By SARAH OTTO
Staff Reporter
After being told he was blind in one eye, Brock White did not let that affect his rodeo career for a minute.
“September 2, 2013 is a day I will never forget, it was the start of the greatest journey God has given me,” said NWOSU rodeo team member Brock White. That day White and a few of his friends thought they had a great idea to steer wrestle team roping steers that had never been bulldogged before. After they followed through with their “great” idea, things would quickly take a turn for the worse for White. It was White’s turn to steer wrestle, and the steer’s horn stabbed White in his eye. “I literally thought my eye fell out. All I could see was black, and I could feel a terrible throbbing pain. I haven’t ever felt a pain like it. People always tell me they could only imagine what the pain was like, but it isn’t even imaginable because of how awful it was,” White said.
White was taken to the emergency room by his closest friends, and cared for by his friends and family. He soon went to an eye doctor, and received news no one would ever want to hear. “I was told I would never see again out of that eye. I tore my optic nerve and detached my retina,” said White. He went on to talk about how tearing his optic nerve was by far the worst out of the two. “Once your nerves are torn there is not a way to fix the problem, or put them back together,” White said with a grimace on his face.
These setbacks White has been faced with did not hold him back for long. He said he gets tired of running into things due to him not seeing. He brought up rodeoing with only one eye and said, “It really messes up my depth perception when I steer wrestle. The run may look good to someone else, but to me the steer looks a lot farther away than it is.” The depth perception issue is a frustrating misfortune for White, but he puts his trust before his frustration. He said without his trust he would struggle way more than he already does. “I really have to put my trust in my horse and hazer because all I can see is the steer. I can’t see what is to my left or in front of me, and that is always in the back of my mind. The other steer wrestlers are real supportive, and that helps a lot.” White said.
White got sentimental when he started talking about how his accident has improved his life. He said at first he felt worthless, but he looked past those thoughts and asked God to help him push through all his obstacles. He now owns his own rental business and is still rodeoing for the college and in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. Northwestern is in the Central Plains Region where White is splitting six and seventh overall in the steer wrestling standings.
White said, “God wanted this to happen to me so I wouldn’t change it for the world. It has given me more confidence and is who I am. A friend of mine once told me ‘God gives his toughest soldiers the toughest battles’ and since that day I have pushed past the doubts I had in the beginning.”
Support has been a huge factor in where White is today. He said, “Stockton Graves, Northwestern’s head rodeo coach, has been the best coach I could ever ask for. He knows when and what to say in order for me to keep pushing forward,” said White. He also thanked the Northwestern rodeo team, friends and family for all the help and support during his accident. Jesse Oberlander, a Northwestern rodeo team member and close friend to White, said, “Brock always pushes me to do better even after I make a bad run at a rodeo. He never let his accident stop him from being supportive and pushing me to do my best.” Oberlander made it apparent that White impacts and pushes others more than he may realize.
White said with a smile, “To any rodeo contestant that faces a challenge and thinks they can’t prevail past it, throw those thoughts away. If you put your mind to something, you can achieve it.”