Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Zion Clark - The Inspiring Story of the Wrestler Born Without Legs

Episode Date: September 1, 2021

Zion Clark is an amateur wrestler and track star born without legs due to a condition called Caudal Regression Syndrome. He joins Chris Van Vliet for an in-person interview in Los Angeles to share his amazing story of overcoming every obstacle that has been put in front of him including being placed in several different foster homes for the first 17 years of his life. He is now chasing his dream to become a Olympian and also a professional MMA fighter. Make sure to check out the documentary short about his life on Netflix called "Zion" and his new book is called "Unmatched". For more information on Zion Clark visit: http://zionclark.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests.  For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://chrisvanvliet.com Follow CVV on social media: Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are good. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris. The! Oh, yeah, welcome back to another audio adventure. Welcome back to Insight. I'm Chris Van Pleat. Thanks for being with us for an amazing conversation with an amazing and inspiring guest. You might recognize Zion Clark from his documentary on Netflix, which is simply titled Zion.

And if you haven't seen this, I can't recommend this enough. It's a super quick watch too. It's just 11 minutes long. It's a documentary short. So when you're done with this episode, pop on Netflix and check it out. You also might recognize Zion from being in Sports Illustrated

or from being on the Ellen show or from the huge following that he's amassed on social media. You know, it's hard to miss the bad-ass wrestler with no legs who just keeps beating everyone. You can find him on Instagram at Big underscore Zee.

underscore 2020. You can find him on TikTok. He's at Big Z. No excuses. And no excuses is a theme that you'll be seeing throughout this whole conversation. And just in general, throughout Zion's whole life, the next time that you think you can't do something or you're too lazy to do something, just think about this interview and think about everything that Zion has overcome to be where he's at now. from the fact that he was born with no legs to being in and out of different foster homes, he gets into it. In fact, let's get right into it right now. It was such a pleasure to welcome him into my home.

I'm so glad that he drove up from San Diego to make this conversation happen. Please, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Zion Clark. Thank you so much for coming to my place. Yes, sir. I appreciate you having me here, man. Zion Clark in the house, literally in my house right now. Yeah. So you're living in San Diego now.

Yeah, me and my girlfriend just moved out here about four months ago, like the little Italy area. It's so, it's awesome, you know. You know, planes fly right over your house and it shakes a little bit, but, you know, we have soundproof windows. So it's very calming. And the view is awesome. You can see the naval base and the airport and the city all in one view. So what made you decide to move to the West Coast?

Work opportunities, a lot more training opportunities to get. better at what I do. I had made a name for myself in the wrestling world and the track and field world. And now I've got these opportunities to work with great people like Anderson Silva, Tyrone, Tyrone Woodley, Chuck Lidoux, A.J. McKee, Joey Davis. These guys are some of the biggest hitters in the world. Yeah. And they're like my brothers, you know, at this point, years later.

Because they see the ability that I have to put somebody down just like they can. But yeah, I might not have legs, but I work just as hard. harder than you do. And then that's what gives them respect. You can't just walk into a gym like that. I think you're going to be the man because they're going to really show you why you aren't the man. You walk in there and you work your hardest. That's how you earn their respect.

And those guys, you know, that's mainly the reason why I came out here is because of those guys. Well, look, I think there's so many people that know there's opportunities somewhere else. And they go, yeah, but I don't know anybody in California. See, that's how I was. I didn't really know anybody, especially one of the first times I came out. here. I didn't know my boy Craig. I didn't know Mada. I didn't know anybody. I just knew my boy Joey. And that's about it. Yeah. And, you know, after I came out here, I started making connections and I started to build a little friend group out here. But for the most part, I still don't really know

anybody out here. But I know enough people to where I can be comfortable. I've made some friends. I'm able to work to my heart's desire, to my content. I'm able to have a good life of my girl. I'm able to still travel and inspire people. And that's what I want. Like, you don't need to have a giant group of friends to enjoy your life, you know. Well, it comes down to what you have tattooed on your back, what it's on the back of your shirt right now. No excuses. It comes down to this idea of like, you're not making any excuses for yourself.

Never. You know, excuses, they are, they suck. You know, excuses, they stink. And nobody likes anything that stinks. Just to put it simply. Yeah. And, you know, like, when you make an excuse about something, you're just letting yourself down. You're not letting other people down.

In some cases, you might let someone else down by making an excuse. But at the end of the day, you're letting yourself down because you didn't achieve that goal that you set for yourself. And people need to understand why I have no excuses on my back is even if I fail a goal or if I don't achieve what I'm trying to do, I'm not going to make an excuse. I'm not going to give you a sob story. I'm going to be like, yeah, well, I failed. And I'm just going to try again. And that's just pretty much how it should be, at least in my book. So this is a shirt people can buy, right?

Yeah, it's from my merch store. This shirt says defy all odds. You can spin around. People can see this if you want. It's like I'm on one of those things you see in the stores where there's just like the mannequin. Right. But yeah, there it is. No excuses.

Okay. Yeah. So where can people get this? You can get it on the link in my bio on my Instagram. It directs you directly to Zion, noexcuscuses.com. And right there you'll see everything, see my story, see what my plan, my vision is. And actually with these shirts and the merch store, I'm going to start some fundraising for the foster care system to start helping these kids out that might not have a home or they're aging out of the system to give them a little boost to get them out there in life so they can become a positive impact in our community. So we'll dig into that part of the story here in a second.

