The City of Valparaiso recognized Disability Awareness Month with a presentation at the Valparaiso University Harre Union Ballroom on Wednesday, March 20.
Ellen DeMartinis, volunteer from the Disability Awareness and Inclusion Subcommittee of the Valparaiso Advisory Human Relations Council, details how this presentation aligns with what the city is all about.
“Our whole idea as a committee is to provide awareness, education, and inclusion,” DeMartinis said. “This is our second year doing this event and hopefully it continues to grow. It’s very important for everyone to be aware of people who are challenged in different ways. As a city, we want to support and help people in the community feel included in everything that’s being done.”
DeMartinis notes the process of the volunteer committee finding the speaker for this year’s event. Team Agar was invited to share their story with the community.
“We were looking for speakers that we felt would be of interest and serve a great purpose for people,” DeMartinis said. “It’s great because Team Agar has quite a story filled with accomplishments through the years. I think a lot of people can appreciate the way they’re handling their situation and creating awareness.”
Team Agar focuses on Johnny Agar and his parents, Jeff and Becki. Johnny was born with cerebral palsy and the doctors predicted he would never walk. However, Becki always believed that her son would be able to reach for the stars no matter what the task was at hand.
“When Johnny was first born, we wanted to give him a sense of belonging and let him know that he was loved,” Becki said. “We set out to raise Johnny as if he had no disability. Once he got older, we let him be the one to decide what his challenges and limitations would be.”
As Johnny grew up, Jeff noticed that Johnny quickly grew to love sports much like himself.
“We’re a big sports family,” Jeff said. “Johnny has learned a lot from looking at jersey numbers and names. He also has a phenomenal memory. Sports are what gave him a visual reminder of some of the things he wanted to get involved in.”
The biggest success to Jeff is being able to watch his son succeed and overcome what people said couldn’t be done. Johnny is what motivates Jeff to keep going. At the same time, Johnny is thankful for his father being able to help make his dreams come true.
“He really does a lot for me,” Johnny said. “He’s been my coach through it all. It’s important for me to make sure he realizes how much I love and appreciate him.”
After competing in multiple marathons and triathlons with the support of Jeff, Johnny decided that he wanted to try a race on his own in 2013.
“At the time, he had only walked 23 steps in his therapy school,” Jeff said. “That’s pretty much a walk to the mailbox. The typical person might make their next goal walking to the neighbor’s mailbox or down the street. Johnny decided that he wanted to run the mile.”
Completing the mile was a huge milestone for Johnny. As he crossed the finish line, he felt that he could finally consider himself a true athlete.
“There were two big lessons I learned that night,” Johnny said. “Those lessons were to practice acceptance and making an effort. I may have a disability that feels more apparent, but everyone has their own challenges that they face.”
Following the mile, Johnny was getting recognition all across social media. He was featured on ESPN and in several commercials. Celebrities such as Michael Phelps and Dwyane Johnson quickly became supporters of Johnny.
In 2016, Johnny and Jeff were invited to compete in their first Ironman Triathlon. They competed in the event several times but always came up short of the cutoff times.
“We watched Johnny fail numerous times, but that never fazed him,” Jeff said. “He understood that failure is a part of the process. For a lot of us, failure is an embarrassing feeling that we don’t want to happen again. With Johnny, it became second nature that eventually there is going to be a success.”
That success was found in the 2022 Ironman Triathlon. Not only did Team Agar make the cutoff time, but they did so with Johnny walking across the finish line.
In June 2023, Team Agar received the news from Pro Football Hall of Famer Peyton Manning that they were invited to compete in the 2024 Ironman World Championship. They will be competing in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.
Overall, the event was an absolute success with smiling faces lighting up the room. Mayor Jon Costas, who has also competed in endurance challenges, shared his appreciation for the presentation and the dedication of Team Agar.
“I want to offer a special thanks to Valparaiso University for hosting this event,” Costas said. “This is a very important conversation to have because one in four people live with a disability. Team Agar inspires us that when times get tough, it’s important to keep going because we’ll be able to learn from the circumstance and become stronger through it.
Team Agar was also featured in "The Impossible Mile,” a book written by Johnny about his monumental achievement. Johnny, Jeff and Becki took pictures and signed autographs for attendees after the presentation.
For more information on the City of Valparaiso, you can visit their website.