Manchester High’s Kodjo Erasmus and Thayer Redman Share Special Bond

This is one of those stories that might sound too contrived even for a Nickelodeon script or a big-font teen novel. It goes something like this:

Kid moves to town from Africa with little knowledge of track and field, gives the hurdles a try, helps lead team to first state title in 63 years and is named captain for his senior year. Side plot: inspirational coach, who grew up in poverty in Maine and broke his neck in college, is .

This is a story about Kodjo Erasmus and his coach, Thayer Redman. And it’s true.

Erasmus moved to Manchester from Ghana in July, 2010 in search of a better education. He played soccer that fall and wasn’t really interested in running track but came out for the team last spring on a friend’s suggestion. 17 days after his first-ever practice; he put himself into the 100-meter hurdle event without telling Redman.

“We hadn’t scheduled him for that and I looked down and I saw him standing – not even using the blocks,” Redman said. “Without panicking, I was trying to get down there and pull him out of the race before it started because I thought he was going to hurt himself. I was cringing.”

It was too late. Erasmus came in fourth place with a time in the 17 second range and did not injure – or embarrass – himself. The result gave the coaches reason to believe they found a hurdler in the rough.

“I didn’t know what it was about or how to use the blocks either,” the ever-smiling, 6’4” Erasmus said when recalling his first outdoor meet last April. “I realized that it wasn’t something I could get on time - I just needed to get over the hurdles first - so I ran the first race without using the blocks.”

Erasmus shaved a couple of seconds off his times in the hurdles – both 110 and 300 meters - and was a member of the 4X4 relay team that placed third in the championship meet. His 15.4 second effort in the 110-meter was good for second place and could have been the difference in the meet’s outcome – Manchester beat Danbury 75-74.

“He survived, but nothing spectacular,” Redman said of that first race. “Every week he got faster and faster. In fact, at the state meet outdoors, it was only his second or third week using starting blocks and was dead last after two hurdles – I mean way back - and then closed and almost caught the kid for first place.”

Redman’s own story of survival has inspired student athletes at Manchester High for the better part of two decades. He came from a family broken by alcohol and bounced from school to school before settling at Thayer Academy in southern Maine. His coaches took him under their wing and helped him parlay athletics into a college scholarship. Redman’s athletic career and life came to a screeching halt in Sedona, Arizona on the day before he was to start classes at Arizona State.

He was swimming in a deep stream, jumped off a rock and landed in the wrong spot, shattering his skull and fracturing three vertebrae. Both of his rotator cuffs were torn, his spine was compressed, he had deep tissue damage and suffered brain injury.

After years of rehab and soul searching, Redman returned to competitive athletics, finished his college education and became a role model for hundreds of students and athletes at the school. Redman will be recognized as Connecticut High School Boys Coach of the Year by the Connecticut Sports Writers’ Alliance (CSWA) at the Aqua Turf on April 29.

“He is amazing,” Erasmus said of Redman while taking a break between his hurdle workout and a session with his 4X4 relay partners. “He is just like a father to me. And I’m not just saying this because he is my coach. He talks to us about not being better today, but about becoming a better person tomorrow. He is not just doing it for the sake of winning a state championship for Manchester high School but to become who you want to be in the future.”

Erasmus, who speaks fluent English and nine African dialects, and Redman both grew up without the benefit of a father at home and formed an almost instant bond. They shared an amazing, dramatic, one-point victory in last year’s LL championship meet and both are cautiously optimistic about successfully defending the title in June.

“We lost a lot,” Redman concedes referring to last year’s team. “I do believe in miracles but want to take the pressure off the kids. Once in 60 years? For us to expect to do it again might be ridiculous. We are in a very tough division there’s great athletic, good teams, but kids come through. We did it with a bunch of first timers and no-names, so…”

Erasmus, who is considering an academic offer from UConn and waiting on an athletic offer from Central Connecticut, feels the team has the talent and motivation to repeat.

“I can see another state championship coming out of this,” the team captain said without hesitation. “The spirit of the state championship team we had last year is in the freshman, sophomores and juniors that we have right now. Each and every one of them are working hard not just working to impress us, but to keep the heritage alive. The championship that is here should stay here.”

Another state championship might be a stretch for the Indians, and would make the script even tougher to sell.

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