Union staff and students will join forces Sept.14 in St. Louis, Mo., to compete in a military grade-obstacle course in hopes of encouraging and raising funds for John Simpson, a Union student who was in a car wreck last spring that paralyzed him from the waist down.
Two years ago, Carson Hawkins, director of Safety and Security, noticed an intriguing business model that takes participants from a variety of high impact sports and allows them to compete in teams against each other in an obstacle course.
The event is a “Tough Mudder,” which involves overcoming 25 obstacles throughout a 12-mile course. Most obstacles cannot be finished alone, therefore, participants are placed in teams of four.
Hawkins said he found the competition interesting and wanted to get a team together, but the $150 fee to enter was a setback along with finding people physically fit enough to compete.
After hearing Simpson’s story, competing became more than an idea, and four men stepped up and raised funds for Simpson’s medical expenses.
Those competing this weekend include Hawkins, along with Joseph Hale, assistant director of Safety and Security; Michael Messmer, junior social work major; and Tommy Drury, senior engineering major.
“When it’s bigger than just you it makes it something different,” Hale said.
It took two years to get together a team for the event, but it turned into an opportunity to support Simpson and raise funds.
“His life changed in the blink of an eye and he is facing tremendous
challenges,” Hawkins said. “We ultimately want to be an encouragement to Jon that he can do this; he isn’t doing this alone, and we are here with him in this small way.”
The men hope to encourage Simpson mentally and physically by completing the course as a team in honor of him.
“We wanted to make sure Jon knows he is in the Union community and he has not been forgotten,” Hale said. “He is a part of the family.”
All of the funds raised by the Tough Mudder team will be sent directly to Simpson through the West Tennessee Healthcare Foundation to help with medical bills.
“We will be the first team in Union history to compete — and dominate a Tough Mudder,” Hawkins said.
The final obstacle of the course is electroshock therapy, where the men will make their way through lines of 10,000 volts.
“It is mental and physical in nature,” Hale said. “It battles with fears of claustrophobia in part of the mud crawl; but it is all about building camaraderie as a team.”
Team members hope to ultimately be an encouragement to Simpson, reminding him that he is not facing his challenges alone.
“Union is a special place,” Hawkins said. “It kind of sticks with you. Whenever we have a student facing a major trial, it’s not like they do it separate; we do all we can to do it with them.”
