Hicks said he learned from his high school buddy, Greg Osinski, a classmate at Lakota West who suffered from muscular dystrophy and passed away in 2012.
Osinski has served as the inspiration for Hicks’ new foundation, True Strength Ability Awareness, which launched in February and is kicking off its first “True Strength Night” of the school year on Friday at Lakota West’s home football game against Fairfield.
The foundation seeks to champion young people with special needs by fostering strong, inclusive communities in Ohio and across the country, while also raising funds to help empower local Special Education departments.
“Greg had muscular dystrophy, and through his fight and his enjoyment in life, really showed me what true strength is,” Hicks said. “It’s not being a big football player, it’s not being No. 1 linebacker in the country in high school, a guy who could tackle, but it’s the kid who battles every single day for the things that you and I and most of us take for granted.”
Osinski’s aide, Darren Walters, who is now on the foundation board, introduced him to Hicks during his sophomore year at West, when Walters asked Hicks if he would join them for lunch to help Osinski feel included. Hicks said he initially was a little nervous because he didn’t have any experience with special needs, but the two ended up becoming close friends and Osinski had a profound impact on his life.
Walters said Hicks went to his school counselor and set up his schedule each year after that so he would have the same lunch and study hall periods with Osinski. Hicks started bringing other friends into the group, and Walters said “that set the tone that it was OK to hang out with someone that was different than you.”
“They developed a really tight friendship through that time at school, and I know it made a huge impact on both their lives,” said Walters, who now works for True Strength partner Headlines Sports in Hamilton. “Jordan was kind of pulled in a lot of different directions with the status of who he was, and I think it was hard for him to know who was really there in his life for the right reasons when he was younger. I think Greg helped him a lot with that because they just enjoyed each other’s company and friendship. The friendship they brought together as a group with all the other students made him understand there was more to life than just sports. It helped develop his leadership and character as well.”
Osinski’s mother, Sharlene Osinski, was the first individual donor for True Strength, donating $5,500, and said it’s an “honor” to support a cause that will bring “a lot of good things in the future for a lot of these kids” like her son. He never felt like a kid in a wheelchair because of Hicks and his friends.
Hicks hopes True Strength will bring the same leadership skills and character development he learned through his friendship with Osinski to the students in schools that participate, in addition to the support it would bring to those with special needs.
“I was just an athlete who was focused on football and school and graduation and getting to the next phase of life, and really wasn’t worried about how I was impacting others in that moment as a 15-14-year-old kid, and Greg, in that experience with him, taught me so much about life, about communication, about our platform, about who we can be and how we can impact others, but then also how others impact us,” Hicks said. “And that’s, I believe, where the foundation of my leadership began and my understanding of giving back really was cultivated, … and without Greg, I don’t know if I would have had that experience.”
Walters said he thinks True Strength will make “a huge difference in people’s lives and there will be some great stories that come out of this.”
True Strength Ability Awareness will focus on three main areas of upgrading facilities, teaching life skills for independence and providing inclusive experiences and engagement, such as the True Strength Nights. During True Strength Nights, students with special needs are honored during a school’s sporting event, have a chance to be introduced with the team and participate in warm-ups and halftime activities. Headlines Sports also will provide a spirit shop with proceeds going to support the schools’ special education departments.
Ross and Harrison high schools raised $3,290 at the first True Strength Night in February during a basketball game held at Ross, which already had partnered with Headlines for its “All Champions Day” Special Olympics field day event each May.
Hicks said schools are “chomping at the bit” to have the True Strength mission delivered to their students.
“As I look at my children, I look at the schools and the communities and where our country’s at and how divided a lot of things have become, there is no better place to start than in the schools (for) bringing inclusivity to everybody,” Hicks said. “... When you look at the schools and you understand how the dynamic is, we believe that just bringing in some aid for these students and these families and these departments is extremely pivotal, and then it provides this culture that allows for the entire student body and the entire school to thrive.”
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