But let's start at the beginning. It'd be so easy for you to have any excuse. you want. Yeah. Let's start at the beginning. This is how you were born, right? Yes, sir. It's called a Caudle Regressin syndrome. That's a very rare disease. Me personally, I've only ever met one person in my entire life with the same condition, which is crazy because like a lot of different disabilities, you can find a lot of people with those disabilities, not mine. Mine is so rare that's like one out of every couple hundred thousand are born with it each year. So being said, like with that being said, growing up the way I did and just growing up being me is very different. You know,

you're lower to the ground. As a child, I was only about two feet tall. How much did you weigh when you were born? I think it was, I've seen the birth records two or three times. It was like three pounds, like three, four pounds, like very, very small. Not everybody that is born with what you have doesn't have legs, right? Yeah, not everybody. Just because you have called a regress and doesn't mean that you won't have legs. It might mean that you have a spinal issue or it could mean it's mainly spinal issues for the most part and how it affects the rest of the development of your body. Because, you know, your nervous system goes through your spine and goes out through

your entire body. If those signals aren't being sent right, especially in the development of the child, it can come out with different types of birth defects. In my case, I obviously, I wasn't born with legs and I'm missing the lower portion of my spine. And that's what I had to deal with. I met a lady in Phoenix, Arizona, my very first professional track meet, and she had the same condition. And she was actually missing the same part on her spine that I was on mine, plus another about three, four inches of her spine. Same thing. She didn't have legs, but she had a harder time moving around just because the condition

was a lot more severe than it was for me. Wow. So you were right into foster care. as an infant. Yeah, my birth mother, she was a drug addict in and out of jail constantly. When I was born, I had pretty much every party drug in my system that you could think of. Wow. And most kids, they don't survive after that first day, especially if a mother is marinating their unborn child in such drugs. Wow. So have you ever met your birth mother, your birth father? I did. I actually don't know who my father is, but my birth mother, it was right at. So in high school, I had trained for like about two months for my first season of track and field and came out with two state titles and being a four-time place. Right. And I remember there was like I was a third person in my school's history to become a two-time champion, right? Yeah. So like there's like billboards and stuff, like all around the city, newspapers, back.

magazines because like I was up there with I'm up there with the guys I've made history now you know yeah and I'm on the bus and we passed like I'm on the public transit bus I'd ask my mom like mom you take me to the mall to hang out my friends she said no take the bus so I was like all right I guess I'll take the bus so I'm on the public transit bus and this lady gets on the bus and she walks in with one leg and she sits down right next to me and I'm thinking nothing of it I'm just minding my own business just sitting on my phone like probably about to go get kicked out of the mall with my friends. You know, like, I was really about to, like, we were about to go have some fun.

Yeah. And she looked at me and she said, Zion. And I looked at her, I said, how you know my name? And then she said my full name that I was given at birth from her that only at that point in time, only people that knew that was my adoptive mom, me and my caseworker. Wow. And that was it. Yeah.

So when she had said that, that made, I was like, I literally was like, who are you? Like, how do you know this? Like, nobody just knows that type of information about me unless I tell them. Right. And at that point, I ain't told nobody. So she was like, my name is Melanie. And I knew who my birth mother's name was. So I said, Melanie Daniels.

She said, yeah, I'm your mother. And I literally was just completely in just absolute shock for a second. Sure. Because at that time, I was 18. So just graduated high school, just won state championships, just won a national championship. Junior National Championship. Man, it was like, I didn't know what to say. And she was like, I've been looking for you.

Like, all this blah, blah, blah. Like, I've missed you. Our whole family, been talking about you. I bet they have. I've been on ESPN. Yeah. I've been on national television, beating people up on the mat and winning track meets. Like, of course, they've seen me because I've been on legit TV.

Yeah. And you're becoming a star. And like, when she said that she'd been looking for me for years, and all this other crap, it really rubbed me the wrong way. You're like, I'm not that hard to find. No. No, like I stick out like a sore thumb. I'm the only person like me in the entire city.

You know what I mean? Like I'm literally the only person with no legs in the whole city of Massland in Canton, Ohio. Yeah. And, you know, I told her, I was like, how have you been looking for me when you could have just gone to the agency, asked to see how I'm doing, asked to even set up a visit with my foster mom and my adoptive mom and me like I would have been down for something like that if she would have done it the right way not randomly meet me on the bus and then lying to me saying that she'd been looking for me because if you really were looking for your child you would

have shown the effort and you would have went to the agency you would have contacted my mom you would have contacted my family and let them know that this is what you want to do but you know I just ended up getting off the bus about five miles early than I had to. And I just pushed my wheelchair, my wheelchair, that five miles to the mall. Because you were so angry. Not even angry. I didn't know what to think. It was like just pure shock.

Yeah. It was like there was anger. There was, like I was angry. I was surprised. I was sad. I was hurt. Like, there was not any sense of like happiness at all.

But everything else I felt because she practically put me through hell growing, like not taking care of herself. Being in and out of jail, being in jail, being in jail. She literally was in jail, had me, went back to jail. And it just like, you don't, you didn't put that effort to turn your life around for your kids. And I'm not her only kid. There's like five of us. There possibly might be even two more that I don't know about that I'm just now finding out about, like just a couple weeks ago.

