It takes Will Powers

by Randy Snow, May, 2005

"Though he be but small, he is fierce” by Shakespeare

Michael "Shorty" Powers

If it’s anyone’s year certainly it is his.

In May of 2004, he was the first disabled person inducted into the Texas Parks and Wildlife Hall of Fame. Last year he won the South Eastern PVA Fishing Tournament that was held in Augusta, Georgia, where he not only won the title but he also won a $20,000 Ranger bass boat. The Extravaganza, which is the biggest recreational fandango in the state of Texas birthing many successes including the Dave Kiley 3-on-3 basketball competition, will for the 14th year raise hope on the horizon of people with physical challenges.

And this year Turning Point (Paraplegics On Independent Nature Trips), an organization that he founded and has directed ever since, will celebrate it’s 25th Anniversary.

Who am I talking about? Who else -- Shorty Powers.

It’s the people in this world who discover what they love early in life that I really resent the most. It seems from the beginning that these people have known what they have wanted, known their cause all along. And often this cause was to make buckets of money: but not Shorty. His cause was never about money. As he says, “If I had wanted to be a millionaire, I would’ve been one.” No, money never was his primary motive in life. In my opinion Shorty’s first love has always been fishing.

To wit, after completing a river trip down the San Juan River, which was attended by many past pathfinders like West Brownlow, unluckily Shorty contracted a testicular infection called Epiditimitus. From personal experience, this is a very painful, irritating and swelling problem. Skipping the necessary time it takes to recover, rather than risk missing the first-ever-fishing tournament for the disabled in Texas, Shorty had the inflamed private part removed and made the event.

Another time two days before a fishing event in Florida he and legendary H. McCormack discovered from the local fishing gurus that they didn’t have the lure du jour, which just so happened to be manufactured in Nashville, where H. resides. Shorty phoned Vena, Mr. McCormick’s better half and adamantly demanded she locate the company, procure several bags of the bait, drive to the post office and ship the lures to H. and the boys. 

And then there was the time Shorty was driving to a tournament at Lake Eufala, OK, when he received an unfortunate call that his house was on fire. It seems someone’s cigar had accidentally been placed in a trashcan, which sent smoke billowing throughout their home. Well, of course Shorty did the right thing, turned around and immediately drove home to get things back in order. After spending one long night in a hotel, and intelligently turning the ordeal over to his much better half, Nance, a determined Shorty Powers left and made it to Oklahoma on time. Whew, that was a close one!

Yes, Shorty Powers loves to fish but more than this he makes a difference in other people’s lives. This is not an opinion.

I was a beneficiary of one of those first Turning Point programs. A 3-day river trip down the Brazos River below Lake Whitney, in 1977, I remember the hope I felt after completing that pioneering excursion. Granted, it was one of those commit-first-and-figure-it-out-as-you-go experiences, but my self-esteem was greatly, no, it was catapulted into possibility after that trip. I can credit this experience as a platform-of-confidence to many other accomplishments. As Shorty so eloquently puts things, “What’s a curb cut once you’ve crawled through the swamp.”

Ironically, where the Extravaganza is held each year for over 300 participants, it was in 1979 at Bachman Lake in Dallas where he and trailblazer John Galland held a kayaking clinic for 11 participants. Acknowledging the mysterious tipping point that can come from one event, Dallas City Councilman Sid Stalls was so moved by an article in the Dallas Morning News that he invited Shorty to his office, saying, “Let’s do something really big.”  From here the idea for a recreation center specifically for disabled folks was born. Bachman Recreation Center was conceived and later and with the help of many, completed, opening in January of 1981.

In 1982, Turning Point put together another sally that would dare 6 of the top outdoorsman of the day (John Galland, Bobby Leyes, Don Rogers, David Kiley, Joe Moss and Shorty Powers) to climb the highest mountain in Texas, Mt. Guadalupe peak, which reaches 9,781 ft. While 3 of the climbers failed to meet the lofty goal, for 6 grueling days and out of their chairs 95% of the time, Kiley, Moss and Rogers finally reached the peak. Don Rogers framed the essence of the accomplishment best when he said, “I have just climbed the highest mountain in Texas so for the rest of my life I can do whatever I want.” Don went on to earn his Ph.D. in Therapeutic Recreation and currently teaches at Indiana State University. The spin-off of the climb was an Airwolf episode set around the struggles of these men, and a congratulatory phone call from President Ronald Reagan.

His latest inspiration was a program called the Turning Point Mentor Camp that was held at Shorty’s private heaven, Caddo Lake. Among the Cyprus trees and dangling Spanish moss, and the mystical home of the once flourishing Caddo Indians, prescreened candidates that were at or near six months post injury, and needing the emotional closeness of one-on-one interaction, were matched with leaders of the disabled community. The duos participated in kayaking, fishing, camp ground set up, personal hygiene shortcuts for the outdoors, mobility skills, which all lay waste to the negative self-talk that lives early after an accident. The pinnacle of the program came under the glow of a campfire as one by one the truth bubbled up from family and friends with meaningful laughter, tears, pain and healing.

I asked Shorty about the drive that motivated him to create an organization like Turning Point. He responded, “There was a serious need for me to make up for my questionable past. No, seriously, it was the feeling I got from getting back out on the water. I was afraid but I was more afraid of myself if I didn’t do it. The reward was grand. This is what I wanted other people to feel.”

Through the mechanism of Turning Point and his personal contributions, Shorty has conducted hundreds of programs, clinics, speeches and events. I could go on and on scribing through stories and framing the people he has influenced, the domino into others, but I think you get the point.

Someone great once said, “If you don’t stand for anything then you don’t have any enemies.” Granted Shorty Powers has not stood in over 30 years, but if you have even met him once you know he has stood for what he believes.

Shorty does not care what others think; he lives the truth. During his entire tennis career, he wore cowboy boots while he played. Boots. John Box told me, “That is the most real guy I have ever met.”

He has a bigger heart than Shamu; he stands for giving to others. It is the size of his heart, not the speed of his wheels that has mattered. He would give you the last cushion from under his bottom, if you asked him.

He is the kind of guy that if he wants buy in from you to his cause, he will bother you like the Texas summer heat until you finally say okay, enough, please leave me alone, I’ll be there. I think we could all learn from his style of persistence.

Shorty is about bringing people together. He is constantly matching the resources of others in order to make this world a better place.

And he stands for family. “That my wife and my son, who I love so dearly, were along to share all of this has meant the world to me. I am so very lucky.” I don’t think I have ever seen anyone love his or her son more than he loves his son, Dylan.

Whether a friend of his or a determined foe, Shorty Powers stands for all of us.

“Shorty, what is the take away for this article, what do you want to leave with the readers of Sports N Spokes?”

“It was the feeling that John Galland and I felt that first day out at Bachman, ya’ know, a little bit of fear, but really it was overwhelming excitement. I suppose it was the freedom we valued most. We felt so alive. I wanted others who may have felt the same initial fear to not forget that beyond the downsides of life, if we put our head then our heart into whatever we are doing; there is an incredible freedom that cannot be put into words. It can only be felt. This is what I wanted them to understand.”

Shorty Powers, you are a paragon of giving. Your buddy Jackie Merck, who was killed in the same accident that brought you to us, once said, “You don’t always get what you want but you always get what you deserve.” Shorty, Mr. Will Power, you are a millionaire and this celebratory year is what you deserve. Because of you, all of us are much better off.

“There are two types of people in this world, takers and givers. Indeed it is the takers of this world that eat better but the givers sleep much better.” by Scott Hamilton