Making a difference: CYO official is
role model for youth

By Mary Ann Wyand

Adversity can be overwhelming at times.

Indianapolis resident Steve Doudt understands the challenges of adversity better than many people because his life changed forever when he sustained irreparable leg injuries during a motorcycle accident 14 years ago in North Carolina. He is now 37.

Doudt meets adversity head-on by trying to overcome it every day. He uses a wheelchair, drives a car and enjoys hunting and fishing in his spare time.

The husband and father of four children also works as a licensed basketball official for the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA), National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) and Catholic Youth Organization (CYO).

“I enlisted in the Air Force in 1987,” Doudt said after officiating two CYO girls’ high school basketball games on Dec. 20 at St. Jude School in Indian-apolis.

“I was full-time, active duty in the military for six years,” he said, “and was stationed at Fort Bragg in North Carolina when I had my motorcycle accident. That’s what brought me back to Indiana. My first months here were spent in rehabilitation.”

It only took a few seconds to sustain severe injuries during the motorcycle accident, and surgeons had to amputate his legs.

Before the accident, the U.S. Air Force sergeant served his country as a Special Operations Commando, parachuting from airplanes on covert missions around the world.

A graduate of New Haven High School near Fort Wayne, Ind., Doudt had planned to be a career military officer.

After a year of hospitalization and physical therapy, Doudt and his wife, Sherri, returned home to Indiana and settled on the far-eastside of Indianapolis in 1993. Three of their children—17-year-old Matthew, 10-year-old Casey and

4-year-old Jason—attend schools in Warren Township, where Sherri works as a teacher. Their 15-month-old son, Tyler, died unexpectedly of complications from influenza in 1999.

As part of his therapy, Doudt began participating in wheelchair athletics, and excelled in basketball and volleyball. He played for the Indiana Wheelchair Pacers basketball team for 10 years.

Doudt also is a two-time Para-Olympian in volleyball. He competed at the Atlanta Games in 1996 and at Sydney, Australia, in 2000.

He also coached several high school volleyball and basketball teams in Indianapolis. Now he enjoys officiating for basketball games.

“Now I’m a stay-at-home dad,” he said. “It was a big lifestyle change for me. I also travel a lot officiating for the National Wheelchair Basketball Association. I’m out of state almost every weekend during the NWBA season.”

Instead of asking “why” or thinking about “what if” the accident hadn’t happened, Doudt said he has learned how to maximize his physical abilities and stays positive by focusing on ability rather than disability.

“I’ve been in this chair since 1992 and I rehab every day,” he said. “I learn something new. I experience something new every single day. With hunting and fishing, I had to forge the way on my own. For me, it was all about finding it on my own. Now I want to make it easier for other people [with disabilities] by giving them opportunities to do different kinds of things. I guess the best advice is that you can’t be afraid to go out on a limb and change yourself or make a difference in somebody else’s life.”

Doudt said that he’s still the same person he was before the accident, but now he lives his life in new and different ways.

“I’m very structured, very goal-oriented, very organized,” he said. “But a lot has changed since my career in the military. I always use the analogy of going 120 miles an hour, and all of a sudden I’m going 20 miles an hour. But there’s a lot of things that I wouldn’t have now, a lot of things that I wouldn’t have been able to do, if I wouldn’t have had my accident. I look at it as I’ve been given a lot of new opportunities.”

Doudt said he encourages people to try new things in life.

“There were a lot of times that I fell on my face,” he said. “But you can’t be afraid [of failure]. You’ve got to try new things or otherwise you live with what you are and where you’re at in life.”

Doudt said his wife is a big inspiration for him.

“She is the mother of my children and is very strong in that aspect,” he said. “I admire her for her education. She’s working on her Ph.D. and teaching, and that takes a lot of work.”

Jerry Ross, assistant executive director of the Catholic Youth Organization, said Doudt is an inspirational role model for youth who meet him during basketball games.

“This is his first year officiating for CYO games,” Ross said. “He started when our boys’ basketball season began the last week of November and also has officiated for girls’ basketball games. It’s been a real treat to have him officiate games for us. He does things from his wheelchair that many able-bodied men and women are not able to do. He’s not only overcome his disability, he’s really made it work for him and has made it a positive part of his life.” †