The following feature first appeared in the football game program on Oct. 19, 2019.
His back had pushed squarely to the wall – literally and figuratively – and the possibility of losing one career was getting ever closer to become a stark, and stinging, reality.
It was then that fate smiled on Charlie Younger and he happened upon what could best be described as a small miracle, or at least an epiphany, that opened the door to another career, one that will be a lot longer lasting and will define his life much more profoundly going forward.
It was about seven years ago when this story – his story, really – began. Younger, now a redshirt senior center for the Wayne State University football team, was playing – or at least trying very hard to play, and wanting very much to play, without much success -- at Mukwonago High School in southeast Wisconsin.
"I was having a lot of problems with pinched nerves in my neck and back," the 6-foot-3, 301-pound, two-year team captain said. "I was getting stingers all the time, and wasn't able to stay on the field.
"The doctors kept telling me I just had to sit out and wait for my body to settle down. It was frustrating. I kept missing time. I love football – it is everything to me – but I was afraid that my career might be over. It's a serious situation and a serious injury, and it's nothing you can mess around with. I didn't know what, if anything, I could do. I was afraid I was out of options."
He wasn't the only one. His parents, Bob and Diane Younger, and the doctors feared that as well.
His family is knee-deep in the medical field. His mother is a neo-natal nurse. His father, formerly a registered nurse, came up with an idea.
"He said, 'I've had good success with chiropractors. Let's make an appointment with one and see if we could look at this thing from a different perspective and find a better resolution,' " Younger said.
It was a life-changing, and, in more ways than one, a career-changing, decision.
"It was kind of a miracle," Younger said. "Seven visits later – just seven visits! – and I was healthy with no more problems and I was playing again."
Yes, kind of a miracle indeed, both for what it wrought immediately and what it will for the future.
It got him back onto the field, enabling him to realize his full potential and become an honorable mention all-state pick as a senior. That, and his performance at a camp at Michigan State University, drew the attention of Wayne State coaches and led to his signing with the school as one of its first football recruits from Wisconsin.
That, in itself, would be enough. Playing college football? How cool is that for a kid from the off-the-beaten-path town of Eagle, Wis., especially when that kid thought his football career was over? The state doesn't have any Division II football schools, so if Younger was going to find a college to fit his needs both athletically and academically, he was going to have to look beyond Wisconsin's borders.
"Going to Wayne State and playing football allowed me to go from my small town and get out into the world to have a chance to make something of myself," Younger said.
But there's more to it than that. His experience with that chiropractor changed not just his football career, but his academic and professional one as well. It's why Younger selected Kinesiology as a major. He will graduate in December and will begin classes next March at the Palmer School of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa. Established in 1897, it was the first school of chiropractic in the world.
Younger plans to take full advantage of his time there and hopes one day to be a chiropractor.
Younger has a cousin in Seattle who has his own chiropractic practice.
"He referred me to Palmer and said it's the best chiropractic school in the country. So that was good enough for me," Younger said.
He added, "I'm really excited about what's ahead for me there. What happened back in high school when my football career was saved by that chiropractor, made a great impression on me. I wouldn't be here right now, in my fifth year in the Wayne State football program and winding down my career and my senior season, had it not been for that chiropractor. There's no question about that.
"The chiropractor did so much to help me and affect my life in such a positive way. I want to someday start doing the same kind of thing for other people, to help them get healthy and get to where they want to go in life.
"There are so many sad stories in this country with people turning to an opioid to avoid the severe pain that they're having. I want to be able to offer those people a healthy, safe and effective way to get rid of that pain and get their lives back.
"I am very anxious to begin that chapter of my life, but before that happens, I've got some unfinished business with this football program."
Yes, Younger is first and foremost a football player, at least right now. And he's an intelligent one as well, as evidenced by his academic record at Wayne State.
He has been on the school's Academic Honor Roll for all eight of the semesters he's been enrolled at the school, and is a regular on the Athletic Director's Honor Roll (a term grade-point average of 3.5 or higher). In addition, in the last three years, he has been selected to the All-Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Academic Team, and has also been a recipient of the Division II ADA Academic Achievement Award for three years.
With those types of smarts, he fully realizes what's going on in his life – and his football career -- right now.
"The other seniors and myself on this team are all one big family," Younger said. "We hit kind of a lull the previous two years when we finished 5-6 and 2-9. We've got this one last season to get things turned around and back on track.
"We want to leave this place and this program better than when we found it. Before we hang up our pads, we want to create a culture whereby there can be success after we leave. This is our time to do that."
And in Detroit, and the Wayne State community, Younger has found a second home, one that he will stay with him long after he leaves here.
"I'm from this small town and I get recruited by Wayne State," Younger said. "That the school is in Detroit, which is such a huge place, kind of overwhelmed me. It blew me away. It's so different from what I grew up around.
"Detroit is a great place. It gets a bad rap. I tell people that Detroit is not what you think it is. It is a real up-and-coming city. I like it here very much, and have enjoyed my time here.
"And for my situation, there's also the fact that Wayne State has a great medical school. It has been good for me to be in that environment. It helped me prepare to go to chiropractic school."
So did that nightmarish – but important – time in high school when his back was to the wall.
