August 2021 State Fair Edition

Doc and Joni both grew up showing horses nationally. Doc used to rope and rodeo starting with the Appaloosa Horse Club, then transitioning to Illinois High School Rodeo. Joni grew up showing Quarter Horses. After having the twins, all the horses went away, and the parents started to focus on raising a family. Then, came a little brother Houston. As the twins got older, they participated in some hippotherapy, but once they got into Junior High, they wanted to participate in sports, like their younger brother Houston. Clayton tried regular basketball, but he did not make the team, so that lead his parents to look for an alternative. Which lead them to Wheelchair basketball. For the next 4 years, the Stapleton’s traveled the Midwest participating in wheelchair basketball tournaments. Ending their wheelchair careers with a top 8 finish in the Nation with the Peoria Wildcats. Through wheelchair basketball, the family learned about all different options and abilities that disabled people have. “Wheelchair ball definitely opened our eyes to the disabled community and gave us a whole new perspective of what the boys could accomplish. College, Careers, and hobbies are all things that we weren’t ever quite sure would be in the cards for them, but their peers in wheelchair ball were going to college on scholarships to play basketball and being business owners. The possibilities are endless”. Said Joni. In 2017, as the twins’ teammates were graduating and moving on to college to pursue their basketball goals, it left the family wondering what was next. Since there were not enough players to make a travel team. Then, a family friend (Rollin Head of Head Brothers in Blue Mound IL) was Artificially Inseminating the families heard of bucking cattle stock, brought up the possibility of maybe the boys all

358

Powered by