How Porter Ellett Became KC Chiefs Coach Andy Reid’s ‘Left-Hand Man’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Porter Ellett is the assistant running back coach for the Kansas City Chiefs, and he does it with just one arm.
When Ellett was a young boy, he “would go with my dad to help him move sheep out on the mountain.”
“One day we were going out there…I wanted to be in the back of the truck,” Ellett told PEOPLE. “Then we hit a bump and I fell out of the back of the truck.”
“I hit my head super hard and fractured my skull, scalped me and partially severed an artery. All these things. Bad stuff,” he continued. “My dad picked me up from the injury…He had to take my scalp and put it back on my head.”
Although Ellett’s injury was to his head, it caused severe nerve damage in his spine, which resulted in loss of function in his right arm. There was nothing the doctors could do.
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“My earliest memories after the accident were just feeling injured,” Ellett recalled. “I remember walking by one of the windows and seeing kids outside playing basketball. I remember thinking, ‘This isn’t fair. It’s not cool. I’m supposed to be out there doing what they’re doing.'”
He didn’t let the injury stop him and went on to be “an all-state athlete in both basketball and baseball in high school.”
Fast forward, Ellett was given an opportunity to coach for the Kansas City Chiefs under Andy Reid.
He recalled, “He [Reid] was like, ‘Hey, you’ll be my right-hand man.’ I was like, ‘Well, are you ok with your right-hand man not having a right hand?’ And he’s like laughing on the other side, he’s like, ‘You’ll be my left-hand man!'”
Ellett is grateful for the opportunity.
‘Why would you ever hire a one-armed kid?’ Like, he never has to answer that question. That’s what I’m proud of,” he said.
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