Aaron Hall is a junior at Pulaski County High School. He loves his family, his girlfriend, and football. Aaron is a varsity wide receiver who has six fingers.
Born with only a palm and a thumb on his left hand and one weak kidney due to poor blood flow in the womb, Aaron had obstacles to overcome.
Aaron’s mom, Donna Hall, says doctors put one restriction on Aaron. “After a while, when they realized he was going to be healthy, they said his only limitation was that he should never play football because damage to the good kidney would hurt. But he was in fifth grade when his little brother came home with a football helmet and pads. He said, ‘I want to try that, too.’
“We knew early on that we could not baby this child. We could not make it easy for him because we wouldn’t be there for the rest of his life.”
From an early age Aaron gravitated towards sports.
“Every coach he had, he had to prove himself,” Donna says. “Start from scratch. Every time he meets a new person he has to start from scratch. He has to win them over. Everybody has always preconceived an idea about how he is.”
Joey Hall, Aaron’s father, says, “Coaches used to say, ‘He can’t do it, we’ll let him be on the team, but he can’t do it, you know.’”
Aaron’s faith makes him optimistic.
“I guess sometime it just hit me,” he says. “I wouldn’t even be here without the Lord. I just think it’s important. It’s really my passion. Football is not everything. God gives you everything to play football, but in the big scheme of things, you’ve got to do it for Him because He gave you the ability to play.”
Teammate Tyler Jackson says Aaron leads the team more than most seniors do. Tyler says Aaron motivates the team, “by the way he plays and his attitude. His heart, he doesn’t give up. He’s a positive person. He encourages when you’re down, and he’ll motivate you.”
Coach John Hines says, “Aaron’s a great kid. He has tremendous ability to be a leader through his actions. The great thing about Aaron is even though he was born with a disability, he has never been one to play the ‘woe is me’ card and say ‘oh look what happened to me’ and have that kind of attitude. Other players respect him a lot for what he’s gone through in his young life and the way he’s come through it, and the great attitude he has about it.”
Off the field, Aaron spends his time with his family and with his girlfriend of seven months, Sarah Howard. Aaron says it’s serious. “You can always say puppy love or whatever, but I’m almost 18. She’s not just like my girlfriend, she’s like my best friend and it’s cool that I can share things with her that I can’t with the guys.”
Sarah says, “He liked me for a long time before I liked him back. I prayed a lot before we started dating, I was like, ‘God, if this is the guy for me just give me a sign because I don’t know what he’s doing still chasing after me.’”
One reason for Sarah’s reluctance is that she’s a little taller than Aaron.
“I was thinking, ‘This boy’s like a shrimp.’ But the way he treats me is totally worth that centimeter.“
