John McClamrock (March 24, 1956 – March 18, 2008) was a

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

high school

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player who received media attention and sympathy from many Americans after an accident that left him with near-total

paralysis Paralysis (also known as plegia) is a loss of motor function in one or more muscles. Paralysis can also be accompanied by a loss of feeling (sensory loss) in the affected area if there is sensory damage. In the United States, roughly 1 in 50 ...

in 1973.

Background

McClamrock, a resident of Preston Hollow, attended Hillcrest High School. On October 17, 1973, an accident during a football game led to a severe injury in which he was paralyzed from the neck down. Hundreds of Hillcrest students visited him at Presbyterian Hospital following his injury. Various Dallas-area schools held benefit games in honor of McClamrock. Local newspapers covered McClamrock's story. The owner of the area

Bonanza Steakhouse Ponderosa Steakhouse and Bonanza Steakhouse are a chain of buffet/steakhouse restaurants that are a part of Homestyle Dining LLC based in Plano, Texas. Its menu includes steaks, seafood, and chicken entrées, all of which come with their buffe ...

chain held a "Johnny McClamrock Day" in which 10% of sales were given to a medical fund. Hillcrest High School held numerous benefit events in his honor. McClamrock received get-well cards from people across the United States.

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

sent McClamrock a condolence letter. For the rest of his life, McClamrock's mother, Ann Logan "Pretty Annie" McClamrock, cared for him. McClamrock, with assistance from family members and tutors, graduated from high school in 1975. He lived in the same neighborhood for the remainder of his life, under the care of his mother Ann. His condition prevented him from being placed in an upright position. Later in his life, new, wealthier residents who moved into the area and replaced people who knew McClamrock were initially unaware of McClamrock's presence and story.

Death and aftermath

McClamrock died from respiratory issues at Kindred Hospital in Dallas on March 18, 2008. Ann died May 13, 2008, at the age of 89. McClamrock's brother, Henry, said that his mother decided that "her job was finished." In November 2010 Ann was named the Youth Sports Hero of the Month by Douglas E. Abrams on the website MomsTeam.com. In June 2011 the

Dallas Independent School District The Dallas Independent School District (Dallas ISD or DISD) is a school district based in Dallas, Texas (USA). It operates schools in much of Dallas County and is the second-largest school district in Texas and the seventeenth-largest in the U ...

(DISD) board voted against renaming the Franklin Stadium at Hillcrest after John McClamrock.

Television and film

The 1976 ''

Six Million Dollar Man ''The Six Million Dollar Man'' is an American science fiction and action television series, running from 1973 to 1978, about a former astronaut, USAF Colonel Steve Austin, portrayed by Lee Majors. After a NASA test flight accident, Austin is reb ...

'' episode "The Bionic Boy", about an injured young athlete who receives bionic implants, is a reference and tribute to John McClamrock, who had been prominently in the news during that period. On May 8, 2010, the NFL Network aired a feature called ''A Still Life'' on John and his mother Ann McClamrock for their ''NFL Total Access: Week in Review'' television show.

Billy Bob Thornton Billy Bob Thornton (born August 4, 1955) is an American actor, filmmaker and musician. He had his first break when he co-wrote and starred in the 1992 thriller ''One False Move'', and received international attention after writing, directing, a ...

narrated. It has been announced that George Robinson will play John in the film ''Still Life'', based on the ''

Texas Monthly ''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. ''Texas Monthly'' was founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy and has been published by Emmis Publishing, L.P. since 1998 and is ...

'' non-fiction article of the same name written by

Skip Hollandsworth Walter Ned "Skip" Hollandsworth (born November 9, 1957) is an American author, journalist, screenwriter, and executive editor for ''Texas Monthly'' magazine. In 2010, he won the National Magazine Award for Feature Writing from the American Soc ...

in 2009, about John and his mother Ann.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mcclamrock, John 1956 births 2008 deaths Deaths from respiratory failure Hillcrest High School (Dallas) alumni People with tetraplegia Players of American football from Dallas