By Aariston Dawson

Sports Editor

Waiting for his wrestling match to begin, junior Corey Crawford looks like any other wrestler: he’s buff, he’s tough, and he doesn’t smile much. But minutes before he goes on the mat, he carefully reaches down and pulls off his left foot. He walks to the center of the mat on his right foot and the nub of his left leg, which ends near the ankle.

Surprise! His opponents are often shocked by the sight of the one-footed wrestler, and Crawford loves every moment of it.

“They usually don’t know (that I have one foot) unless they have wrestled me before,” says Crawford, who competes in the 152-pound weight class, though he weighs 143 pounds without his prosthetic foot.

For junior Corey Crawford, having a prosthetic foot is no big deal. The teen has had it since he was an infant. He was born without a left foot because while he was in his mother’s womb, the umbilical cord was wrapped around it, preventing it from growing. After he was born, doctors smoothed out the area where the foot should have grown, making it round. It was important for the wound to heal so it would look as normal as possible.

Every day, the teen put on his prosthetic foot, which is attached to a boot that reaches right below his knee. He wraps it with a liner that resembles a sock to secure it in place.

Having the deformity isn’t hereditary though the teen’s uncle, Bernard Bonam, has a similar condition. His uncle’s foot had to be amputated due to diabetes.

Although the athlete started off playing football his freshman year, his football coach Timothy Conley opened Crawford’s eyes to the field of wrestling. “Many athletes have been successful with disabilities,” said Coach Conley, who encouraged him to try the sport.

“He told my mom that I should check wrestling out, so I did,” Crawford says. Also, after hearing so, his mother, Stephanie Crawford, began to push him to try the sport. Crawford began wrestling as a freshman and eventually discovered that he liked it. According to wrestling coach Vernon Burden, Crawford currently holds a record of 7 wins and 4 losses. “For someone that doesn’t have the same tools as me, to still accomplish all this is great,” Burden says.

Even with the prosthesis, Crawford has proved he’s still able to keep up with the other wrestlers and garner wins.

His mother says, “I’m not surprised he’s a such a great wrestler; whatever he sets his mind to, he does well.”

This is Burden’s first time having an athlete with a prosthetic foot, and Burden says Crawford is a major contributor to the team. “No excuses,” Burden says. Crawford is treated the same as the other team members regardless of his disability.

However, there is one adjustment that Crawford must make before taking to the mat: He removes his prosthetic foot. “Whenever I wrestle, I take my (left) foot off because I don’t want anyone to get hurt by it.” It’s possible for the prosthesis to injure someone or cause them to trip.

A teammate of Crawford’s, junior Keith Lee, says wrestling with Crawford has been a learning experience, and he treats Crawford the same as everyone else on the team.

There have been many times when kids have talked about Crawford and called him a “pirate” because of his artificial appendage. “It never affects me; I don’t let it get to me,” Crawford says.

Having a prosthesis doesn’t curtail Corey Crawford’s life. Like other teens would do, he visits the doctor once a year, hangs out at the mall as he wishes and goes to the movies.

Crawford says he hopes to attend Baker College one day and has plans to create prosthetics as his career. He says his experience wearing a prosthetic gives him extra insight into how to design them for others.

Crawford’s mother says she encourages her son to go into the prosthetic field, suggesting that he can start off by first fitting people for prosthetics and then by creating prosthetics. “As long as he’s happy, he’ll be successful,” she says.

Crawford says he does not feel deprived of being like everyone else. He says he is fine just the way he is and feels he can do everything everyone else does, and in fact, he does.