The Cripple
by Dave Barth
1987
This story is based on fact. The subject's name has been changed because he never desired publicity. Instead
of being perceived as being different, he endeavored to be an equal among equals. And, as one gets to know him,
his handicap becomes invisible, overshadowed by his charismatic personality. He is a person that everyone would
enjoy knowing.
A humorous anecdote occurred to him in the Summer of 1992. He was broad-sided in an intersection by a kid who ran
a red light. When the kid saw him get out of the car, he thought he was badly injured from the way he limped.
My friend realized this when the kid pleaded for him to stop trying to walk and to sit down. My friend told him
that he had this bad limp prior to the accident.
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Sam Stockade walked with a pronounced limp. He had contracted polio as a small child.
His mother noticed that he had trouble crawling, and she took him to a doctor who diagnosed
the condition as polio. Not satisfied with the diagnosis, his mother took him to several
specialists, but each one confirmed the first doctor's opinion. Sam's mother helped him
recover, but he was left with a very bad limp and a foot that would require dozens of
expensive and painful operations.
As he grew up, Sam shrugged off his physical defect and concentrated on becoming a friendly,
likable person. Even though he would never be able to run, water ski, snow ski, or do any
activities that required strong legs, Sam did not become spiteful. Instead, he developed a
great sense of humor, a charismatic personality, and a sensitivity for others.
He did his best to excel in the sports of motor cross and snowmobiling, but even they
required a certain ability that Sam lacked. His legs never had the strength to really do
well such activities.
When he was in his early twenties, Sam had a chance to fly with a friend who was a pilot.
After that flight, he knew that flying was an endeavor that he wanted to do. And it was
something that his handicap would not affect. In fact, he realized that he would be able
to pilot an airplane as well as any other pilot, even with his bad legs.
Several years later, Sam met a flying instructor who worked at the same company that he did.
His desire to learn to fly was rekindled, and he began taking flying lessons from the
instructor. His lessons were interrupted several times because Sam had to have operations
on his lame foot. The procedures were excruciating and the healing required a long time,
but after each operation, he returned to flying, at times, nearly having to start over.
It takes most flying students around 60 hours over a period of three to six months to earn
their pilot's license. It took Sam two and a half years and 120 hours to earn his wings.
He was, by far, the most dedicated student that the flight instructor had ever taught.
Sam just wouldn't give up. Where others would have thrown in the towel long before,
Sam kept returning to flying lessons. For many lessons, he had to begin again and again
because he missed so much time, spending it in hospitals.
Then a horrible event almost cost Sam his life. As he was taxiing off the runway, a strong
gust of wind, not uncommon at that airport, caught his plane and flipped it upside down.
Fortunately for Sam, the fuel spilling from the gas tanks didn't ignite when it splashed
onto the hot engine. Sam was hanging upside down, helpless, in his seat belt in the inverted
plane. He unbuckled the belt and fell, head first, to the ceiling of the cockpit.
Fortunately, Sam was only slightly injured in the crash and subsequent fall.
The incident was not his fault because unexpected weather-related accidents are not
uncommon at this airport. However, Sam's flight training was interrupted once again,
this time for several months as a board convened to decide whether Sam should be allowed
to continue taking flying lessons. Thanks to Sam's charismatic personality, he persuaded
the board members to allow him to continue his flying.
Finally, after a long, arduous, and costly training program, Sam was ready to take the flight
test. He passed the first time, and became one of the proudest new pilots there ever was.
As time went on, Sam became an extraordinary pilot. Living Will Rodgers' philosophy,
Sam never met a man he didn't like. Expanding on that philosophy, nobody who ever met
him didn't like Sam. He was everybody's friend, and he introduced many persons to the
joys of flight, not a few of whom became pilots themselves.
Sam overcame extreme hardship to earn his pilots license and became one of the greatest
proponents of aviation.
I am proud to call him my friend.