Weber State football chaplain recalls long path back from crash, coma
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- Weber State University chaplain Zebulon Beck interacts with players in the visiting locker room at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City prior to a football game against the University of Utah on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023.
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- Weber State University chaplain Zebulon Beck is wheeled out to the football field at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, where he would stand and walk with assistance during a football game against the University of Utah on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023.
OGDEN — After emerging from three months in a medically induced coma, Zebulon Beck was told he probably wouldn’t walk again.
But the Weber State University football team chaplain was determined to get back onto the field with the Wildcats.
“I told the players, ‘If I can walk, you can beat Utah,'” Beck said.
The game between the Wildcats and the Utes was held earlier this month. Unfortunately, WSU lost, but Beck had a personal win. He was able to walk, with assistance, onto the Rice-Eccles Stadium field to the amazement of the players and his medical team.
“It was very rewarding. I went into the locker room before the game and many of the players didn’t realize I had learned to walk again,” Beck said. “They had come to visit me, but they didn’t realize my progress.”
Last year on Oct. 31, Beck and his wife were on their way home from the football game between WSU and Montana State when they both started to feel sick.
“When we got home, I tested myself for COVID and it was positive. I was so sick that I drove myself to the emergency room,” he said. “I was about five minutes away when I had a stroke and passed out and hit a concrete barrier.”
Three months later, Beck woke up in the intensive care unit at University of Utah Hospital. On top of the stroke, he had suffered numerous broken bones as well as a traumatic brain injury.
“They had told my wife she should probably think about taking me off life support. But while I was in the coma, I had a pretty spiritual experience where I was told I could either just go to sleep and pass on or I could start breathing on my own … I could continue to live but I would have to fight really hard,” Beck said. “I had to make a choice and I decided I wanted to live. I didn’t want to leave my family.”
As soon as he made the decision to live, Beck said he miraculously began to breathe on his own. That’s when the fight began.
“It took hours of surgery to put everything back together and the medical professionals said walking probably wasn’t something I would do again,” Beck said. “I spent months in physical therapy but I couldn’t put any weight on my legs for a really long time.”
Jonathon Kinzinger, a physical therapist at the Craig H. Nielsen Rehabilitation Hospital at U of U Health, said after conducting a quick and dirty assessment on Beck, he felt he had excellent potential to start making gains to meet his goal.
“He worked really hard. His determination and perseverance is what really helped him to accomplish his goal. I’m just one piece of the puzzle,” Kinzinger said. “Three weeks prior to the game, we went out and did a test run and then on the day of the game it was really exciting to be there to help him through the process. So many people love him too. It was really emotional to see people hugging him and shaking his hand and just being so thrilled for him.”
Beck retired from the Air Force as a lieutenant colonel in 2020 after serving 25 years as a chaplain to the Air Force Academy football team. He also worked as the wing chaplain at Hill Air Force Base and was a deployed minister in Iraq. While stationed in Japan, he rescued a cat, brought him home and named him Ki Ki. He and his wife, Ceri, also have four dogs and three children.
Then, seven years ago, Jay Hill, who was the football coach for WSU, invited him to be the chaplain for the Wildcats. As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Beck reached out to his church leaders and got approval.
“My job as a chaplain is to help the players on a nondenominational spiritual level,” Beck said. “We have players who are return missionaries and players who aren’t members of my church and we totally connect. I find it very rewarding and I learn a lot from them and hopefully they learn a lot from me.”
Beck said his near-fatal experience taught him even more about the importance of this life.
“It’s not the car or the house or the boat,” he said. “You never know what’s going to happen to you when you walk out the door each day. Life is fragile. The veil is thin. Scripture talks about where your heart is and you really get to know all about that when you’re laying in a hospital bed hooked to tubes and wires. It’s about service to others and loving one another.”