Motivated to Overcome

Nothing was going to stand between Sherwood’s J.D. Kerekanich and success

By Dan Brood

The Times, Jul 16, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

JAIME VALDEZ / The Times

STANDING STRONG — J.D. Kerekanich was a standout on the football field and in the track and field throwing events as a Sherwood High School senior.

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SHERWOOD – There was a time when J.D. Kerekanich didn’t know for sure that he’d be able to keep his left leg.

There was a time when he had both arms in a cast at the same time.

There was a time when he was refined to just watching – and eating.

Wow, times have sure changed.

Kerekanich, a 2009 Sherwood High School graduate, overcame some near-catastrophic injuries. He trimmed away the fat while still becoming bigger, stronger and faster.

And he became a hard-hitting dynamo on the football field and a big-time thrower during the track and field season.

It just may go to show what hard work, determination and passion can do.

“It was all worth it,” Kerekanich said with a smile last week as he sat near the football field at Sherwood High School. “I was really motivated.”

And it showed — especially during his senior year at Sherwood.

As a Bowmen senior, Kerekanich was a powerful force on both sides of the ball for the Sherwood football team. He was a first-team All-Northwest Conference pick on both offense and defense — finishing in the runner-up spot in the league’s Defensive Player of the Year voting. He also earned second-team Class 5A All-State honors on both offense and defense.

During track season, even though he was a relative newcomer to the sport, Kerekanich won the NWOC district title in the shot put and he went on to place second in that event at the Class 5A State Track and Field Championships.

Not bad for a kid who nearly lost his left leg in freak accident five years ago.

Kerekanich now has another honor as he’s been selected as the Times’ Athlete of the Year for Sherwood High School. The honor goes to the top senior-class athlete, as seen by the Times, at Sherwood High School for the 2008-2009 school year.

“He’s just a great kid,” Sherwood High School football coach Greg Lawrence said. “I enjoyed coaching him as a player, but even more I enjoyed getting to know him as a young man. He really put in the work and he was a positive leader for us.”

Kerekanich and his family moved to Sherwood from Issaquah, Wash., when he was starting seventh grade. He immediately got involved with the ever-growing Sherwood Youth Football program.

“Bill Butterfield was my first coach, and he was great,” Kerekanich said.

Devastating injuries

During the spring of his seventh-grade year, Kerekanich, then a baseball player, broke both of his arms — at the same time.

“I was goofing around and I slid into a wall with both of my arms extended,” he said. “I broke both arms right up above the wrist.”

Believe it or not, Kerekanich’s year got even worse.

During that summer, while with his family on a trip to Pennsylvania, Kerekanich was involved in a freak boating accident. While wakeboarding, Kerekanich got pulled underneath the boat. The boat’s propeller sliced into his left leg three times, severing his Achilles tendon.

“I came close to losing my leg,” Kerekanich said.

There was a four-day period after the accident where it wasn’t sure if Kerekanich would be able to keep the leg.

“Those were the worst four days of my life,” said John Kerekanich, who is J.D.’s father.

Of course, J.D. Kerekanich was able to keep his left leg, but there was a long rehabilitation process ahead of him.

“It took about a year to recoup,” he said. “And I was on crutches for five or six months. All I was doing was watching games and eating.”

Kerekanich put on about 50 pounds.

“It sucked,” he said. “But I couldn’t let down — I had to keep looking forward.”

With the help of his parents, Kerekanich not only looked forward, but he started moving forward.

“My parents got me going with a trainer, and that really helped,” he said. “I had missed a year of sports and I was definitely motivated to get back out there.”