“The only limitations we have are those we put upon ourselves,” former NBA player Neal Walk said. “All there is, is now.”
Walk inspired the 60 to 70 people who attended his lecture, at the Downtown campus Thursday night, with his positive outlook on life.
“We have to be able to embrace our good and our bad, otherwise you’re a pendulum that swings in one direction and we both know that doesn’t happen,” Walk said.
Twenty-three years ago, Walk was confined to a wheelchair after losing the ability to walk when a tumor was removed from his spinal chord.
Before the surgery, Walk was a world-class athlete. He played professional basketball for the Phoenix Suns, New Orleans Jazz and the New York Knicks.
Although, his professional ball days were cut short due to his disability, Walk decided the game of life still went on.
“What I took away from it, was how he got us all to interact with him and how positive of a person he is,” Leandra Steele, a sophomore nursing student, said after the lecture.
When he was formally introduced at the beginning of the lecture, Walk clarified that he is not confined to a wheelchair; it’s just a tool to get him from point A to point B.
“I’m no hero; I’m no victim. I just deal with what is,” Walk said.
His positive outlook moved Eva Figueroa, a freshman in ASU’s College of Public Programs.
“It was interesting seeing him up there in a wheelchair, talking just like one of us,” Figueroa said. “I like his humbleness.”
Throughout the night Walk stressed the importance of dealing with what is in front of you presently and being where you are.
“It’s all about being open for the pass, keeping your eyes open and being ready,” he said. “So be here now.”
Walk’s lecture on “Sports and Disability” kicked off the Fall 2010 Humanities Lecture Series, sponsored by ASU’s School of Letters and Sciences at the Downtown Phoenix campus.
Today, Walk works for the Phoenix Suns in the Community Affairs department, archiving digital photos.
Contact the reporter at jehoagla@asu.edu
