x
Breaking News
More () »

'You would never know': How Jordan Lawrence battled back from three knee injuries to become one of the area's top athletes

Jordan Lawrence excels at all three sports he plays. But it hasn't been an easy road.

It's common place to see high schoolers thrown down dunks. Maybe less so if you're 5-foot-10. Camanche's Jordan Lawrence places no limits on himself, in sports or in anything else. 

"He can jump out of a gym, seriously," said Dustin Coit, Camanche's Head Football Coach. 

"Oh my gosh, he's got to have over a 40 inch vertical," said Josh Davis, Camanche's Head Basketball Coach. 

"I like winning. I like competing. Trying to be the best I can be," said Jordan Lawrence, a senior at Camanche High School. 

Lawrence is a three sport athlete, playing football, basketball, and running track. And no, he doesn't have a favorite. 

"Normally I like what's in season," said Lawrence. 

Lucky for him, he's excelled at all three sports. 

"I would say it's a god given gift," said Sean Lawrence, Jordan's dad. 

"He's definitely gifted but you can't take away the hard work he's done," added Jordan's mom, Andrea Lawrence. 

Jordan burst onto the scene his sophomore year in football, moving to wide receiver. 

"We just knew with his explosiveness, his athleticism, his speed, he's got great hands, he's a good route runner," said Coit. 

Jordan makes incredible plays look easy, but hasn't always been that way. 

"Second to last game of the season. I caught a swing pass out of slot. My knee stayed in place and the rest of me kept going. I tore my ACL," said Lawrence. 

His torn ACL would be the first of many challenges along the way. 

"I thought it was a cramp at first but evidently it wasn't," said Lawrence. 

But one surgery and six months later, Jordan was running in the state track meet and back catching touchdowns in the fall. Until week four of the season. 

"At the end of the first quarter I got my same knee clipped and I tore my meniscus. I tried to play but coaches wouldn't let me," said Lawrence. 

He finished out the season, but he needed surgery again. 

"I couldn't let myself not got back," said Lawrence. 

"You want to think the positive that he'll be around. But there's always in the back of your mind, is he ever gonna get a chance to be apart of it with us?" said Davis. "So we're thankful that he is able to be." 

He made it back for his junior year of hoops, dunking his way to the state tournament. 

But he wasn't out of the woods yet. 

"I called my dad and said, 'Hey, can you bring my knee brace?' He said, 'For who?'" said Lawrence. "I said 'For me.'"

The other knee cap dislocated, sidelining Jordan for their run at state. The Indians finished third. 

"I know I never saw him down or upset," said Davis. "It's just a great testament to hard work and his positive outlook on life."

"He just handled it so well. I mean I have never seen him down. Have you?" Sean Lawrence asked his wife, Andrea. "No. No." Andrea Lawrence said. 

But this year, Lawrence got revenge, catching 13 touchdowns and racking up more than 900 receiving yards, and setting school records. In basketball, he's scored nearly 300 points this season and is even signed to play two college sports. 

"You would never know. You would never know that he had gone through those things with what he can do explosively in basketball, on the football field, in track," said Davis. "Yeah you would never know watching him."

All of this from a 5-10 kid with three knee injuries in two years, and just one goal now: "Make it through a sport without a major injury." said Lawrence. 

Before You Leave, Check This Out