So you're feeling like abandoned. It's not even abandoned, man. At that point, at that point, I definitely felt unwanted growing up because a lot of the families I were with, I don't think they knew how to raise me or they didn't know how to care for me in a sense that I was different. And this is in foster care you're talking about. Like, for example, I had to wear these prosthetics.

And they like look like regular legs, I had to sit in his brace. And I would get sent to school with it. For like the earlier stages of my life wearing the prosthetics, the, excuse me, earlier in my life, the prosthetics were to help me straighten my spine out because when I was about two or three, I had back surgery to keep my spine, like, intact. And so I understood that early on as a kid. Like, if I'm going to walk on my hands and do all these things that other kids do, I have to be in this brace. Sure.

So that understandable, but once I got to like middle school, so now I'm like 12, 13, 14, I started realizing that like, okay, I'm moving around just fine. I'm wrestling just fine. I'm playing on the playground just fine. Why do I have to wear them at school and at home? I'm wearing them for 18 out of 24 hours out of the day. You know what I mean? Yeah.

And it got to the point where it was like a punishment. And so I'm just like, okay, I don't need to do this anymore. I don't need this. I'm with my own man. I'm my own person. Just because I don't look like you doesn't mean I don't have to look like me. You know, and that's one of the things I dealt with growing up. And it would get so bad to where, like, say that something broke on the prosthetics,

the nurse of the school would call home and then I would get either smacked, spanked, punched, put in the corner, locked outside, locked in my room, no dinner, no lunch, no lunch money at school just because of one little incident, just over-the-top punishment for something that could happen to anybody. And it just, that's the type of crap I had to deal with, man, because me, if I was a parent and I had a kid like me and they had to wear these prosthetics. And one, if they were, one, after the actual issue of their actual body being repaired from wearing them, after that was solved, I would make sure they had the choice to wear it.

I wouldn't force them. I want to force my kid to wear them just to look like everybody else. That's what families would do. They'd be like, like, you need to look like everybody else. You have to look like everybody else. I didn't want to look like everybody else. And just because I was defiant on the point of not wanting to look like everybody else and just look like me, I would get in trouble.

Wow. Yeah, it's crazy, right? Well, so when did you get comfortable with being you? I've always been comfortable with being me. It's just the other families, the other foster families I will go through. And don't get me wrong, I did have a couple good foster homes. Most of them were bad, but some were good. But a lot of the homes, it wasn't like, it was just their way of being cruel.

Wow. Because they didn't care for a kid like me. You get a kid like me. year one, you're getting a lot of money from the agency every month just to take care. None of that money growing up got put into me. Like at this point now, from birth up until I was 17 years old, I hardly saw a dime of that money, whether it was food or clothes. Wow.

And that's not how you're supposed to raise a kid. I grew up somehow still able to find ways to be happy in music, wrestling. just pretty much that music and wrestling because that's all I was pretty much allowed to do unless I would sneak out once I became a teenager and started running around and getting in real trouble with my friends. Well, you mentioned earlier about performing the foster care system. Where do you think that needs to start?

It needs to start with background checks with every family that's getting a new child. I'm surprised that that doesn't exist now. I know, me too, right? Yeah, that's crazy. You're looking after another human being. I know, right? My thing, and not even just a background check.

I'm meaning like a thorough background check, like psychological evaluation. Like, they need to go back like 10, 15 years and wherever that person is and see everything that they've done, how they've gone with kids. They need that people around them need to be interviewed with kids. The kids that are already around them need to be interviewed without them so they can speak honestly because a child is innocent. You know. Yeah. Yeah, a kid will always tell you the truth. That's what I'm saying.

You know, we learn to, we learn, we grow out of innocence. Because how the world is, we're taught that things have to be certain ways. But as a kid, you think freely, you speak freely. So that's why I'm saying. They need to interview these kids, see how they feel. And that needs to happen like every other week for about six months before they start leaving the kids with these families for longer periods of time. Because my thing is I would get dropped off with a family.

And then three weeks later, they do a checkup. Oh, wow. Yeah. And at that point, I could have been in three, four fights. Sure. And I have to sit there at a table and lie to the caseworker. Because if I don't lie, I'm going to get an even more trouble. And maybe move to a new family?

Yeah. Yeah. So how much of who you are today is because of the families that you lived with, this growing up? A lot, man. I'm that type of person where I can be your best friend or I can be your worst enemy. It's just how it is, man. I've grown up with horrible parents.

I've grown up around gangsters. I've grown up around buddies that I've seen that I've admired for how they think but never want to do what they do. just the way all that has shaped me is like think about it for example like say like you like for example you just met me today we're hitting it off and you know you shake my hand

and then say that you do something or like you put like say you push me out to the chair and then my whole attitude and things are going to change I'm probably going to punch you straight in the mouth just because that's how I grew up you grew up fighting to survive

You don't, like, a lot of people don't know what it's like to be asleep, and you wake up to someone punching you in your face and, like, in a deep sleep. And then you go to school and you have to tell them, oh, I just fell, I just fell off the bed. I just fell, I just fell off the counter. Like, because you don't want them to know that you got beat up in your sleep. Everybody should know, though, that your story does have a happy end. Yeah, it has. Your foster care story has a happy end.

It has such a happy ending for such a dark beginning. I feel like that that's what lifts people up. what inspires them. Because, you know, a lot of people that have gone through similar things that I've gone through, they don't have all have the same mindset. And some of them, and even today, daily, people that go through the things that I'm going through, they don't always, they don't all make it out. They don't all see the brighter sides of things and just put the past in the past.

