By: Nathan Gillman, sports editor
9/14/2006

The Falcon defense executes a play on Hoyt Athletic Field during an afternoon practice.  On the sidelines in his wheelchair, Coach Shaun Spotted Horse monitors the movements of his linebackers as they stop the offense from advancing the ball. As the team prepares on the field, Spotted Horse actively instructs his players on their techniques or offers encouragement.   
    
Spotted Horse, or “Coach Spot,” has been a part of Falcon football since his arrival in 2000. He has been the head junior varsity coach and assistant linebackers coach since 2003.  
     
Spotted Horse doesn’t let his wheelchair get in the way of coaching. Instead, he sees an individual’s attitude as the biggest detriment to a person’s success in life. 

“If you look at it, everyone has a disability,” Spotted Horse said. “Mine you can just see.”

Head Falcon football coach Monty Lewis said that Spotted Horse plays an important role in Falcon football.

“He influences our program to a great degree,” Lewis said. “We don’t treat him any differently. It’s irrelevant that he’s in a wheelchair — it really is.”

Spotted Horse’s unique-sounding name reflects his Native-American heritage. His father was a full-blooded Crow Indian and his mother was one-half Cherokee and one-quarter Irish, though as Spotted Horse himself admits, he looks all the Irish.

During his college years, Spotted Horse excelled on the field. Playing center for Southwestern College in Winfield, he earned several honors, including being named an All-American. He also was named All District 10 four times and was a three-time All Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference player.   
    
Lewis, as well as Coach Matt Welch, the Falcon defensive coordinator, played with Spotted Horse at Southwestern in the early 1980s. Lewis and Spotted Horse played together in 1983 and 1984 -- the year Southwestern advanced to the semi-finals of the NAIA playoffs.

Lewis remembers Spotted Horse’s intensity as a player. He recalls the playoff game in 1984 in which the Southwestern team was one game from contending for the national championship. Although the situation didn’t look hopeful, Spotted Horse continued to maintain a good attitude.

“He was still having fun playing the game,” Lewis said. 

His teammates believed that Spotted Horse had a good chance of playing professional football. 

But everything was about to change.

On Dec. 5, 1987, while driving home from a deer scouting trip, Spotted Horse was involved in a serious automobile accident that had dramatic effect on his life. It left him paralyzed from the chest down. 

After the accident, Spotted Horse had a long road to recovery, including four months of rehabilitation at Craig Hospital in Englewood, Colo. 

The rehabilitation took time and included relearning simple tasks, such as getting dressed and eating. 

But by the fall of 1988, Spotted Horse was once again involved in the game he loved by coaching junior high football in Winfield. 

Spotted Horse wasn’t done learning either. He went on to earn his master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling from Emporia State University. After graduating, he worked for the state of Kansas at a counseling and rehabilitation center for the blind, supervising the center’s rehabilitation program.

Lewis helped Spotted Horse get a coaching job at Friends in 2000, when Coach Phil Keys had the head job. Spotted Horse started out as an assistant coach, which included coaching the kicking squad.

When Lewis took over as head coach in 2003, he retained Spotted Horse and put him in charge of the junior varsity, in addition to making him the assistant linebacker’s coach.

“He’s the only coach I kept off the former staff,” Lewis said.

In October 1991, Spotted Horse married Melissa, who has been a source of inspiration to him.

“Together, we have the ability to help each other reach our different goals in life,” Spotted Horse said. 

Having a son a couple of years ago was a gift and a fulfillment of the couple’s desires.

“The biggest miracle my wife and I have is our two-and-half-year-old son, Jack Henry Spotted Horse,” Spotted Horse said. 

Spotted Horse points to his grandmother for helping him develop into the person he is today. He remembers her telling him that although there may be many choices in life, everyone needs to figure out which path he or she is supposed to take. 

So how do players respond to the fact that Spotted Horse is in a wheelchair?

“You know, there’s got to be a little shock when you see someone in a wheelchair is coaching,” Spotted Horse said. 

But after the initial surprise, players seem to adjust well to Coach Spot.

Noah Morford, a senior Falcon linebacker, said that Spotted Horse interacts well with his players. Morford has eaten dinner and gone fishing with him.

“(He) has probably the biggest heart on the team,” Morford said. “(He’s) kind of the one we can lean our shoulder on and talk to.”

Team members also respect their coach.

“I have just as much respect for Coach Spotted Horse as I do for Coach Lewis,” Morford said.
 
Caleb Lind, a senior linebacker, agreed.

“He’s really knowledgeable about the game,” Lind said. “He really knows what he’s talking about.”

The team steps up to help Spotted Horse if he needs it – for instance, helping him get the wheelchair over difficult terrain.

“We are so willing to help him and to listen, too,” Lind said. 

In addition to his love of football, Spotted Horse has another hobby — fishing. 

“Probably besides being around the kids and coaching football, if I could find a way to be a professional fisherman, I’d probably do it,” Spotted Horse said. 

Whatever he does in life, Spotted Horse believes in giving it his all.

Lewis said that Spotted Horse sees a bad attitude as the only true handicap in life.

“Therefore, he does not see himself as handicapped,” Lewis said. 

Spotted Horse has advice for those around him: “You can either live life, or let life live you.”