'Fearfully and wonderfully made'

Hasaan Hawthorne refuses to allow limitations he’s had since birth be barriers to his success in wrestling — or life.

Now 19 years old, Hasaan was an Alabama wrestling state champion in high school. Today, he wrestles for North Idaho College head coach Pat Whitcomb. NIC attracts diverse and talented athletes who vary in ethnicity, age, and background. Hasaan differs from the other athletes in a unique way — he wrestles with only two limbs.

He was born with tibial hemimelia, a birth defect in which babies are born without shin bones. His parents had several options: improvising with implanted bones, doing nothing and have him wheelchair bound for life, or amputation. Hasaan said they made the right decision.

“They chose amputation, thank God,” he said, while grabbing his metal leg in front of the NIC Hall of Fame wall outside the Christianson Gymnasium.

It wasn’t an easy decision, as any parent can imagine.

“We didn’t know during the pregnancy, so we were shocked,” his mother, Felecia Hawthorne said. “The Bible and our faith in God and what He allowed in our lives became a priority.”

Trust in God was not a circumstantial decision for his parents, or for Hasaan.

“The kids in middle school and elementary school, they would make fun of me,” he said.

Those cruel words, as for many at that age, affected Hasaan at times. He began to question why he was chosen to be born different from everyone around him. Mentally, Hasaan slipped into a dark place. He triumphed by learning to be himself at school and not just at home.

“It was like one day I woke up and started cracking leg jokes, and everyone started laughing,” he said.

Like most kids, he tried every sport until he found his niche.

“Our mentality in raising Hasaan was to give him a normal life and not make his disability a focal point,” Felecia said. “He could do and be anything he wanted to be. This was an opportunity, not an excuse.”

He swam, played football, baseball and basketball. One day, he joined his friends at a wrestling tournament. That day created a whole new life for Hasaan.

“They were doing warm-ups, and they were walking on their hands. Everybody knows I can walk on my hands,” he said.

At that moment, he realized that the handstands and forward rolls he had been doing at home for fun could be developed into a sport and, eventually, a passion.

Hasaan shares his love of sports with his brother, who is five years younger than he is. He has a relationship with Chase that goes beyond blood. It is eternal, he said.

“It’s me and him versus the world.” Hasaan said.

Chase is the fuel Hasaan needs in hard times to bounce back and regain passion in wrestling.

The two brothers faced adversity together because Chase didn’t see his older brother as having a disability. He saw him as normal.

“It was important to teach Chase that Hasaan had different legs just like some people have different hair color,” Felecia said.

Demond Hawthorne, Chase and Hasaan’s father, would join Chase in responding with brutally honest feedback after Hasaan’s losses on the wrestling mat. Their constructive criticism fueled Hasaan to start adjusting his training techniques to accommodate his disability.

As a result, the years of loss were over for Hasaan, thanks to the added influence of his high school wrestling coach Nick Tucker.

“I started thinking 80 percent positive and 20 percent negative instead of 80 percent negative and 20 percent positive,” Hasaan said.

He then punched his ticket to the next level of wrestling after his 2016 season.

Weeks after the NIC 2017-18 season came to an end, Hasaan attended a wrestling tournament to advertise and hand out fliers for an upcoming NIC wrestling camp. What began as a routine duty ended as a life-changing experience.

Hasaan met Jordy, a young wrestler with one leg, who was born with the same birth defect in one leg that Hawthorne had in both.

“Normally when people see me, it’s like ‘Hey look at him,’ and it was the other way around,” Hasaan said. “He didn’t really look at me.”

In talking with Jordy, Hasaan learned they had more than a sport and a disability in common. They both had received their running legs from the Never Say Never Foundation, an organization dedicated to supporting disabled athletes in a multitude of sports.

Hasaan has been at NIC for two years, with surgery putting a halt to his first season and the 2017-18 season being his redshirt year. His impact on the wrestlers around him; however, has been nothing close to restricted.

“What I like about Hasaan is he can know when someone is having a bad time,” said NIC heavyweight Damian Trujillo. “There were points in practice where I did break. ... Hasaan will be like nubbing over to me, and he’ll be like ‘Let’s go big boy!’”

Hasaan’s positivity and perseverance are infectious to his teammates as well as his coaches. Not being a typical college athlete has opened the door for him to meet and connect with a variety of people.

Hasaan makes it a point to wear shorts, so that everyone around him can see his prosthetic legs.

“I want people to see that I’m not ashamed of who I am,” he said.

For others with disabilities, children in particular, Hasaan has a message of solidarity.

“God made them the way they are for a reason. Psalm 139 says, ‘You are fearfully and wonderfully made,’ and I take that to heart,” Hasaan said. “God made us that way for a reason, and we won’t know that reason until later on down the road. I want the kids to know that no matter what you’re going through, or the way others’ lives are going versus yours, that you’re that way for a reason and you’ve just got to be around people that love you so that way you stay yourself.”