Some people hold on to that and it brings them down. And then that's how they end up back in jail, back in the streets. or if they come right out of the system about having a family, that's how they end up homeless or in jail. You know, and it's, it sucks so much that,

that the world is like that. And, you know, me being who I am today, I feel like I'm a, I'm strong, I'm strong the way I am. I can speak the way I do.

I move like a boss because I watch people, I watch people do it in front of me. Yeah. You know, whether they were moving for the right thing or the wrong thing, just watching how people move

just to survive. I'm a survivalist, man. I will survive. I will constantly survive. And that's how it's got to be. A lot of people, a lot of people have things handed to them, especially in our country. Unless you're really born into a family that really is struggling,

life isn't as hard as compared to the rest of the world. And people just don't, they don't get it. Because just you can't put someone like me and someone that has had everything that they've ever wanted

in the same room and expect us to be the best of friends because we don't think the same. Like, you might be like, I'm going to go, I'm going to go buy a new Maserati or something. And I'm going to be like, cool, bro. Let me go work for that. Let me go grind for that. Not, I'm going to go just pull out this money

and my parents save and go buy this. You know, like, when you have to put in real work and you have to go through real struggle, you have to go through real suffering, real loss, real sacrifice, it makes you a better person. Yeah. And, like, in the end, because, you know, most of the people that, like Steve Harvey, for example, one of the greatest comedians and show hosts ever. Yeah. What a boss. You know, from Ohio, just like me. Yep.

You know, man was struggling. He had 30 bucks. I think he said, like, 30 bucks in his pocket to get from Cleveland. to Los Angeles to be on a show to start off his career. He got there and he struggled

the whole way there. But guess what? He went through struggle. He went from being homeless and just cracking jokes at clubs to try to just make it by every night. Like real suffering, real struggle

to being one of the biggest comedians on the planet. People like that, I respect. And not saying I don't respect people because there are still good people. Like, you know, just because you didn't struggle,

it doesn't mean you're not a good person. But I also come across people that didn't struggle that are good people and that people that didn't struggle that are bad people. Sure. Just like there are people that are people that are good people and people that are struggle that are people. It is what it is. It's just there's a mixture of everything, but you pick and choose who you're around because you are who you choose to hangar.

Here's what I love about your story. It'd be so easy for somebody who has had the uphill battle that you've had to just want to fit in. You want to do the exact opposite of fitting in. I hate fitting. You want to stand down. Yeah, well, what's the point of fitting in? Life becomes boring.

I guess, though, I mean, you know, devil's advocate here is going, I don't want people to ask me about, you know, my situation. I don't mean, and you want to talk about this. You want to share this for everybody. And it's not even that, you know, as a kid, I was very soft spoken. Given that with my situation, I was mainly quiet just out of fear that I would be in trouble every time I went home after school. Yeah.

And going from that to not saying a word to speaking in front of hundreds to over a thousand people at a time. It's like, all right, you can see the process of growth. Like even just a couple years ago, like six years ago, I wasn't very talkative and I had real bad anger issues. What changed that? My mom, you know, she brought me in. So you got adopted. I got adopted at 17. Which is the happy ending to your foster care store.

Yeah, I almost got adopted too late. You would age out at 18? I was at the very, I was like literally, if I would have waited another seven months, it would have been too late for me to be adopted. Wow. Yeah. So that changed your life? It completely changed it. And the crazy thing is I had been adopted two times before.

And both times, like, they said it's forever, like, it's forever family. This is like, I'm your mom, your dad, blah, blah, blah. And then they still get rid of you anyway. No. Yeah, you know, it sucks. I remember one of my last families I left, they got rid of me on my adoption day. Like the morning that I was supposed to get adopted, that's when they just decided, oh, never mind. So you're probably very skeptical.

Yeah, very skeptical. And that's why I was very skeptical, quiet. Like, if you wanted to speak to me, you had to really let me know that you really mean me no harm. Because either I was going to fight and bark back. or I was just going to sit there and just look at you. And, you know, going from that type of mentality to now where I can speak fluently and eloquently, it's like, you know, I'm a very big, I'm a very big faith. I'm a Christian, and I believe that God's had a plan for me this whole time

because my inability to speak growing up to now, it should, you don't, see things like that happening most of the time. You know, most kids, a lot of kids, they go through what I got on to. They go through being beat and starved. And they turn into very, they turn into people that struggle a lot, that you seek getting in trouble with the law, that you see sitting on the side of the road asking for money or food. I didn't want to be that. You know, and I had my mom and my sisters and my grand, my entire family, all over from my mom. to my cousins in Alabama, support me and really help me grow and become the man I am, you know, because they led by example.

This family, there's a family of good people. Yeah. It would have been so easy for you to stay angry. Yeah. What changed that for you? My mom, you know, there were a few times where after she first got me that we would have, I would have a, not we, me, I would have a couple run-ins with the cops. and instead of her calling the caseworker

and having me sent to a group home or sent to a respite for the weekend or even like smacking me or like taking away dinner or nothing, she literally would sit me down and talk to me super calm. I never had that before. Like seriously, the first time I got in trouble and she just sat me down and spoke to me, I was able to listen and just like not be afraid

like, okay, am I about to be able to? not have dinner. I'm about to get B. I'm about to get locked in my room. Like, what's about to happen? That's what you're expecting. Yeah. And when she hit me, it's like she threw a curveball at my face. And yeah, man, she just kept kept on it. You know, my mom, her name's Kimberly Hawkins, by the way, Kimberly Clark Hawkins. And that's why your last name is Clark. Yeah. And, you know, with my mom doing parenting the way that she did, you know,

I don't think if she would have done that, I don't think I would be here talking to you or anybody. There's no Ellen show. There's no Netflix. There's no success anywhere. No wrestling. No track. No records for anything.

