Ezra Frech was bullied as a kid growing up in Los Angeles.
Stared at. Pointed at. Laughed at.
He was born with congenital limb differences, missing his left knee, left fibula and fingers on his left hand. He had surgery to remove the non-functioning part of his left leg and to transplant a toe from the amputated foot to his left hand. At 11 months, he received his first prosthetic leg.
Now 18 years old, he’s a Paralympian, a world champion and now the first above-the-knee amputee to commit to a Division I college track and field program after announcing his decision to attend to the University of Southern California on Feb. 6.
“Only three percent of high school track athletes make it to Division I, and another one of them is now a Paralympian,” Frech said. “That sends a huge message to not only the able-bodied community, but to people with a disability. Yes, I’m an above-the-knee amputee. Yes, the odds were stacked against me. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to be contained by society’s perception of my disability. That’s what I believe I was put on this earth to do — to push the boundaries of what’s possible as an amputee and be an example to this community.”
Frech has already been pushing those boundaries at the international level. He made his Paralympic debut as a 16-year-old in Tokyo, and last summer he broke the men’s high jump T63 world record twice at the world championships in Paris, ending up with a new mark of 1.95 meters while securing his first world title.
That record came a month after Frech graduated. from high school. Instead of coming home from Paris and getting ready for college, he decided to take a gap year to focus on training for the Paralympic Games Paris 2024, as well as to hit the jump marks he’d ultimately need to be recruited by a Division I school. He has also taken time to serve as a motivational speaker and take part in business endeavors, including traveling to France for Paris Fashion Week.
Frech’s college decision came down to a combination of factors. He wanted a great coaching staff he trusts, an iconic track and field program, a solid education and proximity to his family. Those are all things that USC can provide.
“I’ve always dreamed of being at a Division I powerhouse,” he said. “There are so many synergies that were lining up as I was going through this process.”
At 6-foot-1, Frech’s journey to USC was not a solo one by any means; he credits strong parenting and a “unit of a community” behind him. His parents put him in mainstream sports growing up — basketball, football, soccer, skateboarding, karate and surfing — which helped integrate him with his able-bodied peers and develop thick skin from an early age. In 2013, he and his father, Clayton, founded Angel City Sports, which now provides over 100 adaptive sports clinics each year.
“I don’t believe I would have accomplished any of this without the people who love and support me and hold me up on the days where I couldn’t stand,” Frech said. “It definitely all stems from me growing up with my parents putting me in sports and always feeling like I was underestimated, and people were counting me out. I had this chip on my shoulder all throughout my younger years, and still have the chip right now.”
The oldest of three siblings, Frech’s mentors have extended beyond his family, and he has had the pleasure of turning two of his biggest ones into peers.
Paralympic champion Sam Grewe has been Frech’s long-time role model, mentor and friend. Frech competed alongside Grewe in the high jump at the Tokyo Paralympics and broke Grewe’s world record last year. His other idol Roderick Townsend, a two-time Paralympic champion and four-time world champion in the men’s high jump T46, is an older brother figure in Frech’s life who now serves as his personal coach.
While Frech will be the first above-the-knee amputee to compete in Division I track and field, there are several Para athletes with NCAA track and field ties. That includes Paralympic silver medalist high jumper Dallas Wise, who transferred to USC in 2022 and is competing in his redshirt senior season for the Trojans this year.
“I hope one day that there’s a system of collegiate track and field where adaptive athletes will be able to be properly included, and maybe one day there will be adaptive track and field programs at all the top Division I schools in America so that if you have disability, you still have a path to run collegiate track and field,” Frech said.
“As of right now there isn’t that option, so I took the much more daunting and scary approach, trying to make the able-bodied team. What really motivates me is pushing the boundaries of what people think is possible as an amputee. USC is just another place where I get to do that — where I get to prove people wrong and show how elite Paralympians are and how elite the Paralympic Games are as a whole.”
Prior to enrolling at USC, Frech plans to compete at the U.S. Para track and field national championships in March, the world championships in May and the Paralympics in August.
He is adamant about his goals for Paris, visualizing and writing them down every day:
Gold in the high jump.
A medal in the long jump.
A medal in the 100 meters in his Paralympic debut in the event.
“I’m in the best shape of my life without a doubt — I have no fears, no worries, no insecurities,” he said. “I’ve always vocalized my goals in this way. Some people might mistake it for cockiness or arrogance, but when we look back in hindsight in September and I have three chains around me — one of them gold — it will all fall into place and people won’t call it cockiness. They’ll just say he was very confident.”
Frech is already looking ahead to competing in his own backyard as well at the LA 2028 Games. He was featured in the original launch video for the Games and was a creator for one of the LA28 logos.
If what he is visualizing and writing down every day comes true, the LA Games will serve as his crowning achievement.
“When the Games come to LA in 2028, I aim to pull something off that I deem the triple crown which is gold in the high jump, gold in the long jump and gold in the 100 meters,” he said. “Winning a medal in all three in Paris is just a step in that direction because I know when the Games come to my hometown, I plan to pull that feat off, which has never been done before in the history of the Olympics, Paralympics or track and field in general.”
Stuart Lieberman covered Paralympic sports for three years at the International Paralympic Committee, including at the London 2012 and Sochi 2014 Games. He is a freelance contributor to usparatf.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.
