It's tough to look at the world in the eye when your 4 feet four but John "Teach" Girard has his own way of measuring up. Teach, as his friends, family, and others call him knowing the uncomfortable lack of eye contact. The mothers shushing their curious children, the people who treat him as if his physical appearance made them uncomfortable. No problem, Teach counters it all. Not with bitterness or anger, but with a personal style that is all his own and makes him impossible to ignore. The man who looks as if he could cast for the lead part in some strange production of Snow White Meets the Bridge Troll and then plays it for a laugh when he talks about his low-altitude perspective on life. However, there's a serious side to whether he's roaring a thousand miles on his Harley Davidson with a sidecar to make the scene it's some huge Gathering of bikers or taking in a big rig truck show in some far-off place or taking over a high school art class to teach the delicate skills of painting, drawing, stained glass, sign painting, or philosophy of art education. It hasn't always been easy of course. Teach spent nine years in a wheelchair while attending college at California State University Sacramento and then on to University of Oregon for grad school. By this time, he was ready to get on with life and a multi-faceted life it is. There's John "Teach" Girard, who was a very successful teacher, football coach, and artist who spends his days in his art studio located in the tiny community of Crow, Oregon, a small community about 10 miles west of Eugene, Oregon. This is where he creates outrageous fine line trucks, motorcycles, and hot rod illustrations for his new color book series "American Lifestyle Color Hooks". For style, flash, and shere hand turning ability, there's Teach, the bearded tattooed biker. The unlikely biker who stands just a shade shorter than his handlebars. That Teach is irreverent a bit anti-establishment but very easy to talk with regarding his handicap pace through life. Teach developed acute thrombosis phlebitis a circulatory disease that attacked his lower legs while serving in the United States Air Force. He was given a medical retirement discharge with the prediction that he would probably lose both feet within a few years. Within a few years after college, the prediction of losing his feet came true. It was not the low point in his life, as most would have predicted. A collapsing circulatory system and open ulcers on his ankles and had put them in constant pain for years. He continued to teach and coach while experimenting with different prosthesis devices and wheelchairs, never considering giving up his love for art and motorcycles. Teach designed and built his own knee controls for his motorcycles with the help of friends in the Eugene area. Although he owns prosthetics that bring him up to his normal height of 6 foot, Teach opted instead to walk on his knees with prosthetic kneepads. This father, grandfather, and great-grandfather has a few words tattooed on his arm that sums up his attitude on life. "Defeeted but Never Defeated"
