ESPN's new documentary about Jack Jablonski airs Sunday morning
America will get an update on Jack Jablonski this weekend when ESPN broadcasts a documentary about the former Minnesota high school hockey player Sunday morning.
As Jablonski tweeted Friday, the new installment of Outside the Lines airs on ESPN2 at 8 a.m. central time.
It's now been five years since Jablonski was hit from behind while playing for Benilde-St. Margaret's High School, severing his spinal cord and leaving him paralyzed from the chest down.
Judging from the trailer, Sunday's show includes a fair amount of footage from Jablonski's playing days.
These days Jablonski is a student at the University of Southern California, where he was the subject of a feature story published Thursday that focuses on his internship with the Los Angeles Kings.
Jablonski is a communications major at USC and has remained close to hockey since his injury, even hosting a weekly hockey radio show in the Twin Cities for awhile.
He also stays busy with the Jack Jablonski Bel13ve in Miracles Foundation, which raises money to support recovery from spinal injuries.
When he was home from school in November Jablonski told WCCO he tries not to think much about what happened five years ago, preferring to focus on the present and future. The station says hours of physical therapy are part of his daily routine – in addition to a full course load at USC, his foundation work, and the Kings internship.
No stranger to ESPN
ESPN has followed Jablonski's story for years, dating back to a doctor's 2012 prognosis that he would never walk again.
Michelle Beadle, the co-host of an ESPN show, accepted Jablonski's invitation to be his date to Benilde-St. Margaret's prom in 2014.
The producer of the new documentary says the idea for it started about that same time. Russ Dinallo told one of his ESPN colleagues:
"At first, we were interested in Jack talking hockey on the radio as a way to stay connected to the game after his injury. As time went on we realized that was just part of the larger story. As Jack put it, “The story of my life after my injury is still being written.” It’s become Jack’s five-year journey since his injury, including his goals with his foundation, and his life at USC."
