Kori Ellis
11-26-2004, 04:05 PM
A Special Coyote Thanksgiving
http://cctvimedia.clearchannel.com/woai/timderk-thanskgiving.jpg
Don's Extra Point
by Don Harris
Ticket 760 Sports on News 4 WOAI
He suffered a stroke, and you reacted in an outpouring of love. Former Spurs Coyote Tim Derk and his family are celebrating a special Thanksgiving. He went from being paralyzed and unable to speak, to being back at work in his new role with the Spurs. And he owes a lot of that to you.
“For us Thanksgiving it means even more than this year than before,” explains Tim Derk. ”There’s no way to thank everybody.”
Maybe there is. Thanksgiving is special this year for Tim and Colleen Derk. He's back at work, back on the road to recovery and more than anything getting back to normal because of San Antonio's support.
“What this year has done is really clarified what it means to be grateful,” explains Tim’s wife Colleen. “When you’re thankful that you can move your thumb, then you have a lot to be grateful for.”
And grateful for an outpour that is nothing short of amazing.
“For us it was overwhelming,” said Colleen.
”There were over 10 thousand cards, letters and emails from people,” said Tim. “And I don’t mean figuratively ‘10 thousand;’ I mean more than 10,000 actual emails.”
One email Tim read for us was from a little boy named Johnny which said,”My name is Johnny. I am seven years old. I think you’re funny. You make me laugh. I remember when you dropped a cake on the face…” Tim was cracking up too much to continue that one.
They came from everywhere. Tim and Colleen showed some of the remote locations...
”Here's one from Holland,” said Tim.
“This one's from the Philippines,” said Colleen.
“This one’s from Istanbul, Turkey,” said Tim. “This one’s from Spain. This one’s from, is that in French?”
Tim & Colleen read us a few more of the emails…
“The coyote always took time out for kids, posing for pictures, writing autographs and such.”
“I enjoy seeing you bring joy to my daughter’s eyes every time you hit the court.”
And it wasn’t just Spurs fans that emailed Tim. A Laker fan wrote, "Get well bro, you’re just as much a part of the league to us as Tim Duncan is. Our prayers go out to you and your family. We want to see you come playoff time."
Another fan wrote, “Well I will no longer take professionals, my wife or my kids for granted. I will now express my feelings more frequently and now I begin with you.”
“You don’t want to say it out loud, but that is more valuable to me than any paycheck,” explains Tim.
“I think the lesson for all of us is that the things we do whether we get feedback for it or not immediately, somewhere down the road it's going to come back,” said Colleen.
”To have the fans say ‘thank you’ and to give me the chance to say thank you to them; to me as a performer it gives me the chance to exhale, like if gave my work all I had” explained Tim. “It’s like I finished a race and I have my hands on my knees and just exhaling. It’s just unbelievable. Rather than just be depressed about not being able to do anymore. I give thanks on Thanksgiving for having been able to do it for so long.”
Tim is now, the director of mascot development for the Spurs, Rampage and Silver Stars. So the future of comedy at the SBC Center is in good hands. And it's been great to see him back at the arena again.
Watch this Story (http://www.woai.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=1F6D22AA-4522-4851-AFEB-382B72B8CBF7)
http://cctvimedia.clearchannel.com/woai/timderk-thanskgiving.jpg
Don's Extra Point
by Don Harris
Ticket 760 Sports on News 4 WOAI
He suffered a stroke, and you reacted in an outpouring of love. Former Spurs Coyote Tim Derk and his family are celebrating a special Thanksgiving. He went from being paralyzed and unable to speak, to being back at work in his new role with the Spurs. And he owes a lot of that to you.
“For us Thanksgiving it means even more than this year than before,” explains Tim Derk. ”There’s no way to thank everybody.”
Maybe there is. Thanksgiving is special this year for Tim and Colleen Derk. He's back at work, back on the road to recovery and more than anything getting back to normal because of San Antonio's support.
“What this year has done is really clarified what it means to be grateful,” explains Tim’s wife Colleen. “When you’re thankful that you can move your thumb, then you have a lot to be grateful for.”
And grateful for an outpour that is nothing short of amazing.
“For us it was overwhelming,” said Colleen.
”There were over 10 thousand cards, letters and emails from people,” said Tim. “And I don’t mean figuratively ‘10 thousand;’ I mean more than 10,000 actual emails.”
One email Tim read for us was from a little boy named Johnny which said,”My name is Johnny. I am seven years old. I think you’re funny. You make me laugh. I remember when you dropped a cake on the face…” Tim was cracking up too much to continue that one.
They came from everywhere. Tim and Colleen showed some of the remote locations...
”Here's one from Holland,” said Tim.
“This one's from the Philippines,” said Colleen.
“This one’s from Istanbul, Turkey,” said Tim. “This one’s from Spain. This one’s from, is that in French?”
Tim & Colleen read us a few more of the emails…
“The coyote always took time out for kids, posing for pictures, writing autographs and such.”
“I enjoy seeing you bring joy to my daughter’s eyes every time you hit the court.”
And it wasn’t just Spurs fans that emailed Tim. A Laker fan wrote, "Get well bro, you’re just as much a part of the league to us as Tim Duncan is. Our prayers go out to you and your family. We want to see you come playoff time."
Another fan wrote, “Well I will no longer take professionals, my wife or my kids for granted. I will now express my feelings more frequently and now I begin with you.”
“You don’t want to say it out loud, but that is more valuable to me than any paycheck,” explains Tim.
“I think the lesson for all of us is that the things we do whether we get feedback for it or not immediately, somewhere down the road it's going to come back,” said Colleen.
”To have the fans say ‘thank you’ and to give me the chance to say thank you to them; to me as a performer it gives me the chance to exhale, like if gave my work all I had” explained Tim. “It’s like I finished a race and I have my hands on my knees and just exhaling. It’s just unbelievable. Rather than just be depressed about not being able to do anymore. I give thanks on Thanksgiving for having been able to do it for so long.”
Tim is now, the director of mascot development for the Spurs, Rampage and Silver Stars. So the future of comedy at the SBC Center is in good hands. And it's been great to see him back at the arena again.
Watch this Story (http://www.woai.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=1F6D22AA-4522-4851-AFEB-382B72B8CBF7)