Learn How These Wrestlers Lifted Each Other To Improbable Achievement

How two high school wrestlers - one legally blind, the other without legs - spurred each other to improbable victory far beyond the mat.

- Lisa Fenn

Dartanyon Crockett was a powerfully built but legally blind high school wrestler from Cleveland. His best friend and teammate, Leroy Sutton, who had lost his legs in a train accident at age 11, went to wrestling practices and matches on the back of Dartanyon. Former ESPN producer Lisa Fenn read a story about the boys in 2009, then spent years investing in their lives, forging a connection that endured long after her first TV segment on them aired. In this excerpt from her upcoming book, Carry On, Fenn recounts Dartanyon’s improbable quest to medal at the 2012 Paralympic Games in a sport in which he had little prior training: judo. Cramming years’ worth of lessons into months of preparation, he would confront his fear and doubt with the help of two steadfast allies.

LONDON’S EXCEL CENTER was filled to capacity, and legions of raucous European nationals were cheering on their own athletes. They would soon root against Dartanyon.

“My heart is pounding, and I don’t even have to fight,” I said. “How are you feeling?”

“Not gonna lie,” Dartanyon said. “I’m a little bit scared.”

He had no business being here. His coach, Ed Liddie, said it was akin to a walk-on making the starting five of the Miami Heat when LeBron was their king. “And I don’t mean like a college player walking on,” he said. “I mean like some guy just walking in off the street.”

Back when Liddie realized he was about to send a green belt to the Paralympic Games, he had quickly thrown more skills at Dartanyon and tested him for a brown belt—a milestone that suddenly felt insufficient.

“Who goes to the Games as a brown belt?” Liddie wondered.