A member of the Fort Campbell Falcons football team has been recognized for his perseverance to succeed despite adversity. According to information from DoDEA Americas, Fort Campbell High School senior, Gabriel Whitehead, has been selected as one of 39 Kentucky high school students to be selected for TomLeachKY.com’s All-Resilent Team.
The All-Resilient Team honors student-athletes from high schools across the state who have had to overcome some form of adversity to compete in sports, within the previous year. Whitehead was nominated by Falcon head football coach Josh Robins and Fort Campbell counselor Stacy Daniels.
Whitehead submitted an essay reflecting on the service of his fallen father. In the essay, Whitehead shared that while he was in third grade, his father was killed in combat. Whitehead stated that his father’s death incited a vast array of emotions, and that he became an angry child and that anger seeped into all areas of his life.
He went on to note that he learned to utilize his love of football as a coping mechanism, and that, in time, football taught him how to release his anger and to overcome his grief.