I love how one person can change someone's life. It's an unbelievable story. And what's crazy about is now you're that one person changing other people's lives. I know it's a domino effect. Yeah. Like my mom put, my mom instilled that in me.

And I feel like I find myself acting a lot like her, too, if you want to be real. And, you know, I don't have a problem with that. That sounds like a pretty good person to emulate. Yeah, honestly, though. My mom, she's a wonderful woman. And, you know, she watches everything that I put out,

anything that goes up. Hi, mom. Hi, mom. I love you. And, you know, she really instilled. that life into me. My mom's a very godly woman, but at the same time, she knows what it's like the struggle, be homeless.

And be alone by herself, raising two girls by herself, my sisters. She's gone through the struggle. She's lived it. My mom is 51 years old. She has lived it. And she just took all her experience, put it into me so I could go out into the world

and fend for myself and be a good man while I do it. When did you realize that you were starting to be an inspiration for other people? Oh. Well, probably my senior year at high school. That's when things were really starting to click for wrestling for you. Like senior year, everything clicked. Like family life, home life, grades, wrestling, track.

Literally anything I touched was just like, all right. Like, I even got suspended from school for knocking this kid out because he spit at me. And I got praised by the principal for it. You know, like, because I was just like, I don't tolerate that. Yeah. And I made sure it was clear. Like, I wasn't the person, like, the whole time I was in school, I had never got in trouble for fighting ever. Like, I would always make sure, like, if I got into any fights, it would not be in school because I don't want to have to deal with that.

And the one time I did, it was just like, I had enough. And it was just like, one pop to the jaw. You know, you might have passed out. But it was like, all right, they called my mom. Because they were like, we're going to call your mom. I'll call my mom. So I told her, you know, just. She's just like, all right, like my mom, that's how, that's why like my mom.

My mom's like, my mom, my family, we keep it respectful, but we keep it real. You know, like situations like that arise, say someone attacks my sister in front of us. We have every right to defend ourselves and defend our family. And my mom, you know, we ended up talking about it. And she's like, you know, I'm not, she's like, I'm not happy with you doing this in school. but she said like in any other circumstance if you're out in public you have every right to defend yourself. And so like again,

another learning moment to show me like when to use the type of skill I have and when not to. And like I said, my senior year at high school just my last name was Clark. My wrestling went from losing every single match, almost winning every

single match. Track went from sucking to being the fast guy on the fastest guy on the eastern seaboard of the U.S. It's like, you know, it's just, it's, dude, it was crazy because, and all I can do is just say like, all right, this is my, this is all her doing not pushing me to quit, like pushing me not to quit, you know, because I tried to quit track and field after the second week. I didn't even tell her I stopped going to practice. I would just show up when practice would be over back at the house. And then the coach shows up and she, you know, I got grounded for a week and she showed up at every practice for a week.

but she really pushed me because she saw the ability I had to be great you know I didn't see it but she saw it in you she was able to draw it up you then saw it in yourself

with everything that you're talking about here is there anything you can't do like in your day to day life do you have any limitations kind of thing I'm not really I'm not really not really good at

no point focusing on the things you can't do, right? Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Why focus on your weaknesses when you can sell your strong suits? So how do you get around in your day-to-day life? Is it a wheelchair or do you walk on your hands? I walk on my hands. I have a wheelchair.

I also own a car and a bike. So you can drive? Yeah. This is going to blow people's trying. What? Yeah. How do you drive? I drive with my hand controls.

The thumb is the gas and there's a lever for the brake. And I just steer with the wheel and shift with the same hand. Man. So when you go for your driver's test, what's the look the face of the driving instructor. Oh, no, it was great walking in. Like, I remember I wanted in. I took my driver's test in Ohio.

I also took my driver's test in Ohio. I lived in Cleveland for five years. Oh, dope. Yeah. I was on 19 action news. Okay, I'm from Canton. There we go. So my TV station was probably playing where you lived.

Probably would. Channel 19. Yeah, I've been on Channel 19 news. There we go. Oh, amazing. That's awesome. But, um, what was I saying? You took your driver's test in Ohio.

Yeah, driver's test, dude. You go in there. You're like, all right. So when you take your tense test first, they're like, okay, because it's just like a written test. Sure, yeah. So I ace that. I come back. All right, I take my driver's test.

Sir, do you have your own vehicle? Yeah. You're like, yeah. How do you think I got it? Yeah. You're like, yeah, I do. Oh, at the time I was using my boy's car. And there's like, so how are you driving?

We need to just have this on file, sir. Just to make sure that it's okay with your doctor, is it okay with your doctor? Like, you did, it's so weird. Wow. So I'm just sitting there. Yeah. Yeah.

And, you know, I finally take the test, ace it. And then they're just like, and I'm just like, bye. Do you ever, like, go to a restaurant and, like, they don't see you sit down? and then when you get up to, like, go to the bathroom or leave, like there's a reaction like, oh, my God. Restaurants are not so much, the beach is hilarious. Do people think you're buried in the sand?

