It’s not uncommon for Josh Herbert to go up against big opponents and long odds.
So when undefeated Southwestern Buckeye League rival Valley View shows up to play Herbert and winless Madison tonight, at least one Mohawk won’t be awestruck.
The 5-foot-4, 195-pound lineman has tackled bigger, badder opponents in his lifetime. As a child, Herbert struggled to survive. Now, he fights bears.
Doctors diagnosed Herbert with Luekemia before his second birthday.
“He spent almost every day at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, getting tests done and receiving treatment,” said Herbert’s father, Daniel.
Now Herbert’s an honor student, and the disease has been in remission since he was seven.
And with Luekemia whipped, Herbert has moved on to playing football and wrestling his pet bear.
“He’s learning wrestling moves,” Herbert said of Buddy, an orphaned 8-year-old American Black Bear whom the family has raised from a cub. Herbert, who also wrestles for the Mohawks, often takes on the 6-5, 450-pound beast in a playful match at the family’s home.
“You can’t really practice wrestling moves against him,” Herbert said. “It’s not like wrestling against a human opponent. He reacts a lot differently.”
Herbert said Buddy is slowly learning to mimic his wrestling moves. Already, the bear can put a person in a double-leg lock in no time.
“He’s good at headlocks and, of course, bear hugs,” Herbert said.
If Buddy doesn’t feel comfortable in a wrestling hold, the bear will push Herbert out of the way.
“All we have to say is ‘No!’ and Buddy will back off,” Herbert said. “He’s never been too rough with me. He’s playful, but he knows when to stop.”
Herbert’s father, Daniel, is an accomplished outdoorsman who has often been contacted by fish and game associations in the U.S. in Canada to assist in tracking and relocating bears.
After several such trips, the Herberts developed a reputation for caring for and handling bears.
Buddy is the second bear the family has had on its farm.
“Yeah, the other one is at a friend’s house in Indiana,” Josh said. “That one got too big.”
Daniel Herbert works as an HVAC repairman for an area supermarket chain. His connections to the grocery stores keep Buddy’s belly quite full.
“The stores give me old fruit and vegetables,” Herbert said. “And in the late fall, when Buddy’s weight naturally goes up, he eats a lot of old, expired pies and pastries, too.”
As a safety precaution, Buddy’s claws and his incisor teeth, the ones used primarily for tearing meat, were removed by the chief veterinarian at the Columbus Zoo. As a part of the agreement on the owner’s permit, a relatively tame bear like Buddy could never be released into the wild. Buddy wouldn’t know how to hunt or fish for food on his own.
Besides, nothing beats a good Moon Pie.
Taking care of Buddy has led Herbert to become interested in a career in veterinary medicine after high school. Herbert hasn’t decided on a college just yet for his pre-med training, but he is leaning toward getting his veterinary medicine degree at Ohio State.
But before Herbert was thinking about studying medicine, he was taking it to survive.
Herbert was too weak from chemotherapy treatments to attend school. It wasn’t until he was 7 years of age that his body’s immune system became strong enough for him to go to classes with his friends.
“I was pretty young then, so I don’t think it really affected me as much as it did my parents,” Herbert said, now 18 years old. “They’re the ones who had to sit through it all.”
And wait, and worry.
Herbert was diagnosed with Leukemia when he was just over a 1 year old.
“It was a difficult time for us,” Daniel Herbert said. “We knew a family from Franklin whose son was down there at the same time for treatment, and he didn’t make it. We knew a Hamilton family that had a daughter going through the same thing, and she didn’t make it either. … We were very lucky.”
To this day, Herbert makes his necessary trips down to the Children’s Hospital for routine blood tests. While he’s there, and at the request of the hospital staff, Herbert brings some of his wrestling trophies and medals and gladly spends time with the kids.
“I know a lot of kids that went through the same things I did who didn’t make it,” Josh said. “I was lucky. And I appreciate all the time I have.”
Herbert tries to give the kids hope by telling them that they too can beat the odds.
“It’s tough to see the kids and know how they feel,” he said. “But I try to give them some hope.”
Just don’t get him too close to a hypodermic needle. Herbert admits that it’s the only thing that he may be afraid of. After years of chemotherapy treatment, who can blame him?
But he goes back to the hospital rooms with a smile and hope for the kids.
“I tell them to keep their heads up, that they can fight this thing and that they should always stay positive,” he said.
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