Paralympic runner Hunter Woodhall opened the Endowed Lecture at Bridgewater College last Friday evening by telling the story of how his parents made the decision to amputate his malformed legs when he was just a baby. It was an impossible decision and a heartbreaking story that began with Woodhall’s birth and ended with a photo of him trying on his first pair of prosthetic legs. Yet in Woodhall’s telling, the story became one of redemption, not devastation.
“Doctors told my parents that I’d never be able to walk,” he began, and then paused for a beat. “But they never said anything about running,” he concluded with a grin as the sold-out audience burst into applause.
Woodhall’s introduction set the tone for the rest of the endowed lecture, which he gave with his wife, Olympic long jumper Tara Davis-Woodhall. The couple, whose talk focused on their early years and how they met, were candid, optimistic and funny. And the audience—which included many BC athletes as well as faculty, students and community members—responded with enthusiasm.
Woodhall was born with fibular hemimelia, a deformation of the lower leg bone. He discovered track as a youth and began competing with the U.S. National Paralympic Team in high school. He went on to earn a track scholarship to the University of Arkansas, becoming the first double-amputee to compete in NCAA Division I athletics. He won a gold medal in the 400m at the 2024 Summer Paralympics.
Davis-Woodhall began running track and field when she was just four years old, often competing against older athletes. She began breaking long jump records when she was in high school and continued at the University of Georgia and University of Texas. She won a gold medal in the long jump at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
As they told it, the couple met at a track meet when they were still in high school and married in 2022. They have a large social media following and are now brand ambassadors for a variety of companies including Nike, Lululemon and Champion.
After their talk, the Woodhalls showed off their gold medals and answered questions about their lives from BC student moderators Destiny Joseph ’28 and Miles Rhoden ’27. Among the questions asked was what advice the Olympians had for younger athletes.
“We failed a lot. And each time we failed we learned something,” Woodhall said. “To be successful you have to put yourself out there without knowing if you’ll succeed.”
The endowed lecture was sponsored by the W. Harold Row Symposium on Reconciliation, the Harold H. Hersch Educational Fund and the Harry W. and Ina Mason Shank Peace Studies Endowment.
The next BC Endowed Lecture is on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, at 7:30 p.m. in Cole Hall. Author Irshad Manji will speak on “Building Conversation Across Divides,” and then sign copies of her latest book, Don’t Label Me, a guide to disagreeing better.
Endowed Lectures at Bridgewater College are free and open to the public.
– Heather Cole
11/19/25
