Kendrell Daniels looks to his role model, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, on how to turn adversity to strength.
Daniels, a 19-year-old artist with the EXPRESS Yourself! program at Mississippi State’s T.K. Martin Center for Technology and Disability, was born without arms. He’s learned to use his feet to perform a number of day-to-day activities, from using a phone to brushing his teeth.
It can be tough, Daniels said, but the way he sees it, the same is true for Prescott, who played his collegiate career at MSU.
“It’s a difficult job, being a quarterback for an NFL team,” Daniels said. “I know how hard he works.”
Daniels’ talents include painting — a special skill that will be on display for the nation to see today as the Cowboys take on the Philadelphia Eagles. Two of Daniels’ paintings will be featured on the cleats Prescott will wear for the game, which have been specially made for the NFL’s “My Cleats, My Cause” weekend.
Prescott, in a video the Cowboys released Friday afternoon, said he feels blessed for the “amazing opportunity” to wear Daniels’ artwork.
“It’s just truly inspirational to me — somebody who’s taken their adversity and allowed it to be a strength that moves them through each and every day,” Prescott said in the video. “If I can’t do anything but bring awareness to people like Kendrell, or other people who are fighting disadvantage or disabilities … I just want to help them.”
Sharing the spotlight
Daniels, who is from Preston in Kemper County, is attending today’s game. He’s been thrilled about the opportunity, and hopes to see a win for the Cowboys.
“I’m very excited,” he said Friday. “It’s going to be my first NFL game I go to.”
One of Daniels’ paintings is blue, displaying the words “Adversity” and “Strength” and a star for the Cowboys. It includes splashes of pink, light blue and maroon, which Daniels said represent breast cancer awareness, human trafficking awareness and Mississippi State, respectively.
The second painting is white, with a star for Daniels and nine other stars with the names of each of the other artists in the EXPRESS Yourself! Program. The program helps artists who have disabilities paint, often with the assistance of T.K. Martin staff members called “trackers.”
“They deserve some recognition too,” Daniels said.
Judy Duncan, coordinator for EXPRESS Yourself!, said everyone at the T.K. Martin Center has been buzzing about Daniels’ big weekend.
“We’re absolutely excited,” she said. “It’s very cool that Kendrell is going to be featured, but also that Kendrell and Dak have allowed the T.K. Martin Center and EXPRESS Yourself! to have some spotlight as well.”
Prescott lost his mother to colon cancer in 2013. He now uses the Fight, Finish, Faith Foundation, in honor of his mother, to fight cancer and help those facing adversity.
Prescott’s cleats will be auctioned after Sunday’s game, with proceeds going to Fight, Finish, Faith.
Coming out of his shell
Daniels is a big sports fan, and Duncan said most of his paintings have been sports-related. He is, in particular, a fan of the University of Alabama.
Duncan said one day Daniels was looking for something to paint. She suggested he paint something for Mississippi State, but he wasn’t taken by the idea. Instead, she suggested that he paint something for the Cowboys, since many MSU fans also root for the Cowboys with Prescott at quarterback.
Daniels painted a blue star, which Prescott now keeps in his home.
Daniels has been a Cowboys fan ever since and said he was pleasantly surprised that Prescott liked his painting. The two met for the first time in the summer of 2017, when Prescott visited a camp at Mississippi State.
“I was shocked,” Daniels said. “That was the first one I did. I was shocked because he’s an NFL player.”
The T.K. Martin Center hosts an array of programs — including EXPRESS Yourself! and a preschool program, among others — for individuals with disabilities. The center houses a staff of speech pathologists, occupational therapists, special educators and rehabilitation and biomedical engineers.
Daniels has been going to the T.K. Martin Center for about three years, where trackers helped teach him to paint. His physical limitations made learning difficult at first, Daniels said, but painting has become a favored pastime.
Duncan said Daniels has grown tremendously in his time with the program. When he first came, she said, he didn’t like to talk or make eye contact. Now, she said, he’s more confident and outgoing.
Daniels is now a freshman taking online courses at East Mississippi Community College. He hopes to one day be a graphic designer, and is going to intern with Tree of Life Bookstores.
With the way Daniels has found the strength to overcome his challenges, Duncan said, it’s only fitting that he and Prescott have taken to each other.
“I think that’s the beauty of this,” Duncan said. “Kendrell has taken adversity in his life and now, through art, has turned everything into a strength.”
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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