It was a simple photograph. A photograph revealing a young love-struck couple one kissing the cheek of the other. The photograph now littered the halls of a Kingsport Tenn. high school. Life just became much harder for Zack Jenkins and his former boyfriend.
“None of them were courteous. I would get shoved up into lockers because I was a ‘faggot'” said Jenkins current Sports Editor for the Graphic.
It only took a few days for Jenkins to be alienated not only by his peers but by his cross-country team as well. Surrounded by hostility Jenkins decided to persevere.
“In that town no one will be your friend he said. I hadn’t come out of the closet yet but I was comfortable with being bisexual and I had been since I was about 12.”
Three days following the photograph incident Jenkins woke up for his usual Sunday morning run with the cross-country team. It was Sept. 29 about a week after Jenkins’ 18th birthday and about two weeks before college coaches could begin recruiting for cross-country athletes.
Jenkins jogged about a mile to school and waited for his team to arrive. No one showed up. Determined to get a scholarship to a good college and leave Kingsport behind he shrugged off his team’s ostracism and began the seven-mile run alone.
He followed the team’s usual route: He jogged through the residential track reached the downtown traffic circle passed by the enticing aromas of Krispy Kreme Donuts and crossed the local elementary school. After reaching the chemical plant Jenkins wound back to the high school.
Pausing at a traffic light Jenkins waited for the green pedestrian sign. After the light turned red the “walk” sign lit up and Jenkins slowly jogged across the street.
He saw the red Jeep Liberty too late. The driver most likely drunk ran the red light. Jenkins dove out of the way of the oncoming SUV but not far enough — the Jeep struck the lower half of his body hurtling it limply to the side of the road cracking Jenkins’ head on the curb.
A passerby found Jenkins bleeding unconscious and alone. She dialed 911.
Blinded by brightness Jenkins opened his eyes dry and heavy 13 days later. He had spent almost two weeks in a coma. It took seven surgeries to repair internal bleeding a punctured lung and fractured hip ribs and skull. The doctors said he would never run again. Maybe he could walk without a limp if he was fortunate.
“My future was gone he said.
From September to December, Jenkins’ family, two friends and his running coach were his only visitors. Over that time, Jenkins received more disturbing news. His running coach, who had been a consistent and essential form of support the past few months, was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.
He already knew how to coach himself so he started to coach me to health. He told me to take it one day at a time. If I could walk I should try taking two or three steps; if I could hop I should extend my strides; if I could take one stride I could take two then I could run Jenkins explained his coach’s advice. He was being strong for me so I needed to be strong for myself.”
Sometime in January of 2008 Jenkins began to walk again. He knew his dreams of being recruited for a cross-country scholarship were long gone but his drive to attend a prominent four-year university was as strong as ever. To be sure he would be accepted somewhere Jenkins applied to 18 colleges. Pepperdine by a fortunate circumstance capped his list at number 18.
“Pepperdine wasn’t even on my radar he said. My friend Maria said she was thinking about applying to Pepperdine because our friend went there. I asked her ‘Oh there are applications still open?’ She said ‘Yeah they’re due tomorrow.’ So I looked it up during class and thought ‘Wow that’s a nice view.'”
After class Jenkins asked his journalism professor to submit a recommendation and after school he asked his cross- country coach to do the other. “And just like that I applied.”
With a prestigious and generous scholarship from The New York Times in one hand and his 15 acceptance letters in the other Jenkins considered his financial aid and what school offered him the best options.
“I had it in my mind I was going to pay for school myself and not my parents he said.
Narrowing it down to Virginia Tech, Boston University and, surprisingly, Pepperdine, he asked the schools about the possibility of an athletic scholarship. Boston University and Pepperdine both offered a possible scholarship if he could run a five-minute mile.
So I went with a friend to the school track that night and my first mile was about 17 minutes. But I was eventually able to compete in the last two races of the track season. First of which I ran the mile in about seven minutes — which is definitely not five minutes.”
It was the last race of the season. Jenkins determined to run the five-minute mile started his last race of his high school career. Defying all of his doctors’ suppositions about his recovery Jenkins ran. Every bone and muscle in his body pounded the ground pushing him farther towards the finish line. His body weaker than his mind collapsed at the finish line.
He ran the mile in 4 minutes 59 seconds.
“As my teammate carried me to the tent I called the coach at Pepperdine and said ‘I just ran 4:59 what can you do for me!?'”
The coach called Jenkins the next day two days before graduation and congratulated him on earning the athletic scholarship.
As a reminder of his coach’s insistence Jenkins tattooed “Believe” on his left calf.
Jenkins motivated by the harsh obstacles in his past sought the freedom of financial independence. So he decided to become a young entrepreneur. By the age of 19 he was the youngest branch manager of Cutco knives in the eastern region of Tennessee. He used his financial success as a manager to make an unusual investment for a 19-year-old: Jenkins bought a vineyard.
“I saw this little farm that was for sale so I got out and walked around. The timing was just right; financially it was right. It was always a dream of mine to own a vineyard.”
Today Jenkins now a junior here at Pepperdine manages his vineyard and his employees (whom he hired from a non-profit organization that brings Third World farmers to America to build a financial base) via e-mail and phone. Jenkins’ benevolence touched even a neighboring farmer who recently willed his farm to Jenkins upon his death last year.
Busy as ever Jenkins still finds time to exercise at least twice a day. This year he decided to join the triathlon team. In addition to that he set a goal at the beginning of the year to run an ultramarathon a 100-mile trail race in April. Even after battling severe kidney stones and multiple kidney surgeries Jenkins still aims to complete the ultramarathon this spring.
“You just got to fight he says.
Believe.”
It’s tattooed on his left calf; a few inches below the knee.
“I got my tattoo in March right after I started running again because it was proof to the doctors that I could run; that because I believed in myself and because my coach believed in me I could do anything. I could climb mountains in Argentina I could recover from being hit by a drunk driver and in a coma I can start a business at the age of 19…. I’m capable of everything I imagine myself to be.”
He smiled and said “It’s a very Walt Disney idea.”