Fifteen years later, Doug Wilson still doesn't
know what happened. The road was straight, the driving
lanes clear and the weather was the typical spring dew
of the early South Carolina night.
But when he awoke eight days later with three broken
bones and a severe brain injury from losing control
of his motorcycle, the young man many people know today
as "Coach Doug" was in a literal and physical
fog. His mind blacked out the accident.
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Coach Doug Wilson showing the touch that
has made him very popular among kids and parents.
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The car behind him saw the bike's tail light wobble.
They saw the sparks of the skidding metal. And when
they got to the unconscious Wilson, he was not wearing
a helmet. That would prove to be a life-altering omission.
Today, Coach Doug is a prominent force in Montgomery
County recreation and youth development as his classes,
camps and clinics teach kids sports, arts, sciences
and computer skills. This is his 10th year with his
dad, Bill Wilson, running CTI Kids afterschool programs
and summer camps. Around half a dozen CTI offerings
are available through MCRD each quarter.
Working with kids has helped me get back on my feet
and return the favor in ways I never imagined before,
said Coach Doug, whose brain was so jarred by the impact
that he lost the ability to walk, talk, taste, balance
or use his given hand (once left-handed, he's now predominately
right-handed).
He was in the hospital three months, a wheelchair for
six and in physical recovery for several years. The
headaches are unbearable and he maintains a slight hesitation
in speech and walks with a slower step.
But the fact Wilson is able to live a reasonably normal
life again is one story; the fact he pours 100 percent
of his energy into kids and volunteer causes is yet
another.
"I'm very fortunate because you take a situation
like mine--where doctors said I had a one in a million
chance and you are dependent on everyone else to survive--the
accident turned into a positive," he said.
Almost immediately he became a powerful advocate for
states to pass the universal helmet law. His words were
critical testimony for passage in the Maryland Legislature.
"I remember getting a call from a mother who said
we had saved her son's life because of getting the law
passed," he said, beaming.
At the time of the accident, Wilson was six weeks shy
of graduating from the University of South Carolina,
where he had been a kicker on the football team. (He
finished his economics degree in 1993 as part of his
mental rehabilitation). He played soccer at Churchill
High but had never really thought about coaching or
working with kids until confronted with his own emotional
recovery.
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Coach Doug's CTI Kids program teaches youngsters
basic computer skills, including learning type.
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"After the accident I couldn't run for three years,"
he said. "So I volunteered to help with some youth
sports teams. I was pretty limited to what I could do
but these kids didn't care. They rallied around me,
gave me strength and encouragement."
"I learned to respect kids and now I help them
because they helped me."
Coach Doug has a natural gift of keeping kids engaged
and focused, and making each child feel important. In
his Challenger Jr. camps, where each camper builds a
small rocket, Coach Doug makes sure every rocket launches
successfully. In his sports camps, he wants every kid
to remember the first time he scored a basket or kicked
a soccer ball.
"Coach Doug has a knack for making each and every
child feel important and they look up to him and want
to try to do their best," said Cindy Cheamitru,
MCRD recreation specialist in Classes and Camps. "Parents
really appreciate the way Coach Doug and his staff recognize
that each child is different, yet they are all treated
equally. Parents always light up when their child gets
special recognition and in Doug's classes, every child
gets a daily dose of special recognition."
Wilson's secret is commonly known as the "Coach
Doug Touch." He hates to turn any child away from
his classes. If he sees children in a center who are
not enrolled, he'll stop the parent and invite them
and their child to join for the day. He has a startling
number of repeat participants and campers.
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Many kids had so much fun building a rocket
and watching it launch at the Challenger Jr. camp
they attended the camp again.
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"Coach Doug's top concern is the kids and their
parents," Cheamitru said. "He has given up
his free time to help struggling children. He is genuinely
interested in kids and they know it, the parents know
it and his staff knows it."
Now, 10 years later, he gets the occasional handshake
of someone saying, "you probably don't remember
me. . ." These are grown kids who are in high school
or college, who were once a little face in a sea of
little faces. They still remember their first coach
. . . the first time they dribbled a basketball, typed
on a keyboard or heard about helmet safety.
They remember Coach Doug.
"For me, this line of work is something that's
agreeing with me," he said. "I always thought
I would go into business. But the accident is something
I cannot change and why I say it was a positive. Each
day it's a pleasure to go to work with kids and teach
them."
To see a list of MCRD's Coach Doug classes through
CTI Kids, visit the Fall
Guide on pages 64-66, 70.
