1975 was a tough year for the Ballard family. Suffering several layoffs from my job, trying to finish my educational degree, buying our first home, and now PJ whispering into my ear, we’re pregnant! Fortunately, I got a job as a cost analyst with a local textile company and we had insurance to cover her care. My salary however, was small with no projected increases that would help with our already strained family budget; I began to look for other employment opportunities.

As all parents the excitement and prospects of having a new baby thrilled us and we knew that somehow we would survive. We were hoping desperately for a little girl and had already decided what we would name her. Jason our youngest was almost two and was a father’s delight. He talked incessantly and asked one question after another. PJ still had a part-time job at a local jewelry store and her sister kept Jason the days she worked.

On June 28, 1976 PJ informed me that it was time to make the call to her gynecologist and take her to the hospital. I made the call and the doctor instructed me to immediately transport PJ to the hospital and he would meet us there for her delivery. I got Jason up and dressed. We all left and went to the hospital where PJ was admitted to the obstetric ward and once she was settled, I drove to my sister-in-laws and left Jason in her care.

Upon returning to the hospital, I found that PJ had already delivered our new son. At that time, babies were kept in the hospital nursery and brought to the mother’s room for feeding. I was somewhat relieved she had already delivered but when I entered him room where she was to be resting after delivery, I found her to be in tears. Immediately my thoughts were about post partum depression.

I asked. “Are you in a lot of pain?” She burst into tears and said our baby has six fingers, six toes, and his little navel herniated. The news was shocking but I tried to reassure her everything would be fine, but in my own heart there was a certain apprehension that made me uneasy.

After counseling from the doctor, we learned the navel issue would resolve in time with a bandage in place for a period of time but the extra digits would in all probability have to be removed at some point, preferably before age two. We took Gary home and he was a good baby eating and sleeping and Jason loved his new brother.

When Gary was almost two we scheduled an appointment with a noted orthopedic surgeon in Hendersonville. He examined Gary and made the necessary x-rays that would enable him to remove Gary’s extra finger called a deltoid finger and a normal sixth toe. In just a few weeks the surgery was performed and the deformities removed without any complications. He still has limited mobility in his pinky of the left hand but is able to still play the guitar and mandolin.

Time passed and Gary started to school. It seemed he was having difficulty in his speech we had noticed this also when he would try to sing some little song .The school had us to have his ears checked. We found he needed tubes and scheduled surgery for the insertion of tubes that would drain any fluid from his ears and allow him to hear well.

A little later we were told to have Gary’s eyes checked and we scheduled a routine eye exam at a local Ophthalmologist. As I sat in the examining room it became obvious Gary couldn’t see well at all. The doctor even asked me if Gary knew his ABC’s. Judging by the look of consternation on the doctor’s face, I knew there was something seriously wrong with Gary’s eyesight.

After the exam, the doctor told me I have seen something in Gary’s eyes that is suspicious and there is some abnormality in the rods and cones of the retina. He referred us to a specialist in Asheville where a more comprehensive exam would be performed. We scheduled the exam and the results gave us some heartbreaking news, Gary had RP, a debilitating autoimmune disease that robs its victims of their sight. His diagnosis was listed as a syndrome that also included loss of hearing namely Lawrence-Moon-Biedel syndrome or possibly Ushers.

With such great organizations as Foundation Fighting Blindness, much research is ongoing and recent clinical trials have yielded results that will someday help those afflicted with blindness to recover sight. In one clinical trial in Philadelphia, three individuals have regained limited sight and are able now to read a couple of lines on the eye chart. This is encouraging as well as exciting news and we have just learned that two more research groups have verified the findings of the treatment associated in the clinical trials held in Philadelphia.

Gary has adjusted well to his handicap. Once he told me “I have been given a lemon, but I intend to make lemonade”. Since his vision impeded his ability to play sports, he always found a way to fit in and gain the acceptance of his peers. In junior high he began to be a manager of the school sports teams. He kept this position until he graduated from high school. Football, basketball and track kept me busy and up late at night because he was always the last out of the locker room.

