REAL LIFE

LIVING ON THE EDGE

By: Maria Kang

A tragic accident left Joe Tompkins paralyzed from the waist down. His condition nearly destoyed him, but he chose to overcome instead. Photo byJessica Tidswell/U.S. Ski Team

On January 23, 1988, after a basketball game and a night of partying, 19-year-old Joe Tompkins and his two friends got into a car with a drunk driver. The vehicle spun off road and crashed, leaving Joe’s best friend dead, another in a coma, the driver with a broken collar bone and Joe with a broken back that made him paralyzed.

That night changed the course of Joe’s life forever. As an avid sport lover and accomplished athlete in both baseball and basketball, the loss of his legs were traumatizing. For a couple years after his accident, he lived a daring existence where he escaped his disabilities by indulging in drugs and alcohol. The one factor that saved him was his young son, Donald, who was born only one month prior to the accident. In those revealing moments, Joe realized that he wanted to be a positive role model and show his son how to live with passion versus dying each day with anger.

After taking up wheelchair basketball, a friend suggested Joe try skiing. Even though Joe was a novice skier who had a handful of experiences, he surprisingly became a natural athlete. “Skiing feels like being a bald eagle. They soar across mountains and they’re absolutely free. That’s how I feel when I’m up there,” he said.

Supported by the Lion’s Disabled Ski Program, Joe started out on an Arroya sled (a.k.a. “sit-skiing”). It was uncomfortable at first, but Joe found that he took to the new technique like a “duck to water.” When the 1990 season started, Joe was on the mono-ski (a sit-down wide ski with two forward-facing bindings mounted side by side) and stayed with it for several succeeding years. In 1995 at 27 years old, he announced that his dream was to become a member of the U.S. Disabled Ski Team and compete in the 2002 Paralympics Winter Games in Salt Lake City. From that point, his first supporter, the Juneau Lions Club, also became his first sponsor and sent him to Colorado for specialized training in using the mono-ski.

In 1999, Joe won the first Inaugural Disabled World Cup race, a men’s downhill competition in Breckenridge, Colorado. In 2003, he placed second over both able-bodied and mono-ski competitors in the Huntsman’s Cup Super-G race in Park City, Utah. In 2005, he won first place in the Disabled World Cup downhill race in Klosters, Switzerland. Today, he currently carries the title of the fifth best mono-skier in the United States and the 12th best in the world.

When Joe prepares for competitions, he trains five days a week, 4 to 5 hours a day, and eats a well balanced “no junk food” diet. He skis in different types of weather and focuses on his balance, upper body strength and speed. Since he is a sit-down skier, the priming of his shoulders play a pivotal role in his technique since they take the role his hips once played in his movement. Clocking in anywhere between 68 and 71 mph, Joe’s speed and strength has made him a consistent competitor for almost 20 years now.

In 2006, Joe started the Extreme Edge Foundation, a nonprofit that fosters human potential through athletics, education, performing arts and the Wounded Warrior and Disabled Veterans programs. Besides building his nonprofit, competing in the Vancouver Winter Olympics games and one day owning a Classic Car business with his son, Joe still looks forward to finding a funny, friendly and caring woman like his mother. With two jobs, six kids and 16 grandchildren, his mom not only worked as a nurse but also as a drug and alcohol counselor during Joe’s youth. Today, Joe carries her legacy as a 40-year-old speaker and coach residing in Juneau, Alaska. He speaks to young teens, corporations and disabled people about the importance of living life to the fullest, to take risks and be bold. For according to Joe, “If you’re not on the edge, you’re not living.” MS&F