Ernie Hodge launches first book, “The Will to Win”

Saturday, Ernie and Mary Pat Hodge celebrated the release of the book, “The Will to Win,” the chronicle of Ernie’s life story, authored by Terry Scarborough as told by Ernie. With the celebration being held at the Courtyard Marriott in Warner Robins Saturday afternoon, family, friends and invited guests gathered in commemoration of the occasion.

“Writing this book has been bittersweet,” Scarborough explained. “I find myself crying at some points and laughing at most others. So I watched Ernie go through this thing off and on over the these 54 years, and during that time, I’ve been encouraged, more than discouraged, by his will to win.”

Scarborough explained that he and Ernie “go way back,” and that they used to live across the street from each other, with Ernie being two years older than he, and both playing football at Northside High School. Scarborough shared that Saturday marked the 54-year anniversary of the construction accident that resulted in Ernie becoming a quadriplegic. Scarborough also advised that the next week would mark 50 years of marriage for the Hodges.

“This is our 50th anniversary, and I wrote a book, really, about our life. The fact that we have been married 50 years, all the time in wheelchairs, it’s pretty amazing that we made it 50 years, right?” said Ernie with a smile.

Ernie shared that he attended Northside High School the first year that it was built and participated in the sports teams there. Ernie noted that as a graduated Eagle, he was headed for Georgia Tech to pursue a degree as an aerospace engineer, but before he could get there, his neck was broken in a construction accident at Robins Air Force Base.

“You can imagine how it was a shock to my system, not knowing what you could do or how you could do it. And amazingly, I was going to be an aerospace engineer. I ended up graduating from the University of Illinois in aerospace engineering and getting my masters in mechanical engineering. I have been a mechanical engineer ever since,” Ernie recalled.

Ernie said that he had been working on the book for many years, but said he just could not finish it, so he told Scarborough about it.

“I said, man, I just need somebody to kind of just push me to the end. So, we have had a ball getting all the stories together and all the pictures and all the videos. To have all these people come up and show up, it’s pretty amazing,” Ernie remarked, noting that many of the friends that attended Saturday’s function, he had not seen in 50 years.

Scarborough informed that during these past 54 years, both Ernie and Mary Pat have participated in the Paralympics, with Mary Pat setting world records. Scarborough also shared that Ernie has worked for General Electric and McDonnell Douglas, among many aircraft companies.

According to Mary Pat, the book is available for purchase on Amazon as a Kindle E-Book for $9.99, and the physical edition to follow in the next few months.

The completion of the work is a relief to Ernie’s mind. “Now I can kind of relax…. At this point I’m really just happy that I’m able to keep going,” he expressed.

“It’s very exciting. We’ve been looking for this day for a long time, and we’re so happy that all these people could come here and support Ernie and Terry and all of their efforts for this book. It brings back lots of memories, I’m sure, for Ernie and for Terry. We’re just really happy to be here,” Mary Pat added.

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