Casey Acree, Sangamon Valley
Photos by Greg Behrens
There was a time, Casey Acree is sure, that he was stymied trying to figure something out. He just can’t remember when that was.
Tying his shoes? No sweat.
Buttoning a shirt? Pie.
Catching a football? Easy.
If those tasks seem elementary, they are. Now try doing them with your left hand taped to your left shoulder.
Not so easy anymore, is it? In fact, it seems impossible. Not so; it just takes a little ingenuity. And Acree, a junior wide receiver for the Niantic Sangamon Valley football team, is practically a genius.
Acree was born with nothing from his left elbow down, leaving him with little choice but to become a master at improvisation.
“It’s just his nature to figure things out. And it’s not just manual things like tying your shoe or shooting a basketball -- it’s everything,” Casey’s older brother Cody, a sophomore defensive back on the Millikin University football team, said. “I’m sure it has something to do with his arm, but he’s like that in everything. He’s the smartest guy I know. It’s an odd day when I don’t call him and ask him about something. Geography, sports, all of it. I think he knows everything.”
Watching Casey tie football pants is a lesson in perseverance. The ends wrapped around each other, then pulled tight with his right hand, the laces now lay in loops in his lap. His left arm steadies one loop as he twists the other around and pulls tight again.
The whole process takes less than 30 seconds for Acree, but imagining doing it that way yourself, a lunch would certainly need to be packed.
“Since I was born this way, and my parents NEVER let me give up on something just because it was hard, I don’t see it as a big deal,” Acree said. “I guess it’s given me a better work ethic because I have to work harder at some things than others do. I get a lot of that from my parents, too, so I may have worked just as hard, anyway. I don’t know.”
Dealing with it his entire life has lessened the affect on Casey himself, but it hasn’t diminished the way it impresses and inspires others, including his coach.
“It’s no big deal now to see him on the field, and I think that is a great thing about Casey, is that you forget all about his arm pretty quickly,” Storm coach Michael Lee said. “He is such a great kid, and such a great athlete that it’s easy to lose sight of the fact he’s doing most of what he’s doing one-handed. But boy, he‘ll make some catches that you just scratch your head and wonder, ‘How the heck did he do that?’ ”
Acree not only plays football, but wide receiver, seemingly the last place he’d want to be. It wasn’t the first place he wanted to be, but it certainly wasn’t the last. Acree started his football career as a Junior Football League running back but switched to catching the ball when he thought he lacked the size to play in the Sangamon Valley backfield. There was never a thought of whether he could make the plays at the wideout spot.
“My brother put pads on me when I was in third grade and had me run at him,” Casey said. “He’d tackle me, throw the football to me, never treating me any different. I grew up never being treated any different, so I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be a big problem.”
He also plays defensive back, combo guard on the Storm’s basketball team and is an elite runner on the track team, posting a personal-best 4-minute, 36-second mile and qualifying for last year’s Class A State Track and Field meet.
And if people are impressed, inspired, intrigued or indifferent with his abilities despite the aberration, the formerly shy Acree welcomes it all.
“I still get a lot of stares, a lot of looks like ’what happened to him?’ ” he said. “I’m used to it, but I’d really rather they just talk to me. I’m mostly just like everyone else.”
Well, except for the exceptional student, exceptional athlete, exceptional person part of it all. And that he won’t take credit for.
“My parents are the reason I am the way I am, whatever that may be,” he said. “They never let me give up, or feel different than anyone else. I think that’s the way it should be.”
A perfect world would have Casey Acree as full in body as he is in soul. But the imperfect Acree is way past good enough, and he brings the world a little closer to ideal along the way.
Troy Hayes covers central and southern Illinois for MaxPreps. He may be reached at sportsgopher@yahoo.com.
