Basketball player Jeff Griffin has had a long road of trials leading up to his success.
Nearly 20 years ago, when he fell 40 feet from a ladder and was paralyzed from the waist down, Griffin’s life was changed forever. He said he was originally admitted to the U’s Rehab Center following the devastating accident.
Griffin said his fears of never being able to play sports again have since disappeared. He is now an eight-time Wheelchair NBA All Star, a four-time Wheelin’ NBA All Star MVP and a top-rated tennis player, having competed at a tennis event with the Utah Jazz’s Gordon Hayward and Jim Courier in February 2014.
Though he said it was initially difficult to learn how to dribble and shoot the ball while maneuvering a wheelchair, Griffin now trains and practices with the Utah Wheelin’ Jazz, a Wheelchair NBA team whose training camp began practice on Dec. 4.
The team will hold training sessions, which will be open for the first time to the public every Thursday at 24 Hour Fitness in Taylorsville through the end of the year. The training sessions will also be recorded and distributed for the public’s viewing by the Just Don’t Quit Foundation.
Randall Harrington, executive director and founder of the Just Don’t Quit Foundation, said the foundation looks to help wheelchair athletes by promoting their stories and their games.
“We work with local wheelchair athletic teams, as well as other programs with a more national presence,” Harrington said. “We try to package [these players’] stories and get them media exposure and record their events for the public to see. We want to have a production team that can help spread their stories and games, at least on a social media and internet level.”
Harrington said the Just Don’t Quit Foundation will be holding try-outs similar to NBC’s “The Voice” at every Wheelin’ Jazz training camp on Thursday nights throughout December to find individuals experienced in media and film productions to help promote these athletes.
“Our biggest asset to help tell [Griffin’s] story is former NBA Coach of the Year, Frank Layden,” Harrington said. “He’s willing to let us use his name and help promote wheelchair basketball however we can.”
The Just Don’t Quit Foundation is also producing a documentary project titled “Doin’ Hard Work,” which features Layden narrating the story of Griffin and his accomplishments over the past 10 years.
“Besides being a great athlete,” Harrington said, “[Griffin’s] real story is off the court as he tries to walk again.”
Doctors originally told Griffin he’d never move his legs again, but he’s beginning to regain feeling in his limbs and even “waddles” a little more and more, Harrington said.
Harrington said he encourages anyone interested to come out to the free training camp events on Thursday nights from 5 to 8 p.m.
“This is going to be a really exciting training camp,” Harrington said, “because it’s the first time that the camp is open to the public, who can watch them practice and prepare for their season, which will begin in Las Vegas in January.”
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