DOn't quIT............... Left Hand Man.......

Porter Ellett..  

Growing up in Loa, Utah, Porter was mostly your typical kid.  Baled hay on the family farm.. learned to drive a stick shift..  changed sprinkler pipe... oh, and he was pretty darn good in sports.

How good?  Well, let's backtrack.  As a child, his grandmother gifted him an 8x10 framed quote, "DOn't quiIT."  Maybe a little disappointed with the gift, he didn't think much of it at the time.  His father had coached him in any, every sport growing up... Age 16, his father lost his job as his High School Basketball Coach.

"I'm going to quit." Went home, laid in bed.. tears happened.. couldn't stand the thought of not playing the sport he loved.  Corner of his eye, he caught Granny's framed quote.  DOn't quIT.

He didn't. Picked himself up and went on to have a pretty nice high school athletic career.  In baseball, he was the 1A MVP his junior year, first team all-state as a senior.  In basketball, his Wayne County Badgers won a regional tournament and were invited to NYC for an appearance on Good Morning America.

Marty McFly might suggest, "Doc Brown, let's go back to when Porter was 4."  A bunch of kids, Porter included, were riding in the back of a pickup truck, taking turns hopping on and off a motorcycle that was strapped into the bed of the truck.  Porter took his turn, went to get off,...  boom... fell out of the truck.

The injuries were severe.  Lifeflighted an hour and a half, it was determined there his skull was fractured in three places.. and the nerves leading to his his right arm were damaged. Damaged so bad, he had no use of the arm.  Forever. He was four.  Four.

Rethinking: n baseball, he was the 1A MVP his junior year, first team all-state as a senior.  In basketball, his Wayne County Badgers won a regional tournament and were invited to NYC for an appearance on Good Morning America.  Wow. Just wow.

From then on, his parents raised him "with a lot of love... but, no sympathy, I guess."  Age 10, a new pair of Jordon's were promised if he learned how to tie his shoe with his left arm.  Wrapped the laces around the shoe, stepped on them to keep them tight, did.  Tied 'em. Not to mention:

Tossing sheep into a corral

Shooting a gun accurately

Doing pushups.  YES, doing push ups.

Batting .400.......... and...  zip a jacket, cross monkey bars, reel in a fish.. ride a motorcycle.

DOn't quIT.  Didn't.

At some point in his childhood, the neighborhood boys in the backyard hopped a fence. Mom was nearby.  "Mom, can you help me?"  With tears in her eyes, mom said "I love you son, you're going to have to learn this, and much more, on your own."  Did.

16.  The sixth time he'd broken his nonworking right arm.  En route to Hospital, "Mom, can we just go ahead and get it amputated, I don't want to deal with this any more.?"  "That's up to you."

Did.

"Faster Doc Brown."  OK, went to BYU.  Returned from a mission in LA.  After the Good Morning America trip, Porter was featured in an article in New Era that would change his world.  Upon return from the mission, he was collecting fast offerings at an apartment complex.  One door he knocked on, he noticed a gal inside watching Sport's Center, obviously annoyed at the interruption. "OK, she's cool" he thought to himself.  'Tbis is going to sound strange, but, are you the kid from the New Era? A super smile, "Yes!"

They talked sports.. dated, went to BYU games... and kaboom, eventually Mrs. Ellett.  "When I did the New Era article, they asked me 'If there was one thing to come from this article, what would it be?'.. 'I just hope that it blesses one person's life.' That person ended up being me."

Graduated BYU, degree in Economics.  Job as a tax analyst. Thought about sports ALL THE TIME.. did spreadsheets on athletic performance in Basketball, Baseball, Football. "Do you wanna do this (tax analyst) for 20, 30 years?" Mrs (Carlie) Ellet asked. No.  Let's take a chance then.

Off to Baylor.  Master's Degree in Sport's Management. Ellett, and buddy Devin Woodhouse met while they were teaching.  Both loved, wanted to, work in athletics.  One icy day, Porter and Carlie drove to KC to attend a Chief's game.  Devin, by now, worked for the Chiefs, and oh by the way, had married a gal named Drew Reid.  Uh huh, that Reid, daughter of Andy.

Somehow they'd ventured to the home of Coach Reid.  Coach, a BYU grad himself, took a liking to Porter.  So much in fact, he considered (and offered) him a position with the team.  “Basically you need to be me when I’m not here. Or when I am here, you need to be my right-hand man and keep me going in the right direction.” No problem, Ellett eagerly replied, "as long as you would be okay with your right-hand man not having a right hand."  Coach laughed, "All right, then you'll be my left-hand man."

Such is his way.  Humor, incorporated with work ethic, knowledge, doing whatever is needed.   

Patrick Mahomes (on Porter) "He brings energy.  He never has a bad day. He's going to be the best himself he can be every single day."

Now in his 7th year with the Chiefs..  he's worked his way up from Senior Assistant to the Head Coach (2017-2019) to Offensive Quality Control (2020-2022). Now, he works closely with the Tight Ends, Running Backs, and Patrick Mahomes.

"Kelce gets it, me. No easy way out.  The other receivers, when I throw them passes, they'll lolly pop 'em back to me. Not Travis, he brings it! Just the way I like it!"  Kelce also got with Nike reps when Porter couldn't find his favorite pair of slip on Nike's.  One day they happened to show up in front of Porter's locker.

From buttering toast to swimming straight to learning to type fast on the computer - adapt, DOn't quIT is lived.  He's also given hundreds of motivational speeches on just that, learn to adapt and look for positives in life.

Interjecting a bit of KC favoritism, GO PORTER!!!!  HELP 'EM OVER THE FENCE AGAINST THE 49'ERS SUNDAY!

Love, Victurd