Ed Reinhardt (A&S ex’87)
2016 Alumni Recognition Award Winner
It was Sept. 15, 1984 and CU football was playing in Oregon. Buffs tight end Ed Reinhardt took the ball on a routine play near the game’s end.
As he was tackled, his head struck an Oregon player, then the field. A blood vessel burst and a radically new life began.
Rushed to the hospital for immediate surgery, performed by a neurosurgeon who’d been at the game, Ed was in a coma for 62 days.
“Ed had to draw upon all of his courage and competitive spirit just to live,” said Bill McCartney, then CU’s head coach.
The 6’5”, 235-pound sophomore with a 3.65 GPA awoke to a lifetime of reinvention that should be an inspiration to us all.
“Ed’s enthusiasm and friendly spirit is not only infectious, but reassuring to his fellow campers that anything is possible,” said a Brain Injury Alliance of Colorado coordinator who has worked with Ed, who is still partially paralyzed, to raise scholarships for the group’s outdoor adventure program for adults with injuries.
For 25 years, Ed and his father, Ed Sr., have traveled the country speaking about the value of a fighting spirit. Ed, who had to relearn basic speech and movement, loves singing and acting, performing in plays and musicals, as well as at fundraisers and, from time to time, Folsom Field.
Once, before a show with Magic Moments, group that integrates performers with special needs and local actors, Ed fell backstage, injuring his hip.
Rather than leave the show, he requested a wheelchair, then took the stage.
“The show,” he’d said, “must go on.”
