2008 Woodie Awards
Samford football fan working to fufill dream
Andrew Neuberger
Issue date: 9/26/07 Section: Sports
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Players will pound his fists and thank him for coming to the game; some even dedicate their play to him.
His name is John Millhouse, a 23-year-old senior communications major from UAB, and he is a big inspiration to the Bulldog football squad.
"On days where we're struggling in practice, he's always out there supporting us," red-shirt freshman running back Chris Evans said. "He is always uplifting and is an inspiration to us because his spirits are always high. I'm just glad he's out there."
When he was 18 months old, Millhouse was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, a disorder triggered by abnormalities of the brain that sometimes cause physical disabilities. At this time, doctors weren't sure if he would ever walk, much less function like a normal person his age.
"The doctors told us never to expect John to do anything that typical children do-talk, walk or anything," Phyllis Millhouse, John's mother, said. "At 12 months, he could get around, but he still couldn't do all the things that typical 12-month-olds were doing.
"John was a premature baby. The doctors told us that since he was premature, that he might be slow in a few things. It is devastating to find out your child will not be like a typical child," she said.
Today, Millhouse is overcoming those obstacles while working to fulfill his dream to become a college football coach, and he has a guide who can help him along the way: Samford Head Coach Pat Sullivan.
The two met when Millhouse was in school at Huffman High School in 2002.
Sullivan was visiting Huffman to recruit for UAB, where he was working as offensive coordinator.
"He told me to come on over to UAB and that's how it all started," Millhouse said.
Since that day, Millhouse has been at Sullivan's side, throughout his UAB coaching career and his newly instated Samford coaching job.
"I knew he was coming to UAB and I knew he wanted to be a coach and when the next year unfolded, he started coming to all of our practices and to all of our games," Sullivan said.