by Maria Gerbic

Johnny Quinn, member of the U.S Bobsled Team and ex-football and track star, gained immediate media attention after he posted a picture on Twitter that quickly went viral. The picture he took was of a destroyed bathroom door. Quinn was trapped inside for several minutes and pounded on the bathroom walls, desperate to get the attention of his teammates. His panicked call for help was heard by no one, so he decided to take matters into his own hands.  Quinn explained the mishap, saying, “I banged on the door and it cracked. And so I hit it even harder and my fist went through the door. So when I saw light from the room I said, ‘Hey it’s time to get out of here’”. The combination of his bobsled training and the weight of his own 6’2, 200-pound frame helped Quinn succeed in breaking down the door. Quinn snapped the picture of the door and posted it to Twitter, hoping to get a few likes or retweets. Instead, the picture gained 29,311 retweets and quickly circulated around the web. Quinn was overwhelmed by the response, and in the following days appeared on CNN, ABC, and NBC to discuss the incident and his life outside of bobsledding.

Quinn sat down and opened up about his life, showing that there really is more to Quinn than status as a Twitter celebrity. Quinn was a successful track and football star in high school, so it isn’t surprising that he won a spot on the US bobsled team. He was McKinney High School’s wide receiver, a standout player who held a record 80 receptions during his senior year. He signed to the Bills and Packers for his professional career, but after his football career didn’t work out the way he had planned, he decided to use his skills to pursue a spot on the US Bobsled Team. Six months after tearing his ACL and subsequently ending his football career, Quinn began his bobsled training. He earned his spot on the team after sending a training video to Chuck Berkely, Olympic bobsled athlete. Berkely, impressed by Quinn’s speed and acceleration skills, signed Quinn on to the team. His struggle to find his place as an athlete pushed him to create the website TheAthleteWatch.com, a website designed for student athletes to advertise their skills.