Yeah, like, literally, I could just be sitting down. And it's mainly, like, younger kids, like, they'll just be walking and those be like, you know, mine in the business, mine in the business. Whoa. Mom, look, look. That guy's stuck in the ground. Mom, look. And then sometimes I'll just ignore it or I'll be like, oh, my gosh.

I didn't even know. You know, sometimes they might start crying. And then I had to go up to him and be like, listen, buddy. I'm okay. I'm okay. I was born like this. And I try to explain them like, God makes everybody special. I was just having a little bit of fun.

And you're like, I'm probably a lot stronger than you too. Like that, I mean, that's what's so impressive when you meet you a person. So jacked. I mean, even as a kid, man, like, I didn't like, I didn't look like I was strong as a kid. but I was just stronger than most other kids in general. I was like a super scrawny, super, scrawny. Even though you're walking in your hands? Yeah.

Wow. Well, here's the thing. I wasn't really getting fed at home. Oh, well, that'll do it. So, like, you know, you might eat breakfast at school if you don't have lunch money. Like, free breakfast at school, you don't have lunch money. So no lunch. And then they refuse to give you dinner, no dinner.

Get one meal a day. It's up. So what are your sports now? List them all off. Well, I kind of just mainly wrestling. Wrestling? Wrestling? I don't really bodybuilding.

Lifting weights then? Yeah, I just look good. They're just pretty muscles. Yeah. When you talk about track and field, what are your events? My events are the 100 and 200 meter. Wow. And we're talking in a wheelchair?

Yeah, so I'm racing this three wheelchairs. Some of them, mine's made out of aluminum. I'm trying to get an upgrade for these carbon fiber wheels, which will drop the weight on him even more. It'll be faster. Yeah, I can max out at about 20 miles an hour. Man, like you're saying both. Yeah, it's ridiculous.

He runs at what, like 24 miles an hour or something like that, which is crazy. Still. And you're talking about MMA as well? Yeah, when working on MMA, we're working around the rules of Bellator. I'm just going to come out and say this. I am not a fan of the UFC. Why is that? Because of the team that I train with Team Box.

Body shop. You know, they, they don't treat, they didn't treat my guy, AJ. And by the way, let me give a shout out to AJ McKee for winning a world title in Bellator two and a half weeks ago. My bro, I am proud of you, dude. We're about to get it in like tomorrow probably. Yeah. But, you know, he became a world champion, undefeated. So you got your eyes set on Bellator instead of UFC. Yeah, Bellator because, one, they treat their athletes better. They treat them with, respect. You get paid your weight.

You know what I mean? So, like, say that you're one of the top five guys in the world, I knock you out, man. I get a bonus and the check. But in UFC, it's mainly big names.

So unless you're Mr. McGregor or you're, like, you know what I mean? Nate Diaz. Yeah, like if you're not, if you're not,

if you're not Conner McGregor, John Jones or Nate Diaz, then nobody's going to talk about you. Nobody's going to want to watch you fight. That's why I want, That's why I like Bellator. And plus all my guys I train with in Bellator. All the guys I train with, they're in Bellator.

AJ, Joey, Kimbo Slice Jr., baby Slice, like, all of them cats. Those like, and they work harder, like as hard as any hard work as that I know, you know. When you were coming up in wrestling, do you ever have opponents that didn't want to wrestle you? No, actually. Was there ever any discrimination? Oh, yeah. Man. So let me.

Let's go back in time to when I was in middle school. Okay. So middle school, I was one of five African kids on my team. And we went down. So you ever heard, you know where Louisville, Ohio is? Yeah, of course. Yeah, I lived in Ohio for six years. Okay.

Okay. Okay. So we went down to Louisville. Louisville has a reputation for being vaguely racist out that, down that way. And we went there and we were wrestling. against their team in a big dual tournament. So, like, it's us, McKinley, St. V, St. Mary, like, St. Vince, St. Mary's.

Just all these schools all in Ohio were wrestling at this tournament. And, you know, us being one of these teams, like wrestling doesn't have a lot of black people to start with. That's another thing which I'm trying to grow. More black kids getting into wrestling. Because we can be a dominant force in the sport. Yeah.

I mean, look at Jordan Burroughs. He's dubbed the king of wrestling. He's a full-blown black man. You know what I mean? Yeah. And a lot of black kids, African-American kids, they're intimidated by it, and I don't know why. But, excuse me, I'm about to sneeze.

Bring it. I know, right? Maybe we can scare it out of you. I don't know. I feel it right there. No, no. No, no. So you feel like there was double discrimination?

Yeah, no, dude. So we're at this school. And, you know, I'm eating a. banana. My boy Jake is eating some of his fruit. Our whole squad is just like sitting there chilling, having fun. We're waiting on our turn and wrestle. And this literally Lewisville's whole team walks like comes up to us about five bleachers down and just sits there like this staring from about 10 feet away. Like all of them just staring directly at me. And then point in. Wow. Like the whole team.

Is this because you're black or because you didn't have black? I would assume to imagine it was both because my dude, J.V. He stood up. And then once he stood up, they started pointing at him too. So then I was like, all right, these guys ain't cool. So then we ended up kicking the crap out of their team and brought home the dove. It felt really good. You know, because we almost got into a big team fight as middle schoolers, man.

