Thirty-seven-year-old William Gower has one of the most recognized faces at Munford Baptist Church.
Even though about 500 people attend worship each Sunday, everyone knows Gower. He is a deacon and helps with Awana activities every Wednesday.
Gower serves in these front-line positions despite the fact that speech is almost impossible for him and he uses a wheelchair, because he has cerebral palsy.
He’s formed an especially close bond with Pastor Tim Thomas, and together they have embarked on a rather remarkable venture — running races.
“We’ve been running for four years together,” Thomas said. “I’m blessed to be a part of William’s life like I am now.
“You’ll not meet another more liberated man as far as his mind-set,” he added. “When we run and I push him, he has a freedom you and I can never understand.”
The inspiration for this unique partnership stemmed from a similar duo in Massachusetts: the father/son running team of Dick and Rick Hoyt, who formed Team Hoyt. Rick Hoyt, like Gower, was born with the umbilical cord around his neck, leading to cerebral palsy.
“We were watching a video on the Hoyts in church, and I leaned over in the middle of the video and said to William’s mother, ‘We can do this,’” Thomas said. “So we modified a wheelchair and started racing.”
Now, more than 30 races later, Thomas and Gower are seasoned runners.
Recently they’ve formed a foundation, Team Gower, to help raise money for Gower’s expenses. At the moment, he needs a new van to help him get around. The one he and his mother are using currently is a 1986 model with almost 300,000 miles on it.
The inaugural Team Gower event was held April 17, helmed by the five-person Team Gower Committee. Together Thomas and Gower ran 15 miles from the campus of Jacksonville State University to Chick-fil-A in Oxford.
“It was so touching to see the support of the community,” said Kelly Rollins, a member of the Team Gower Committee and financial secretary at the Coosa River Baptist Association church. Rollins drove a van just ahead of Thomas and Gower during the run, so she had a front-row seat to the outpouring of support.
“The finish was the ultimate,” she said. “Our church really showed up and supported this. We had sold bright hot pink T-shirts, and that’s all you could see. It was like someone had poured Pepto everywhere. It was very moving at the finish line.”
And it was monetarily successful, too. In just two weeks, Team Gower raised $21,000 to go toward Gower’s new wheels.
Even though Thomas is the one pushing roughly 160 pounds in front of him each race, he said he’s been the one who has been blessed.
“I see the introspective part of William’s heart that I wouldn’t have seen otherwise,” Thomas said.
“I’m seeing life through his eyes, and I’m so blessed that I have. I have this one-on-one relationship with him, and he’s taught me things that seminary and Bible studies have never taught me. I’m so blessed to be his legs when we run.”
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