The article below was in today's Spokesman Review newspaper. Go Travis we are all so proud of you!! :)
Thanks to football coach, Shadle grad finds new life
Putnam credits Pritchard family for past four years
BY CINDY HVAL
Correspondent
DAN PELLE The Spokesman-Review
Everyone has a defining moment – a point in time when life as they know it changes and will never be the same. For Travis Putnam that moment came when he was 14. “I was at Boy Scout camp,” he recalled. “Part way through the week I noticed people were treating me differently.” When camp was over, instead of taking him home, his Scoutmaster took him to his grandparents’ house. Putnam didn’t understand why, but he soon found out.
“My grandparents told me my dad had died,” he said. His father had fallen asleep at the wheel and been killed in a car accident. In that moment Putnam lost everything most dear and familiar to him and embarked on a frightening journey into the unknown.
“My dad and I were really close,” he said. “My mom wasn’t in the picture. He had to work full time to support me and my sister, but he still took time to take me to Laser Quest and help me earn Boy Scout badges.”
Putnam struggled with his loss. He didn’t get along with his grandparents. “I ran away a lot,” he said. He lived for a few months with his bachelor cousin but said he knew he needed more structure. He needed a family.
And finally, at his point of greatest need, he found someone, or perhaps someone found him.
Putnam had always been passionate about football. His eighth-grade coach especially,
had made an impression on him. “He was one of my favorite mentors. He was strict but made it (football) fun.”
That coach, Cory Pritchard, heard that his former player was floundering. He and his wife, Julie, invited Putnam to dinner. When Putnam recalls that night his voice thickens. “They offered
me a place to live,” he said quietly. “It was an emotional night.”
With his living situation taken care of, Putnam began high school. The burly football player worked hard both on the field and in class. He trains hard to keep his body strong, but it’s his inner strength most impresses those who know him.
Guidance counselor Megan Decker described Putnam as a “big, strong weightlifter who is also kind and sensitive.” Decker said Putnam has earned the respect of his peers as well as the school staff. “He works hard to maintain integrity in his academic and personal life and exemplifies all the best qualities we hope for in our future leaders.”
Putnam plans to attend Brigham Young University-Idaho this fall and hopes to become a physical therapist. He said Shadle has been a great place for him.
Still, his loss is always with him. “There’s times I miss my dad a lot,” he said. But he’s thankful for the Pritchard family. “Cory treats me like a son.”
As he thought about the twists and turns his life has taken since that singular moment four years ago, Putnam said, “I think my dad would say, ‘You’re doing a good job – keep it up.”
Voices correspondent Cindy Hval
can be reached at
dchva@juno.com.
Here is a group photo of all of us that came out to cheer him on. We all had t-shirts that read "
