A horrible accident robbed Geoff Hopkins of the use of his legs, but it didn’t stop him from graduating from Marshall, excelling in a career helping military veterans or becoming a world-class athlete.
A horrible accident robbed Geoff Hopkins of the use of his legs, but it didn’t stop him from graduating from Marshall, excelling in a career helping military veterans or becoming a world-class athlete.It was an ordinary Thursday, a little warm, on Sept. 15, 1988, when summer was making the first gentle curve into fall. In the theaters, moviegoers could choose from “A Fish Called Wanda,” “Die Hard” or “Nightmare on Elm Street 4.” Bobby McFerrin’s infectious rhythms in his hit song, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” rapped from a hundred boom boxes. Michael Jackson had just been named the world’s highest paid entertainer, and front-runner Anchorage, Alaska, learned that day it had lost the 1994 winter Olympics to an unfamiliar-sounding town in Norway called Lillehammer.
In the early evening, 22-year-old Geoff Hopkins headed out on his motorcycle for the short ride from Huntington to his home in Ona down Route 60, a familiar stretch he traveled regularly. Fresh out of the Army, and with a busy post-Army life, he was eagerly looking forward to starting classes at Marshall in January. Fit and active, a trim athlete who ran competitively, he felt that life was very sweet that day.
It happened in a split second. Just past a gas station he lost control, hit a guardrail and was launched back onto Route 60 landing on the right side of his head and severing his spinal cord.
St. Mary’s Hospital was right around the corner and help came fast, but it was a bad accident. Very bad. So bad his family was met by a priest when they arrived at the hospital and last rites were administered. Hopkins lay in a coma for three days with a traumatic brain injury and a spinal injury that would paralyze him from the sternum down.
After three weeks in St. Mary’s, he was sent to the McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia, for more rehabilitation with the unwavering support of his family – mom Bev Pauken; stepfather James Pauken and, in fact, the whole family. It was an early Christmas gift when he left the rehab hospital Dec. 23 and headed home. It would take more than a devastating accident to derail his dream of attending Marshall, so, right on schedule, he moved into Holderby Hall and began classes on Jan. 17, 1989.
Today Geoff Hopkins is a Marshall graduate with a degree in criminal justice — he graduated just as planned with his class in 1992 — and holds a Master of Education degree in recreational therapy from the University of Toledo. He’s had a successful career as a rehabilitative therapist, much of it spent with the military.
“I have been providing adaptive sports programs for wounded, ill or injured veterans and active-duty service members for over 20 years,” he explained. “I first began with the Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA), where I spent nearly 16 years providing adaptive sports such as bass fishing, trapshooting, bowling, wheelchair tennis and the largest annual wheelchair sporting event in the U.S. — the National Veterans Wheelchair Games.”
He then worked for the U.S. Marine Corps Semper Fit program, helping to develop an inclusion policy for the entire Marine Corps.
In July 2016, he is moving to the Army’s AW2 program, which assists and advocates for severely wounded, ill or injured soldiers, veterans and their families, wherever they are located and regardless of military status.
“My life will always be about serving wounded, ill or injured active-duty service members or veterans. They have sacrificed themselves for our country and working for them is the least I can do,” he said.
And he helps people with disabilities wherever he finds them, such as his chance encounter on a train with a quadriplegic veteran in a dilapidated wheelchair who was in desperate need of a new one. Hopkins guided him through the proper channels, and the vet was able to obtain a new motorized chair from the VA tailored to his needs.
“You changed my life,” the man later told him gratefully.
In fact, changing lives, including his own, has been Hopkins’ mission for many years.
Actually, his accident changed his life in ways he could never have imagined on that September day because there’s another side to Geoff Hopkins. He’s an elite, world-class athlete, widely known in the field of wheelchair sports, a fierce competitor who regularly racks up major victories in competitions. Last year, for example, he was one of only 100 American athletes who were selected to compete in the first Invictus Games held in London. Championed by Britain’s Prince Harry, it’s a sporting event for wounded veterans in an effort to bring recognition to wounded warriors everywhere. In that rarified atmosphere of premier athletes, he came away with a bronze medal in handcycling.
This past summer, Hopkins was one of more than 60 athletes invited to try out for the first ever Triumph Games, which took place in New York City last August. Only 12 athletes were selected from that group and he was number eight in the final cut. The games used sports technology for an array of disabilities, all featured on a sports platform. Competitors took part in a triathlon, which included cycling, kayaking, and laser-rifle shooting. Two days later, the “Terrific 12” competed in online video gaming and then completed the Triumph Games two days later, when they raced 2015 Roush Ford Mustangs. Hopkins won the car racing portion and took eighth out of 12 overall.
Married, with two young sons (six-year-old Ethan and newborn Finley Cooper), he and his wife, Heather, currently live in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
The road to where he is today has been long, with the usual twists, turns and even some spectacular detours, but he’s stayed the course with indomitable grit and determination. And it’s not always sunshine and chirping songbirds, he candidly admitted.
“I try to be upbeat, but I have days as we all do,” he said. “But if I can help just one person, just talking with them or whatever, I’ll take the time. Helping others is my passion because so many people have helped me along the way.”
Hopkins believes Marshall gave him a strong foundation upon which he has built his new life.
“Marshall has a great vocational program. I moved into Holderby Hall which was accessible as is the whole Huntington campus. The university provided note-taking and any other services I needed. And while I was learning how to be a person with a disability, I was also learning how to be a college student,” he said. “I was fortunate to have a friend living in the dorm, Jay Simms, a quadriplegic, who took me under his wing and helped me be both disabled and a student. I’ll forever be grateful to him for that.”
Sandra Clements, now director of Marshall’s Office for Disabled Students, fondly remembered Hopkins from when he was a student assistant in that office, where she was a staff member.
“He was our first wheelchair-bound student worker and I remember Geoff being very high functioning, very energetic.”
There was discipline involved in those Marshall days, which has carried over to Hopkins’ life today. Competing is tough and requires strength, stamina and patience. Hopkins trains vigorously five days a week, mostly handcycling, and he rides an average of nine hours a week. He competes in 12 races annually across the country and takes part in marathons as well.
But after all his accomplishments, incredibly, fate was not quite finished with him. In December 2013, his unflappable optimism was severely tested once again. Diagnosed with a life-threatening brain aneurysm, he underwent brain surgery and once again, the outlook was grim. But just as before, his indomitable spirit took over and his recovery went so well that by the following May, with the aneurysm gone, he was back vigorously training for the next competition.
“God has given me what I have and it wasn’t my time to go, either time,” he said. “There is a plan for me; I still have my mission in life. I need to be here for my beautiful wife, Heather, and our two sons.”
Pat Dickson is coordinator of media and community relations at Marshall University’s South Charleston campus.
Photos: (From top) Geoff Hopkins and his wife, Heather, play with their young sons, Ethan and Finley. (Next two photos) Hopkins (bottom row, center) was fresh out of the Army and enrolled for the spring 1989 semester at the time of his accident. Hopkins was able to continue with his education as planned, graduating in 1992. Hopkins took home a bonze medal in handcycling from the inaugural Invictus Games in London in 2014. Hopkins has also become an experienced race car driver, competing in the 2015 Triumph Games.