Fulkerson delivers impactful message on life, athletics to his beloved Bearcats

If there was ever a philosophy followed by the 2023 Dexter High School football squad, it was to always get up when knocked down.

The Bearcats lost 3 of their 10 games this past season, but never consecutive games.

That resilience made former Bearcat player Cody Fulkerson beam with pride as he read about his alma mater online.

“You’re going to get knocked down in life,” Fulkerson recently told the latest edition of Bearcat football players at their annual team banquet. “All of us are going to have to deal with something before we check out.

“But the more fight that you have in you. The more faith that you have in our amazing God, you can overcome anything.”

Fulkerson, who graduated in 1982 from Dexter, wasn’t just speaking about the scoreboard at the end of the football field, he was talking about life, and no one knows more about possessing a massive amount of perseverance than Fulkerson.

A year ago, Fulkerson was stunningly diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia, a strain of which had only been found in 200 people ever.

“I’ve seen a lot of scary things in my 41 years (of working) in law enforcement,” the retired Missouri sergeant in the Missouri Highway Patrol said. “But nothing scared me more when I went to see the doctor and I didn’t even feel sick, and I was told that I had 18 months to live.”

Fulkerson’s wife, Amanda Grellner, had learned about the world-renowned MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and Fulkerson is blunt when he says, “My wife saved my life.”

He spent six months undergoing treatment, and he is just as emphatic that the Lord played a role in that process.

“I give all glory to God,” Fulkerson said. “Not only did they find one (stem cell transplant) donor for me, they found two within 30 days.”

As much as Fulkerson’s lessons told to the young Dexter student-athletes were applicable to football, he also had a plea to those attending the banquet to visit the website www.bethematch.org to enroll in a FREE and painless process of making a stem cell donation, which very well may save a person’s life.

Fulkerson told the Bearcat players that “football games are won in the off-season,” and he was able to claim victory in his downtime from serving as an assistant football coach at Linn High School near Rolla.

On Aug. 25, Fulkerson achieved his greatest victory when the physicians informed him that he was “in full remission and cancer-free.”

“Never once in my life did I doubt that I was going to beat this,” Fulkerson said, “or that I was going through this alone.”

Fulkerson had his family and friends, his faith, and the Rolla community organizing benefits to aid him.

He even had a former arrestee, whom Fulkerson had cited twice for driving while intoxicated, send him $200 to help with expenses.

“For a guy like that to send me $200 to help offset medical expenses,” Fulkerson said while choking back tears, “it was amazing.”

As for football, Fulkerson emphasized two critical points for the Bearcat players: impact and pride.

“Football does not build character,” Fulkerson said, “it exposes your character. It exposes what type of fighter you are and what kind of teammate you are. It is easy when you are winning when everybody wants on that bandwagon.”

There was a lot of room on the Bearcat “bandwagon” following the 2022 season, in which Dexter went 4-6. However, second-year Bearcat coach Chad Jamerson said multiple times, as did Fulkerson, that the 2023 off-season was the reason this latest group had so much success.

“When you are struggling,” Fulkerson continued, “and you’re losing, what do you do? Do you fall apart or come together? You guys came together.”

Though Fulkerson no longer resides in Stoddard County, he made it clear that Dexter will forever be in his heart.

“Being a Bearcat is everything,” Fulkerson said. “Always be proud of your school. Be proud of yourself, your family, and everything that this school represents, because once a Bearcat, you are always a Bearcat.”

Bearcat honors

The 2023 Dexter football program enjoyed more success than the program had in over a decade, so there was no shortage of accolades to be presented at the banquet, including:

* Bearcat Strong Award - RJ Farmer

* Lineman of the Year - Caden Lee

* Offensive Player of the Year - Lee-Michael McDonald

* Defensive Player of the Year - Landon Weathers

* Most Valuable Player - RJ Farmer

* 30th Annual Charles Bland Award - Rhyder Williams