You know, my team, they were trying to protect me and our other colored African-American teammates, you know? because racism in this country is still a very real thing. And that's not even the only example. There is a kid, a ref got fired a couple years ago because he cut off a kid's dreadlocks. Like this black kid's dreadlocks in a match because he said it wasn't acceptable for wrestling. Wow.

Yeah, it's like stuff like that, man. That's like, that's some of the other things I had to do with wrestling. But the reason I stayed was because of the teammates I had, the friends I made. Because those people really push me hard. You know, I keep saying his name Jake, but this dude, his name is Jake Donahue, he was one of my best friends. This dude, his dad and, well, not even his dad, his uncle. So his dad has an identical twin brother who,

but this is before I even met Jake, was my art teacher in second grade and gave me the flyer to start wrestling. And then, you know, years later, I transferred schools from North Canton to Massland City Schools. I walked in, I thought I was the same guy. No, it was just identical twin brother coaching the wrestling team. Both wrestling coaches, it's not fun when they mess with you, man.

But I walked in, I remember I came in and I was like, Mr. Donnie, he's like, nice to meet you. I said, you already met me. And he was like, no, no. I was like, yeah, you have. I've been in your class. And he was like, no. But no, he's like, no, you're talking about my brother, Greg. But those three guys, you know, they really are the reason that I'm a wrestler here today.

They taught me everything. The way that you see me move on the mat is the way that you'll see Gil Donahue move on the mat. It's pretty impressive watching you move on the mat. That man, I'm telling you, that man taught me almost everything I know. Like I wrestled in high school, and I think that if I was staring across from you on the mat, I'd be terrified. There would be kids, dude, there would be kids that would be nervous to wrestle me, but then they would go out there. And I kind of sucked. So, like, they would be nervous and they would kick my butt and then they wouldn't be scared no more.

Right. You sound like someone with everything you're talking about. You sound like somebody who's so goal-driven. So what are the goals as we sit here right now? What are the goals that you're eyeing? Track and field, world champ, Olympic champ, Pan American champ, wrestling, world champ, Pan American champ, Olympic champ. We're talking 2024 here? 2024.

What else? MMA. if we can figure out the way for me to get into Bellator to fight, just to get a couple of fights to showcase my skills. Yeah. World champ. And what weight class would you be in? Lightweight.

No, feather weight. Which is 125? Also, let's talk about this. It's right here. Congratulations on this. Why don't you grab that? Yeah, congratulations on your book. Unmatched.

Thank you so much. Is this available now? Yeah, man. You can hiccup. up sneezes, dude. Neither of them would come out, though. I know. It's like I feel them come up and then they stop right there in my throat or stop right in a

bridge among those. As soon as we stop recording. I'm going to unleash this. It's like my body's like, dude, don't mess this up. But this book, you know, you're able to get it at Target, Amazon, Indigo, Barnes & Nobles. Most bookstores, you can buy it right now. There's a link directly on.

on my Instagram to my merch store and to get the book. I'll be switched. I switch the links pretty regularly. So the book is available. You can either go into stores and get it or you can order it online and we ship to the UK, Canada and obviously the United States. So this is to this is mainly for kids, right? Yes.

This first book, it was targeted for kids because part of my dream for the foster care system and just for kids in general is to make the world a lot more inclusive. So when I say make the world inclusive, man, you know, kids see somebody like me and they point. And they say, look, he has no legs, mom. He has no legs. Well, where are your legs at? You know, and as like me as an adult, I understand that. I understand the pure curiosity flowing from the kids.

I get that. So that's why I don't get upset. But you got to think about it. If a kid does that to another kid, that might hurt that kid's feelings. What's your short answer when someone asks you that? God made me special. Love it. Every time I tell a kid.

Yeah. And, you know, these kids, I did this thing a while back called Shane's play. And I honestly really want to work with them again. But they built this park that you could have, like, disabled kids, could go on there with their electric wheelchairs or regular wheelchairs and then also like the the play sets were built for like

disabled and non-disabled kids so they can interact so it could be more inclusive so those kids can include the kids that are struggling to move more and like that's why I want kids to get from this book too that you can be different but you can be a boss and you can be successful and be great in your own right

no matter how different you are everybody is different and that's what I that's the message I'm giving up and obviously I'm giving up And obviously, I'm giving off the type of feeling that I have for the foster care system and what I want to do with it at the very end at the very end of my life. My life's over. I want to know that there's change that's been made.

That there's, that something good is happening, that my time was actually worth trying to help these kids. And, you know, like I said, that keeps going back to the kids, man. This is a children's book. Like, full-blown, this is a children's books. I'm releasing two more books in the next two years. and this one, the reason why I release this book first, because kids always come first.

They're our future. They're the ones that we are leaving the world here too. So if you can affect them in a positive way and you can get them to help each other out and include others and be kind and nice and respectful, we're going to leave this planet knowing that we did a good job and left it in good hands. Do you want to be a foster father one day?

I do. I want to, first off, I want to be a father to make up for the mistakes of my birth mother for the fact that I want to have my own biological children and give them exact, give them everything I never had. And on top of that, I want foster kids, too. The same answer to give them what I didn't have, you know, to show them the right way to live life. Do you feel like there's still uphill battles that you're,

fighting even now? Oh, every day, man. You know, I deal with ignorance. I deal with ignorant people. I deal with people trying to diminish my profile, my way that I've presented myself. You know, there's always something that's happened. That's what it is to be human. You know, people are going to throw things, throw curveballs at you. People are going to be cruel and mean. You're going to get threats. You're going to get people saying they'll do. this and that to you and you just got to brush it off and keep it moving forward. Yeah, how do you deal with negativity? I laugh.

