FORTVILLE — Steven Hogan Jr. was sure he had broken his leg.
A pole vault attempt gone wrong at a track meet in Kokomo resulted in the pole snapping back and smacking full force into his leg. A pole designed to hurtle a 150-pound person 10 to 12 feet into the air can be dangerous if that energy is pushed in the wrong direction. That’s what happened to Hogan, and for a moment as he was sitting on the ground watching the welt form on his leg, he thought his season might be over. At the very least, his evening was surely over.
But Hogan had been through much worse than this in his relatively short life. Overcoming adversity is a daily thing for him since he lost his father to caner in November of 2016.
So after testing his leg and determining it wasn’t broken, he stood up, grabbed the pole and kept going.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
Click here to purchase photos from this gallery“I cleared 11 feet on my next attempt, which was a personal best for me,” Hogan said. “Everyone seemed pretty amazed that I was able to walk after I fell.”
Getting back up wasn’t a lesson that Hogan learned easily. During his sophomore year at Mt. Vernon High School, he found out his father, Steven Hogan Sr., had stage 4 cancer.
“It was in his brain, it was everywhere,” Hogan said. “It was a gruesome experience, I had to watch my dad deteriorate in front of me.”
Hogan responded like so many people do when faced with an incredibly painful situation. He shut down and hid the pain behind a smile.
“I was just like a rock,” he said. “I didn’t want to show any emotions. My friends would come up to me and say they were sorry about what happened and I just didn’t know what to say.”
One of his favorite teachers, Jaime Wilson, said she was shocked when Hogan’s mother told her his dad was terminally ill.
“Steven came to class every day with a smile on his face. He’s one of those people who has a genuinely cheerful spirit,” she said. “I had no idea that he was suffering. I pulled Steven aside and told him that if he ever needed anything he could talk to me.”
Hogan would just say thank you and go back to work with a smile on his face, Wilson said. Even when his dad had hours left to live, Wilson said she didn’t notice a difference in class.
“At some point, a counselor had let me know that Steven’s dad was not expected to live through the night, but Steven had decided to come to school that day anyway,” Wilson said. “I pulled him into the hallway and said that I was so sorry that he was going through all of this. We stood there and cried together in the hallway for a bit.”
Wilson said part of her job as a teacher is to be sensitive to students’ needs and do her best to help them in anyway she can.
“I try to remember that I’m not a teacher because I love science. I’m a teacher because I love kids,” Wilson said. “I have every confidence Steven is going to continue to be an amazing young man.”
Although he kept a brave face at school, inside Hogan was hurting. He went to school to get out of the house but was checked out in class. As he dad got sicker and, ultimately, passed away midway through Hogan’s junior year, Hogan’s grades plummeted.
“I honestly didn’t care about school,” he said. “I didn’t want to do school work.”
When the 2016-17 school year had ended, Hogan’s GPA was down to 1.7 and any future past high school seemed dim. Walking across the stage with a high school diploma wasn’t even a guarantee depending on how his required senior classes turned out.
Hogan credits his mom for finally snapping him out of his downward spiral in school.
“She sat me down and told me I need to get my grades up,” Hogan said. “She said I wasn’t going to get anywhere after high school unless I started putting some work in.”
So Hogan pulled himself together and attacked his school work, determined to try and climb out of the hole he had dug for himself. He also joined the track team during the spring of his junior year, which he credits as a coping mechanism for him while he was working though his dad’s passing.
“Track really helped me get out of my head,” he said. “When you’re doing bear crawls up and down stadium stairs for practice you really don’t have time to think.”
Track coach Bruce Kendall, who was an assistant last year when Hogan first started, said he has been amazed by the senior’s work ethic and perseverance.
“Steve came out for track last year and right off the bat did not appear to be a natural at anything,” Kendall said. “None of his events were bad but none of them clicked as a gift.”
Kendall said they tried Hogan at pole vault and, even though he wasn’t a natural at it, he liked it and decided to keep after that event. Little by little, Hogan started to grow into the event, even with limited coaching.
Being responsible for overseeing 16 events as coach, Kendall said 1-on-1 time is hard to provide on a regular basis. He credits Hogan with the strides the senior has made in a difficult event in just one year.
“Steve is a self-made man in this event,” his coach said. “With his own hard work and determination he is very much improved.”
Hogan recently finished second at the track and field sectionals, earning a spot in the regional meet. Kendall said Hogan’s work ethic will allow him to succeed as a walk-on at Vincennes University.
After a year of hard work and perseverance in the classroom, Hogan is starting to see some results. He said his GPA is up to 1.9 now and he’s striving to have it at a 2 by the time final grades are submitted at the end of the year. While a 1.9 GPA might not seem high to some, the fact that he has been able to improve his grades by 0.2 percentage points in less than a year is impressive, Mt. Vernon High School principal Greg Roach said.
Thanks to his academic improvement and renewed effort, Hogan has been accepted into Vincennes, where he plans to work on pre-occupational therapy and walk-on to the track team. As a junior college, or two-year institution, Vincennes will give Hogan the chance to continue to improve his grades and show bigger colleges he is a better student than his low GPA would indicate. He hopes to transfer to Indiana University after two years at Vincennes and pursue a career in athletic training.
Hogan credits his interest in the medical field to his mom, who was a registered nurse before quitting to care for his dad. The woman who helped him refocus is also the one to inspire him toward a career helping people.
About a week from walking across the stage, Hogan said he was feeling a lot of emotions about graduating and moving into the next phase of his life.
“It’s going to be a little sad for me. Part of me wants to stay for another year,” he said laughing. “But my mom would kill me.”
Ultimately, he’s ready to get his diploma and continue his education in the fall. Hogan moves on with a unique view on life and a mental fortitude most people his age simply don’t possess. The smile that so many of his teachers and classmates know well belies a hidden strength and determination to push through whatever obstacle is in his way.
