Not everyone knows what they want to do with their life as a young teen, but Donald Widener did – with a little help from his sister and a perceptive coach.
Donald almost didn’t make it out of the hospital – he was a premature baby and the doctors discussed euthanizing him. Coming from a poor Black area of Cleveland, the standards for care were different before the Civil Rights Act. However, Donald’s mother and grandmother would have none of that and brought him home in a shoe box.
Early youth was difficult as Donald fought to overcome numerous issues with delayed development of walking, speech and learning abilities. He doggedly progressed and was playing basketball and touch football as a pre-teen. A horrific leg break while playing football affected his ability to jump and shoot. That’s when his younger sister Carmen encouraged him to come play with her in a summer tennis camp. As you will discover in the following edited conversation with Donald, she had a humorous ulterior motive.
