Austin Hatch Uncommon Man - 19-year-old Austin Hatch has lived a very peculiar life, and this past Sunday he achieved yet another dream, becoming a basketball player.
Austin Hatch fulfilled his dreaming by playing his first game for the University of Michigan Wolverines.
At just 8-years-old, Hatch survived a plane crash that killed his mother and two siblings. As if that wasn't enough, just 8 years ago, he was involved in yet another plane crash. Although he survived it, his father and stepmother were both killed.
Reports indicate that his father had piloted both flights that ended fatally.
The crash left Hatch in a medically induced coma; he sustained a traumatic brain injury that had doctors fearing for the worst. At 16, Hatch had to re-learn how to walk and talk all over again.
"If I would've thought of this situation before it happened to me, I wouldn't have thought I could make it either," Hatch said. "It really comes down to character, just being able to persevere in the midst of tragedy and adversity."
The 6-foot-6 basketball player said all through his long recovery he never gave hope. As he was always inspired by his parents who taught him that the difficult path was for the uncommon man.
"I can hear their voices in my head when I face a difficult situation," Hatch said. "My dad and mom raised me to be an uncommon man. The uncommon man gets up at five in the morning to go work out, to get stronger, when no one else is. It takes an uncommon man to do that when no one is looking."
Austin Hatch scored a 3-pointer in his first basketball game since the second crash and he said there were lots of tears in the locker room.
"There were a lot of tears in the locker room," he said.
"Not that the shot meant that I was totally recovered, but it was a big step in the right direction."
