An Inspirational Journey

Despite being born with a physical disability, Roger Crawford found a way to excel at the sport he loves.

- Blair Henley

Ask Roger Crawford to consider his life without tennis, and he hesitates.

“I almost can’t imagine it,” the 56-year-old motivational speaker says. “So much of my life is connected to it, that it seems like without tennis there would be this huge void.

“Even if I’m not on the court, I’m relating back to the experience of being a tennis player.”

Tennis is more than just a sport for Crawford. It became part of his identity the first time he picked up a racquet as an 11-year-old in Danville, CA.

Born with a birth anomaly called ectrodactyly, Crawford has only one finger on his right hand and two on his left. He’s also missing his left leg below the knee and two toes on his right foot. With a prosthesis for his leg, he wasn’t a prime candidate for a sport that requires a firm grip, balance and footwork.

But Crawford was raised by parents who didn’t believe in coddling their firstborn son. “You don’t live in pity city,” his father would tell him.

Giving little thought to his disability, Crawford fell in love with tennis the first time he saw players hitting at his neighborhood courts. In his mind, there was only one barrier to entry: he needed a way to hold the racquet with the one finger on his dominant right arm.