(PRESS RELEASE / THE VILLAGE REPORTER)
SENIOR DAY … The Archbold Rotary Club hosted its annual Senior Day luncheon for Archbold High School’s 84-member Class of 2025 on May 2 with Brock Mealer, president of Pahl Ready Mix Concrete, delivering a motivational presentation to the seniors. Mealer used his own story of perseverance to achieving a life-changing goal following his family’s Christmas Eve car accident that left his father and younger brother’s girlfriend dead and him with a one percent chance of ever walking again. From left: Rotarian Bill Rufenacht, who arranged the program, Archbold seniors Anahi Garcia, who plans to attend Nashville State for physical therapy, Jay Riley, who plans to become an EMT or firefighter, Brock Mealer, and seniors Lydia Wyse, who plans to attend Owens Community College to study radiology technology, Kirsten DeLong, who plans to attend Bowling Green State University and major in education, and Julia Almazan Azua, who is completing the precision machining and robotics program at Four County Career Center and will start a job at GT Technologies in Defiance after graduation.
PRESS RELEASE – As 2007 was winding down, Wauseon native Brock Mealer had nearly completed an undergraduate degree at Ohio State University, and along with his family was riding home on Christmas Eve when they were involved in a car crash that would forever change his life.
His father and younger brother’s girlfriend were killed when another driver ran a stop sign. Brock was paralyzed from the waist down and given a one percent chance to ever walk again. Life in a wheel chair the doctors told him.
And, for a while, with his rehab that’s what it was beginning to look like – life in a wheelchair.
But, his brother Elliott had a football scholarship to the University of Michigan when a life-changing offer was made to Brock.
If he was willing to put in the effort, Mike Barwis, the strength and conditioning coach for the football team and his staff would work with Brock with the goal of regaining the use of his legs and walking.
And, that’s what Mike Barwis and Brock eventually did – five or six days a week relearning how to walk.
The work was hard, the progress slow, but steady. Steady enough that then Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez eventually asked Brock if he would lead the Wolverines onto the field in 2010 against Connecticut in their home opener in front of 100,000 plus fans in Michigan Stadium.
At that point (spring 2010), Brock had never walked that far (70 yards across the football field) with two canes without falling.
But by the home opener on September 4, Brock and his brothers and mom made that walk as Brock stopped at mid-field to touch the Michigan banner.
Brock’s message to the Archbold seniors: “Find a purpose — what you want to do and work toward achieving it….regardless of the odds. You can do so much more than you think you are capable of doing.”