Brad Minns: A Success Story
Brad Minns: A Success Story
Brad Minns was only a toddler when he lost his hearing as a result of an ear infection. Although his parents immediately enrolled him in lip reading classes and had him fitted with a hearing aid, the young Toledo, Ohio native encountered serious communication problems when he started school. To compensate for the trouble he had understanding his teachers and the other students, Brad began reading voraciously.
By the time he reached high school, the 130-pound teenager had taken up tennis. Although he showed a lot of promise, he realized that he needed to improve his muscularity if he ever wanted to make a serious impact as a player. One day, Brad happened to pick up an edition of Bodybuilder by Arnold Schwarzenegger. The young athlete had always admired Arnold because of his incredible self-confidence and strong desire to succeed. The book inspired the thin, wiry tennis player, who could hardly press a 45-pound Olympic bar, to build his body along with his brain. Brad decided to put his newlygained knowledge to the test in the family basement, where his brother Jim had stored some free weights. Beginning with basic movements like the bench press, squat and curl, Brad soon noticed muscles developing where he didn't even know he had any, and that encouraged him to train even harder. He also began reading muscle magazines, and buying vitamins and protein powder.
Meanwhile, his tennis game was improving dramatically. His serve was stronger, his footwork quicker, and his newfound confidence made him look his opponent in the eye instead of averting his gaze as before. It wasn't long before Brad became the number one tennis player in Northwest Ohio. During his junior year at
the University of Toledo, he was both singles and doubles champion.
In 1985 all of the hard work paid off when Brad became the gold medalist in men's singles and doubles for the USA Tennis Team in the XV World Games for the Deaf. Following this unforgettable "come from behind" championship match, Brad was chosen Providence Speech and Hearing Centers Athlete Citizen of the Year.
Brad knew that he didn't have the genetics to be a great bodybuilding champion so he decided to put his own brand of muscularity to good use by going into the modeling business. Within a short time, he was appearing in fashion shows and magazine ads. However, just as his modeling was starting to take off, he was involved in a serious car wreck that left him with a broken nose and facial scarring.
But Brad hasn't let this latest interruption get him down. He
plans to have plastic surgery and whether he returns to modeling or not, he feels that bodybuilding has given him a solid foundation on which he can base his life no matter what career he pursues. A favorite quote by Aldous Huxley sums up this successful 27-year-old's philosophy: "Experience is not what happens to a man, it is what a man does with what happens to him."
winning moves
on and off
the court