in a car parked in the emergency lane The car was hit by a truck carrying two Ogden men |