MAPLE HEIGHTS, Ohio — If you're going through a rough time, this story may be what you need to hear.
Meet Corwyn Collier, a teacher at Maple Heights High School, but also a face you may now see at the checkout counter -- all because he never gave up.
He is a teacher, a caring track coach, a decorated athlete, a body builder, a dedicated father and even a published author. For a while, though, Collier saw himself as something different. His life changed after he was injured serving the Army in Iraq.
"So we left and went to Iraq in 2009. Unfortunately, during that time period, I was hit by a roadside bomb and had extensive injuries to the point where they had actually thought I was not gonna make it because I had lost so much blood," he explains. "I would never wear shorts because I didn't want anybody to see my legs. I would keep my hand in my pocket because I never wanted people to see my hand. I had all these different anxieties."
Though he lost most of his leg and hand, he says losing his drive and sense of purpose is what set him back the most. He says he remembers two points of feeling so down that he didn't see another way out.
"The first low point is the very first time I tried to get up and walk. I couldn't. I couldn't stand up and walk. I remember just crying my eyes out," he says.
Collier says the second moment was when his wife was pregnant with their third son. He was still undergoing therapy to regain full mobility, and he didn't know how to be there for his son.
"I was so worried about how my son would view me as far as with the injuries and things like that. She kind of helped, too, she was like, 'He's only gonna know you as you.'"
That is when he started therapy. He attended twice a week, even doing group therapy for a while. Collier went on to graduate from the University of Akron with a degree in education. It just so happened that his alma mater, Maple Heights High School, needed a history teacher at that time.
So 10 years later, Collier has turned his pain into purpose.
"I do so many different one-on-one sessions, and like I said, most of the time it's just kids want to vent," he says.
Collier now uses what he learned in therapy and the Army to relate to his kids. He not only teaches them during class hours, but mentors them after school. He says he still has past student who reach out for advice as they get older.
"I'm like, trust me. If you look at your life, you'll realize you got way more ups than you got downs. And I think that's what I try to get them to understand as they come through this door," he says.
That determination, landed him on the cover of Men's Health for January as the winner of their "Ultimate Guy 2023" competition. He says he was scrolling through Instagram last year and saw the contest. Even though he'd tried out many previous years and never made it, something told him to try again. Collier traveled to the TODAY show in December for what he thought was an interview for the competition, but was surprised live on the air as the winner.
"It caught me off guard because I really didn't think I was gonna win. Like I said, I was just happy to be a finalist," he laughs.
Collier now sees himself a bit different. On top of athlete, veteran, teacher, Purple Heart recipient and author, he can add "Men's Health Ultimate Guy" to his resume.
But he credits the people in his life for getting him to today.
"We were outside one day and I finally got to see him run on his leg again for the first time, and that was truly cool," his son, and Junior Olympic track athlete, Malachi Collier, smiles.
"He's been through a lot, because I feel like it's a reward for him. He deserves it," says freshman track athlete Aliyia Jones.
"I always tell them, I grew up here. I'm from the same neighborhood y'all are from, and I'm making things happen that most people would have gave up and quit on," Collier says. "And I always tell them, I never quit. I might have had a down moment but I never quit."
Collier also shared his story in book form. To buy a copy of his book Counted Out, click here.
WKYC previously featured Collier in our Danielle Wiggins' series "Rising." You can watch that story from 2017, below:
