Tracking hope – Wilson, Clemons and Waltz
Students from the 11th and 12th grades are attending classes in a temporary campus that has been established in a mall.
Photo by Todd Shurtleff
Martez Wilson is something of a throwback. The senior track and field sprinter was born and raised in Joplin and doesn't hide his affection for the slow-moving Midwestern town.
“I just love the place,” he said. “It's quiet. It's nice. It's a good place to raise kids. It brings you back to a simpler time in a modern world. We're just nice town folks.”
That's why seeing one-third of the city destroyed by a tornado a year ago was so devastating. He was so depressed, he left the football team after less than a month of practices.
“Seeing all the places I used to go as a kid destroyed was really hard,” he said. “And I had to drive by the old high school every day and all the rubble. It made me not even want to go to the new school.”
Part of the resentment was derived from his own experience the day of the twister.
He and most of his family were safe, except for his brother Dion, who had rented a place with friends right in the danger zone. The living quarters were right next to Dillons Pharmacy, which was levelled by the tornado.
“It took us two hours to get to his place and when we saw Dillons destroyed, we thought the worst,” Wilson said. “The foundation of our family was shook completely.”
Two days later, Dion was found, but he had his own war stories. He'd been out simply helping people escape the wreckage, but not all attempts were successful. Watching death is never easy.
Neither is hearing people scream in pain, which is what Wilson's track teammate Lucas Waltz witnessed in the aftermath of the tornado. The senior pole vaulter helped many families dig out of the ruins, but it was a haunting memory.
Students sign yearbooks recently as the school year winds down.
Photo by Todd Shurtleff
“I remember a lot of people crying,” Waltz said. “Their whole lives were just out on the road. As soon as you were done helping one person, there was another yelling for help. You just tried to do what you could, but knowing they lost their whole life was hard.”
Joplin senior 400-meter and relay runner Tolby Clemons said getting through the pain and early rubble was a state of mind and point of view.
Like the first time he saw the old high school just days after the tornado.
“I remember seeing a classroom I had that was completely demolished and it made me think, ‘What if we had school the day of the tornado?'” Clemons said. “And then I thought, ‘What if graduation was held at school that day and not the college?'”
The slow, steady progress of rebuilding in the town, a growing affection for the mall high school and the camaraderie built on the track team helped bring Wilson, Waltz and Clemons around. Wilson said his football coach Chris Shields and track coaches Kasey Pliler (head coach) and Dustin Dixon (sprint) were key in helping him regain a new spirit.
“They were my support group, my family away from home, my help, my everything,” he said. “If it wasn't for my coaches pushing me on, I'm not sure I would have made it.
“Sports alone take your mind off all the hurt and pain we went through. It's a place to forget the traumatic experience and go to a place to put your mind and heart into something else to work on.”
Wilson said his senior year turned out to be his favorite year because of the spirit his co-students showed and all the love and support from the administration, coaches and community. It's also been uplifting to see most of the city's businesses rebuilt as well - 446 of the 553 that were destroyed have reopened.“It's completely amazing how far and fast we've come in one year,” he said. “I think us changing that sign to hope was one of the main things that really helped. We all had hope, we all had faith that we would rebuild and be stronger than we were before. That we would unite and make Joplin an even better place.”
And all that support and hard work has inspired Wilson to do far greater things after high school.
“I think of something big in science,” he said. “I want to make a giant difference in someone's life. I want maybe to be a chemist. I want to be the one who creates a cure for cancer. I know it's a long shot but I want to be someone who goes in the history books for someone who did something to help the world in a major way.”
The school's new campus will be built (foreground) on land just behind where the old campus (background) was located.
Photo by Todd Shurtleff
E-mail Mitch Stephens at mstephens@maxpreps.com or follow him on Twitter @mitchmashmax. Contine to support Joplin High School by clicking here.
