THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 1, 1996 TAG: 9602030289
SECTION: THE AFRICAN AMERICAN TODAYPAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Special section
SOURCE: BY CHARLISE LYLES
LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines
Carl Brashear has persisted his way into U.S. military history, not once, but three times.
The first time was when he became the Navy's first African-American deep-sea diver; the second when he continued to dive after losing his leg in an accident; and third when he became the first black and amputee to earn a Navy master diver certification.
Brashear picked up that persistence from his father, a Kentucky sharecropper who persisted his way through the Depression and the insidious setbacks of the sharecropping system to raise a boy like Carl into a daring man.
He has been featured on television shows, including ``20/20.'' Bill Cosby bought the movie rights to his life story.
Still, Brashear humbly harkens to home and family when he talks about his place in history.
``My father was very dedicated, an uneducated individual, but that man knew how to make things work and get things done,'' says Brashear, at 64, fit and trim as any diver would want to be.<
In the fields, as a boy he watched his father build barns while lacking even basic equipment. With crude tools, he surveyed land with precision accuracy. He figured the amount of lumber for a new building to within one or two boards, and estimated how much concrete to pour.
``He only went to the third grade,'' says Brashear.
Brashear himself had gone only to the eighth grade when he joined the Navy in the late 1940s. In 1952, as a boatswain's mate on the Tripoli, he was scrubbing and painting the aircraft exterior. He caught sight of a diver, suiting up and plunging into the sea.
It filled him with wonder. He requested a diving school assignment.
Higher-ups lost his applications. They suggested he pursue a post as a steward, attending to naval officers.
Brashear didn't think so. One superior just came right out and told him: There weren't any ``colored'' Navy divers. Period.
Brashear pressed on. Finally in 1953, he was assigned, the sole Negro to a diving school in Bayonne, N.J. He was mistaken for the cook.
The simple reply, ``No sir, I'm a diving student,'' seemed to sting like a jellyfish.
The school was tough. About 30 of his classmates couldn't take the plunge. The difficulty of initiation, or ``hell week,'' was spiked with racist venom, nasty threats and name-calling.
Inside, Brashear felt the sting. Outside, he appeared unfazed, as undistracted as his daddy figuring in the fields.
No. Racism wasn't going to rip off his dream.
``Some American people have the tendency to let people steal their dreams and set a destination for them,'' says Brashear. ``They let people discourage them and destroy their self-esteem.''
Brashear completed the course and went on to take 6,000 dives, the equivalent of one and a half years underwater.
In 1966, he was on deck during a salvage mission in the Atlantic when a deep-sea cable pulled loose a heavy metal pipe. Brashear pushed several sailors out of the way. His left leg took the brunt of the blow. Five months of treatment failed, and doctors amputated below the knee.
The Navy bestowed upon Brashear the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, its top peace-time award. And officials basically assumed that his diving career was done.
How could he climb a ladder, wearing a 290-pound diving suit? How would he maintain equilibrium?
Brashear hadn't even thought about a new career. Diving was it for him. He became a different kind of minority.
When he got his artificial leg, to doctors' surprise, he walked the quarter-mile back to his room. He refused to use cane or crutch. He skipped rehab.
He formulated his own recovery method, partly predicated on sheer will power.
A year later, he performed dem- onstration dives. Instead of leaping and plunging like some strange fish, Brashear was full of grace. It awed those who watched from the sidelines into silence.
In 1970, Brashear received his Navy master diver title.
Retired now and living in Virginia Beach, Brashear works out about five times a week. ``My goal is to get up happy every morning and stay in top-notch condition at 65 years old,'' he says.
Every once in a while, he speaks to a youth group. He tells them to keep focused, don't be distracted.
``A lot of times, people have the desire, but not the persistence required to do the things they want to do,'' says Brashear. ``
``I think I had the motivation and persistence to show people that you can follow your dreams, no matter what happens. I think that's how I should go down in American history.'' MEMO: The Associated Press contributed to this story. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Brashear: ``...you can follow your dreams, no matter what
happens.''
KEYWORDS: SPECIAL SECTION SUPPLEMENT AFRICAN-AMERICAN
HISTORY BLACK HISTORY
by CNB