Under an anonymous angel's wing

[Times photo: John Pendygraft 2001] Chad Gordon, 19, has cerebral palsy. An anonymous donor read about him last year and sent him $60,000 for his education. He is studying English and music at Stetson University.

Donor turns teen's scholarship disappointment to joy The finalist for a Times scholarship becomes a winner thanks to an anonymous gift.

Chad Gordon's first day at Stetson University came with the mandatory, monumental glitch. He found the right building and got to his first class on time. Then he sat there, alone, for nearly half an hour.

Stetson likes to tout its small class size. But this was ridiculous.

"I couldn't get my wheelchair in the room when I went for a visit," Gordon explained, "so the school said they'd move the class to another room when the semester started. But they never told the professor or the other students. I felt bad, but they said it wasn't my fault. Just a little computer problem."

The class he missed that day?

Modern Western civilization.

Throw just about any problem at Chad Gordon and he'll figure a way to overcome it. Readers were introduced to him in April 2001 when he was named as one of 14 finalists for the 2001 St. Petersburg Times Scholarships. He wasn't among the students who received a $60,000 scholarship over four years, but he did get a $1,000 scholarship. He also got something else. From someone he's never met. It came in a Federal Express package one Saturday morning last spring.

Four checks, made out to him, totaling $60,000. Someone had read about him in the paper and sent him the amount he hadn't received from the Times.

Gordon, 19, has cerebral palsy. He has difficulty speaking, is unable to write legibly and has no depth perception. Despite all that, he got straight A's throughout middle and high school.

At Stetson, Gordon had his own room in a dormitory on campus. "The people on my hall were kind of unusual," he said. "They kept me up late at night playing video games. And one night, there were three different fire alarms. Luckily, it was Friday night."

He found students who volunteered to help him with the little things, like doing his grocery shopping and helping him get dressed and ready in the morning. Someone would come by at night, too, and remove his shoes and help him into bed.

More than once he got caught in the rain trying to get from one class to the next. And he had to ask classmates if he could photocopy their notes. But he made the dean's list in the fall semester and has a good chance again this spring. His major is English, and for now, he plans to teach when he graduates.

"I went to a few Stetson baseball games this spring," he added. "That sure was an adventure. I had to drive myself through town (DeLand) in my chair. It was about 3 miles, and it took a long time.

"But it was a nice day, and we won."

He still doesn't know who sent him the money.

"Maybe they won't reveal who they are until after I graduate. But that's okay. When I'm feeling down or that I can't do something, I remember that somebody believes so much in me that they donated all that money.

"I know my family supports me, but this is someone I've never met. Whoever it was, I don't want to let them down."

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