I laugh at high moments of stress, by the way. Like very high, like, the time that you probably, like, if you like something's going really bad, I'll probably like make a joke. Not to make you feel better, to make me feel better. Like a coping back in. Because it's like, it's either that or

I'm going to really just like, you're not going to want to see the other stuff. So like, that's how that's how I do it. Or I just walk away because Sometimes when people try to get a reaction out of you, and it's just sometimes best to walk away. I've had a couple of instances, even in this last year, where people have gotten under my skin and I've kind of just lost it a little bit. And in the long run, like, sometimes you think, like,

it could be potentially, like, damaging to your image. But that's the learning process. You know, I've made mistakes down this road I've been taken. You know, being under the public lot ain't easy, you know. It's not easy. And the bigger you get, the more the bigger the magnetoscope gets and the hotter the flame gets from the light that's coming from. And it's only getting bigger for you. Yeah.

And, you know, that's why I'm always, that's why I have people like my guy Craig and my mom and my sisters and my grandpa, my girlfriend, you know, all of them really keep my head on straight, you know, because I really do want to be successful. I want to, I want to have the millions, man. I want to have the millions. I want the jet. I want the boat. I want the diamonds. I want all that. But, you know, I also want to be a symbol for people.

I want to have, I want to be able to show people that you can get to where this is. That's why I also, I like, I want to get those things. And I want people to be inspired by what I'm doing. Because that's my dream. My dream is to be a champion of my sports and to make good money doing it. And just to be a good father, good person all around. I think people just looking at you and what you've accomplished is so incredible. inspiring that I feel like anybody who's dealing with whatever it is in their life should be

able to look at you and go my god if zion can do it i can obviously do this exactly you know there are people that send me messages about suicide and just how like my story has helped them to get back out there and to go back to help them get back to doing what they're best at doing and man you know that's what i want out of it is you know when i go speaking for front of a crowd, even if I only affect one, only if I only am able to affect one person, that's good enough. You know, because that's, that's all that matters, man. You know, I started speaking just by talking to a kid of a school of Syrian refugees,

kids, like, all from like eight to ten, like little kids, man. And, you know, that's what really kind of made me feel like, oh, dude, like, oh, man, this is why I'm good in front of a camera. Yeah. For the kids. Yeah. You know what I mean? And ever since then, I make it a point every time I open my mouth.

I do this for the kids. I do this for them. This book is for the kids. I love this. This has been such an inspiring conversation. You are such an inspiration. What's the best way that people can get in touch with you if they want to book you or if they just want to say, hey, man, you're awesome. If you want to book me, just go to my Instagram.

Which spell it out for everybody. It is big underscore Z underscore 2020. And that's the same for, actually, no, that's it. So on there, they can DM you or? Yeah, you can DM me. I have managers and people that help run my profile. So if I don't personally respond to you, somebody will. You'll get the message.

Yeah, and then there's a link to my, there's an email link to Zion Clark management, where you can get a hold of my manager. So whatever, if you want to book me to speak at a school or an event, I'm always happy to. I don't always require money. Sometimes I just require a good meal. Like seriously. Just give me, like, feed me, and I will make all your kids happy.

I end every conversation with the same question because I start and end every day with gratitude. I say that if you can be grateful, you'll live a great life. Be great, be grateful. So what are three things in your life that you're grateful for as we sit here right now? You know, I'm grateful that I have a family to call my own because it. It was almost too late for me to have a family. I'm grateful for the people in my life that I've helped me propel myself even further. You know, I got a good bit of the work done by getting my name out there just from me wrestling through college and stuff before I met all the people that are on my team.

Like I had a good presence before them, but then those guys stepped up and said, like, they told me like, you could be even bigger, dude. You could be as big as the sky gets. And, you know, they put their precious. time and money, like years of their time into helping me and working with me. And that's another thing I'm grateful for. And then I'm just grateful that I'm able to be here talking to you, be here able to inspire people. I'm glad I'm able to work with kids. I'm glad I'm able, I'm grateful to be able to train with the people I do. I'm grateful to be able to call myself a high-level martial artist. I'm grateful to call myself one of the fastest men in the world

on my hands and in a wheelchair. And it's like, it's, it's, it's, I'm just grateful that God has given me, given me this chance to actually live my life. Because my life was almost over before it started. Love it. You inspire me. Thank you so much. Thank you, man.

This is great. And again, merch store on my site to buy all odds. You can do it. No excuses. Okay. There we go. Man, I, I love doing these in-person interviews. so much more.

Spend some time today checking out Zion's documentary on Netflix called Zion and check him out on Instagram at Big underscore Z underscore 2020 or on TikTok at Big Z. No excuses. Huge thanks to him for driving up from San Diego. And you know what? We couldn't do this without you. So thank you so much for being on this journey with us. I hope you found a ton of inspiration in this conversation.

Share this episode with a friend, either from my website, Chris Vanfleet.com, or just share the episode link with them. Snap a screenshot, share it on Twitter or Instagram, tag both of us so that we can share it out as well. And I'll leave you with the words of Benjamin Franklin, which seem so fitting for this conversation. He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else. Yeah. Be great. Be grateful.

We'll see you on the next. One for some more insight. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do. With rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today. No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air.

It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it. Get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. follow and listen on your favorite platform you've been warned