The kids absolutely loved Gary. When he was graduating junior high, a teacher called me and told me Gary was going to receive a special award at the annual awards ceremony. She told me further it was not for athletics or academics but a newly created award given to a student who exhibited and excelled considering their limitations.

As I drove over to the school that morning, I thought a lot about Gary. He had recently asked me, “Dad, why can’t I have some kind of surgery that would fix my eyes”? This is a hard question for a loving father to have to answer but we never told him anything but the truth surrounding his handicap. I told Gary, if it were possible, I would give you one of my eyes.

When I arrived at the school and found my seat in the gymnasium, I saw Gary come in from the locker room with some of his friends. He followed his buddies to the top row of the bleachers, I couldn’t believe it. He just sat there joking and carrying on with his friends seemingly without a care in the world awaiting the awards ceremony was to begin.

After all the sports and academic awards were given, the teacher who had called and invited me took over at the podium. She read the stipulations and described the new award that was to be given in honor of a former principal. When she called out Gary’s name as its first recipient, the gym immediately exploded into a standing ovation that lasted for well over five minutes.

These young students brought the house down for Gary. I sat there and wept. The tears that bathed my face that day were from joy and I was so proud to know that these kids who are not supposed to be compassionate had given a display of their love for a fellow student with special needs. It was not just a lot of hoopla but a real show of love, emotion and support for one who had earned their respect and a relationship that lasted all through his high school years and when he walked across the stage to receive his diploma four years later, they gave him the same standing ovation.

Recently I received a telephone call from the Athletic Director from EastHendersonHigh School. He informed me that a new award had been created to acknowledge managers or statisticians who had demonstrated superior performance while performing their duties. Asking the staff of coaches who would be a good namesake for the newly created award, the overwhelming response was Gary “Hawkeye” Ballard. I consider this a high honor as did Gary and we made the trek to East High and presented the first of an annual award to a young lady who was statistician for the girls basketball team during this years Seniors Award Ceremony. The “Hawkeye” tradition will continue for years to come and the award has its own place in the trophy cabinet inside the school gymnasium.

We thank the Lord above for all three of our sons. Jason and Josh have always been protective of him especially while he was still in school and he spends a lot of time at Josh’s barbershop where he has a standing bluegrass jam every Tuesday morning. Gary’s musical talents became his outlet when he was just entering tenth grade. I had an old mandolin and taught him a few chords and the little tune, Banks of the Ohio. From there he began to take lessons at the BluegrassCenter in Biltmore Forrest and later studied with Joe Marquoint at Celestial Mountain Music in Brevard.

When I called Joe I explained to him Gary’s visual handicap and he assured me that he could teach him the fingerboard. For the next two years I would drive him over and wait the thirty or so minutes in the music store while he took his lesson. Joe moved to Hawaii but Gary was far enough along that his mastery of the instrument has come full circle and he can play almost anything he wants to and enjoys listening to Going across the Mountains programming broadcast from the PBS station 88.7 FM from IsothermalCommunity College in Spindale, NC. He also listens to the Sunday morning program that features only Bluegrass Gospel.

In addition to playing rhythm guitar at church, Gary sometimes sings a few hymns and we do several charitable concerts each year. I guess you might be wondering how he came up with the nickname “Hawkeye”. When he was in junior high and still had a limited amount of vision, he would play basketball in his PE class. He would move out to the perimeter and if he had a span of time long enough to establish a focal point through the pinhole vision remaining, could drill a three pointer. A coach had observed his knack for doing this and started calling him “Hawkeye”, the name stuck.

Sometimes when attending a sporting event at his old high school invariably we will hear someone call out “Hawkeye!” to get his attention. Usually it is a former classmate or teacher that has spotted him in the stadium or gym and just wants to say hello. Gary has lost about 120 pounds since graduating high school and maintains a rigorous exercise regimen to keep the pounds off. He is still an inspiration and loved by all who know him.