S2E49 The Seven Longest Yards - an Interview with Chris Norton
The Brian Buffini Show
Brian Buffini
4.8 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 21 June 2022
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In a split second, Chris Norton went from being a talented college football player to a quadriplegic with a 3 percent chance of ever regaining any movement below his neck. In this episode, Brian learns how Chris has refused to let the accident define him and, with the support of his wife Emily, has worked tirelessly to defeat the odds and help other people.
YOU WILL LEARN:
· How a severe spinal cord injury drastically altered his life.
· How one turning point changed his mindset.
· How he empowers others to overcome their obstacles.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
7 Yards: The Chris Norton Story
“The Seven Longest Yards,” by Chris and Emily Norton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJJOdjlRbQo
“The Obstacle is the Way,” by Ryan Holiday
S2E45, A Slight Change of Plans – an Interview with Dr. Maya Shankar
Episode 143, Life Without Limits with Nick Vujicic
NOTEWORTHY QUOTES FROM THIS EPISODE:
“Your future will take care of itself when you take care of today.” – Chris Norton
“Happiness is not measured in steps.” – Chris Norton
“Living life in a wheelchair has taught me that your life is as limited as you allow it to be.” – Chris Norton
“I'm not going to let what I can't do to paralyze me more from what I can.” – Chris Norton
“The way I have found healing through my own challenges is by being able to serve others.” – Chris Norton
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to It's a Good Life Podcast where it's all about helping entrepreneurs think, |
| 0:07.6 | feel and do better. Here's your host, Brian Bafini. |
| 0:13.8 | Well, the top of the morning, welcome to It's a Good Life and we want to help you think, |
| 0:17.2 | feel and do better. And I think you're going to feel a lot better today after our interview. |
| 0:22.2 | We have a very special man and guest on this show today. His name is Chris Norton. |
| 0:27.9 | Some might be familiar with that name and some might not be. There was a Netflix documentary |
| 0:32.8 | actually that's out right now called Seven Yards made about his life. Chris was a football player |
| 0:39.4 | at Luther College in Iowa and he suffered a catastrophic spinal cord injury. Chris became a quadriplegic, |
| 0:48.0 | remarkable story of fate, positivity, inspiration that his life has become. There's basically a phrase |
| 0:57.0 | and it's on the back of this fantastic book called The Seven Longest Yards which is Chris Book |
| 1:02.0 | and it says it just says quadriplegic simply do not walk again. That's the statement. And that's |
| 1:07.9 | a true statement except Chris walked seven fantastic yards. First of all, he talked about he walked |
| 1:14.4 | across the stage to graduate and then with his bright Emily helped. He walked seven yards down |
| 1:20.8 | the aisle seven years after his injury on the day they got married. So a remarkable story, |
| 1:25.8 | Perseverance, Inspiration, Chris Norton, welcome to the show. We are honored to have you here, sir. |
| 1:31.3 | Yeah, thank you, Brian. I appreciate that introduction. Tell us a little bit about yourself and |
| 1:36.4 | before Luther College and before this defining moment in your life. Tell us about yourself and |
| 1:42.8 | where you grew up. I grew up in a small town just outside of Des Moines, Iowa. I had two amazing |
| 1:50.0 | parents and two sisters grew up just loving sports. I love competition. It doesn't matter if it |
| 1:57.6 | was rock paper scissors, a card game of war, dodgeball, you name it. I love competing. I love |
| 2:05.0 | winning and so I just always had this computational edge about myself and of course that led to playing |
| 2:13.2 | basketball and football and fortunately I had the opportunity to continue playing football |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Brian Buffini, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Brian Buffini and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.