Sideline Stories: John LeMieux, Founder, Gorham Savings Bank Maine Amputee Open
Sports has always played a key role in my life. I played high school basketball at Mt. Ararat and as a post-graduate at Maine Central Institute. After playing at Lyndon State in the late 70’s and early 80’s, I was a college basketball coach for nine years. I earned a master’s degree from Indiana University and was a women’s assistant basketball coach at Kent State and PITT before becoming a head coach at age 28. My women’s teams at Keene State College won back-to-back Division II ECAC championships while setting school records for wins both years and I was named the New England Collegiate Athletic Conference “Coach of the Year” in 1988. After KSC, I started the men’s basketball program at Colby-Sawyer College, leading the first team, made up entirely of freshmen, to a 13-12 record against Division III varsity opponents.
I lost my left leg to cancer (sarcoma) in December, 2012. In a twenty-hour surgery the doctors cut out the cancerous left thigh and performed a rotationplasty, leaving me with my lower left leg, now attached at the hip joint, facing backward with my foot approximately 15 inches off the ground. My story of the surgery, physical recovery and emotional growth is unique but also universal. My journey is the shared path of all who have had their life upended without notice or warning; the irreversible hand of life gently guiding or firmly pushing us in the direction our life was to go. My diagnosis was no different –it was the shared experience that we are not in control. The experiences we all must confront at some point in our lives.
When I was told I had cancer I was determined to act. I just didn’t know how. I would find out as I went.
Today is the only opportunity to affect tomorrow. I learned that lesson from my high school and college basketball coaches and from studying the philosophy of some of the greatest coaches of the 20th century. People like John Wooden, who I had the great fortune to meet before his death in 2010. We are not promised anything in life, but we get to choose how we respond to what life hands us. When coaching I told my players I welcomed mistakes of commission- attempting to do something positive over mistakes of omission- being afraid to attempt something. A coach can correct and teach from something attempted, but it is impossible to correct something that never happened.
Since losing my leg I have focused on improving my golf game. I have lowered my handicap to single digits and play in regional and national tournaments for amputee and disabled golfers. Through the Amputee Association of Maine, I started the Gorham Savings Bank Maine Amputee Open- a 36 Hole tournament for amputee, disabled and able-bodied golfers held at Brunswick Golf Club. We also hold a corporate scramble and Adapted Golf Clinic as part of our events each year. Lasting relationships have formed through this event – players look forward to this experience every summer. We hope to see you in July for our 5th tournament!
After leaving coaching John began work in financial services and is the co-founder of Anton LeMieux Financial Group with partner Eric Anton. The business serves clients across the nation with offices in Falmouth, Maine and Naples and Daytona Beach, Florida
John LeMieux recently published, “Life > Limb -My journey to becoming whole. Life is greater than limb.” The book details the surgery, his recovery, and his life.