I was Craig's beginning tennis instructor at Brigham Young University. I can't remember what semester he was my student but out of the hundreds of students I have had in the past, he was one that made an impression on me and the class. His accident with the fireworks had been recent enough to where he had not yet been given a prosthetic in place of his hand. I remember the first day of class I asked everyone who had tennis experience and he had raised his hand and said he used to play a lot with his friends and family. When I asked why he was in a BEGINNING class he said he would like to try and learn with his left arm.
The whole semester I was his teacher I was impressed with his cheerful attitude and friendliness with everyone in the class. We researched new ways for him to learn to serve the ball with one hand and practiced a lot on his basic ground strokes. Craig was amazing.
Craig's example of persevering through trials is one that I will remember always. It wasn't easy to step out on the first day where I know everyone was wondering how he thought he was going to be able to play tennis with just one hand. He became friends with everyone. He was an example to all of us. I'm sure that his death wasn't the end for his work as a leader and example for others.
--Stephanie Jones
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I was hoping someone would comment about his tennis class. :) He told me he took a tennis class to try to increase his coordination with his left hand. He was so happy to tell me how he went from being "the worst player in the class" to "not quite the worst player in the class" by the end of the semester. What an awesome guy.
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