Nov. 19, 2005: Standing strong on the field and off

Before every football game, Kolby Gruhot puts on his pants, shoulder pads, cleats, jersey and helmet.

But first, he puts on his leg.

The sophomore lineman from Stephen-Argyle Central High was 3 1/2 years old when he lost his left leg below the knee in a farm accident. He has worn a prosthetic leg ever since, but that has not stopped him from leading the life of any other teenager.

"I don't think there's anything he couldn't do," said Stephen-Argyle coach Mark Kroulik.

Gruhot plays offensive guard and defensive end for the northwest Minnesota school, the two-time defending champion of nine-man football with the longest current winning streak in the state, 39 games. When the Storm meets Lanesboro at 8 a.m. today in the state semifinals at the Metrodome, Gruhot, 16, will look like every other player.

His prosthetic leg is a steel alloy rod covered by material that mimics a human leg. With a sock pulled up high, there is no hint that the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Gruhot might be different.

Which, by the way, he isn't.

"I've never even really thought of it that way," Gruhot said. "Having a fake leg my whole life, I've never thought about being different."

Busy day before the game

Friday was a busy day for Gruhot. He had a morning appointment at Twin Cities Shriners Hospital in Minneapolis, where specialists made adjustments to the prosthesis he received a few months ago. As he grows, he gets a new leg every year or so.

In the afternoon he joined his teammates for a workout at Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield. Stephen-Argyle brings the state's longest current winning streak, 39 games, into today's game.

In the evening, at the Storm's hotel, he had a team meeting, a dinner and a pep rally with fans who made the six-hour drive.

The accident happened when Gruhot was riding with his father on a large lawn tractor. The youngster fell off the tractor and under the mower. What was left of his leg was amputated in Grand Forks, N.D., and Gruhot — the second-oldest of four children and the only boy — has worn prosthetics ever since. He does not remember the accident.

His parents, Gary and Jane, made sure Kolby always knew he was just like everybody else.

"For a minute there I was scared," Jane said, remembering the first time she heard doctors talk about amputation. "I said, `I don't know much about amputation or prosthetics, but I guess I'll learn.' From there, I didn't look back and neither did he. He got his first leg, he started walking and he was riding his bike as soon as we got home."

Kolby plays on the basketball team in the winter, which can lead to an interesting situation.

"If he jumps for a rebound and somebody is stepping on his toes, he'll jump right out of his leg," Jane said. "That's happened a couple times, much to the shock of the other team and the referees. If his leg falls off, somebody hands it to him and he puts it back on."

An active teenager

Gruhot has friends on other teams in the Top of the State Conference who are familiar with his leg. "Otherwise, nobody knows," said the young man who also water-skis, swims, hunts, fishes and works on the farm.

Kroulik knew Gruhot was a good fit for football last season, when the ninth-grader played on the Storm special teams.

"He just about ran a kid down on a kickoff," the coach said. "It is pretty amazing. He's a heck of a kid and he moves very well. He doesn't back off a bit."

Early this season, after Gruhot had received his new leg, Kroulik noticed he was not running as smoothly as usual. That's normal, because adjustments need to be made to get the prosthetic to fit correctly. As Gruhot ran laps with his teammates, Kroulik waved at him to stop.

"And he waved me off," the coach said. "I couldn't black-flag the kid. He wouldn't stop. That's just kind of the way he is. By his own deeds, not his words, it's kind of hard for the other kids to feel sorry for themselves."

Kolby learned his quiet brand of toughness from his parents.

"When we first brought him home he had a wrap on his stump," Jane said. "I carried him here and I carried him there, and that lasted for about a day. I said, 'Kolby, I have a life. I cannot do this. If you want to get from here to there, you're going to have to crawl.' And he did. I never had to worry about carrying him around ever again."

This morning's game — and next Friday's Prep Bowl, should the Storm win today — brings back fond memories for Gruhot's parents. Before the schools in Stephen and Argyle consolidated, Gary played on Argyle's 1981 nine-man state championship team. Jane was a cheerleader when Argyle won the title in 1986. They will watch their son with pride.

"You still wish he had his leg, but you're not going to bring that back," Gary said.

Kolby will carry a spare leg into the Metrodome today. Because his newest leg isn't fitting perfectly, he will play with an older prosthetic and keep the new one as a backup in case the old one breaks; last season, that happened during a practice.

"Make sure you have that other leg handy," Dick Niessen, a Shriners certified prosthetist, told Gruhot on Friday morning.

And with that, the healthy young football player walked out of the hospital on a strong, steady stride, carrying his spare leg.