Josh Fugate has endured more in his life than many can even imagine. And while his reality changed in the blink of an eye, his perseverance and adaptability has carried him through some of his life’s toughest moments.  

After coming off of a successful start to his senior basketball season, Josh’s season only seemed like it could get better. Until January 10th, 2018, just days after one of his best games, Josh suffered a season ending back injury at practice.

A collision with a teammate ended his season during an intense drill called spartan rebounding, intended to strengthen players.

“I went to block my guy out, and I started falling down, and he jumped in the air at the same time to get the ball. He got stuck on my shoulders. He landed on my shoulders and I just folded in half and so my T-11 vertebrae and spine broke right in half.”

In July of 2018, Josh was on a lake trip with his friends, shortly after recovering from his back injury. Josh went down a water slide headfirst, and hit his head at the bottom, ultimately leaving him paralyzed from the neck down. 

After many hard surgeries and weeks in the hospital, Josh and his mom relocated to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta to begin rehab. Despite the tough reality of rehab, Josh was determined to remain optimistic for his family.

“I noticed how much they were sacrificing for me, so for me to have a bad attitude or take it out on them, I rationalized pretty early, you can’t act like that or do that. They put their whole entire life on hold for me, so the least I could do was give the effort and try to be positive and do the best that I can because everyone did the best they could for me.”

Josh’s dad told him that his life isn’t going to be any different than it was before, he is only going to have to do things differently now. 

That mindset carried him through his rehabilitation journey, and a year later, he was eager to go to school. 

Josh knew initially he wanted to do something with sports. He randomly signed up for a sports broadcasting class, fell in love with it, and knew this was the career for him. 

After taking a class with IU Professor Cheryl Owsley Jackson, she encouraged him to take her broadcasting class. 

Professor Jackson knew Josh would need to use a camera for her class, and got in touch with fellow IU professors Jim Kelley and Allen Major to help her with this idea. 

Jackson said she had no idea how they would make this camera, but she knew it had to work.

And thanks to Josh’s dedication and willingness to work with the professors, they eventually created a camera that attaches to his wheelchair, and allows him to do all the same things his classmates can do. 

Allen Major, the director of multimedia at Indiana University’s Media School, helped design the camera to give Josh the most flexibility possible with the camera.

“Josh doesn’t have fine motor skills on his finger tips, so the more leverage movement we can create will help his movement with the camera.”

Josh’s dedication to his craft is only growing, as he now works as an ADA consultant for the Pacers. 

His mindset has carried him to where he is now, and with it in check, he can only grow from here.

Josh’s dedication, persistence and optimism has allowed him to take advantage of various opportunities within the sports industry. Through his continued desire for success, he has a bright future ahead.