“I like the competitiveness, and I’ve always been more fiery,” Ben Abercrombie ’25 reflected when discussing his love for football. “I grew up in Hoover, Alabama. Here in Alabama, you basically live and breathe football.”
Abercrombie got recruited by Harvard his junior year of high school, he recalled in an interview with the Independent. Though schools like Yale and Dartmouth also reached out, it was Harvard’s coaches and players that swayed Abercrombie toward playing for the Crimson.
Once arriving at Harvard, Abercrombie chose to concentrate in Economics, citing his passion for finance and his plans to work in the industry after graduation. During fall camp for football of his first-year, Abercrombie worked his way up in the “depth chart,” a chart used to determine the placements of players on a sports team. By the Crimson’s first game of the 2017-2018 season at the University of Rhode Island (URI), Abercrombie was the second-string defensive back.
“The guy starting in front of me tore his hamstring. I ended up getting right in there,” he said. Abercrombie was not supposed to play on the day of the accident.
Abercrombie watched as URI’s quarterback broke the ball toward a wide receiver running down the sidelines and went to separate the ball from the player. While trying to hit his shoulder into the opponent’s chest, Abercrombie broke his neck, landing on the ground unable to move.
“It was a freak thing. That moment changed my whole life,” he remarked.
The following events went in “slow motion,” as Abercrombie described. “I lost feeling of everything. I remember talking to the trainer, and then a few seconds later I couldn’t talk anymore… I couldn’t breathe, and I ended up passing out and waking up in the hospital a few days later.” Abercrombie would have to relearn life in a wheelchair.
Today, Abercrombie remains paralyzed from the neck down and does not have any functional movement. He cannot breathe on his own and has to wear a diaphragmatic pacer to help build the functionality of his diaphragm back up. Yet, Abercrombie’s long journey of recovery has shown signs of progress. Every day, Abercrombie takes part in rehab exercises to regain mobility such as stimulating riding a bike, standing upright, and walking on a treadmill. He goes to Journey Forward, a facility in Canton, Massachusetts, where people who sustain injuries similar to Abercrombie can work out with trained professionals. He can twitch his thumbs and notes movement in his diaphragm. “The rehab stuff has been such a long road,” Abercrombie stated.
Abercrombie made a promise to himself to finish college. Though he could have stayed back in Alabama and finished college there, for him, it only made sense to return to Cambridge. “I wanted to come back up here and get my Harvard degree because it’s Harvard. It’s only a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” Abercrombie came back to campus two years later in 2019, continuing to pursue his passion for finance on the Economics track and is set to graduate this spring.
Abercrombie is taking a corporate finance course, a German history course, and Old English. Both Abercrombie and Sherri Abercrombie, his mother who attends his classes with him, recommended the German history course, HIST 1265: Germany 1848-1949 with Professor Alison Frank Johnson. “She’s really good, and she makes it real interesting,” Sherri exclaimed.
HIST 1265 is Abercrombie’s earliest course, beginning at 10:30 a.m. To prepare, Abercrombie wakes up at 7 a.m. to get ready, and then his parents “load him up and drive him close to his class,” Sherri explained. Abercrombie’s parents attend his classes and live with him full-time, helping him navigate life at the College from a modified suite in Winthrop House. “I have to be really strategic about breaking up my classes and finding times to do homework. I guess everything takes me a little bit longer,” he explained.
Abercrombie and his parents praised the Harvard administration and community for their support throughout the process. “I thank all the faculty and staff—Harvard administration—for taking care of us,” Abercrombie said. “They are great. Responding and always checking up on me and making sure I have everything I need.”
Sherri echoed this, explaining how the accessibility office has been helpful in meeting Abercrombie’s needs, such as his need for a scribe when doing calculus and mathematics. “Having to do that can get a little bit annoying because I can’t write it down myself.” But Abercrombie can type out essays, test questions, and even use Excel on his own—using his eyes.
Tobii Eye Gaze allows him to control his computer by looking at the commands he needs. “It has a left click button, a right click, a scroll up and down, and I can pull up a keyboard and start typing. That’s how I take all my tests and write papers,” he explained. “He’s gotten faster,” his mother added. Abercrombie uses the eye gaze for Excel and coding in his econometrics classes. “Coding is not fun. [In my] corporate finance class, there’s a lot of Excel.” Nonetheless, Abercrombie comments, “I don’t mind Excel—it’s pretty useful.”
Abercrombie takes advantage of not having Monday classes to complete his homework. On the weekends, he spends time watching football and baseball, oftentimes rooting for his former teammates from high school and college. “On Saturday, if you came by here, it’d be a game on [the TV], another TV on that tray, an iPad, and another tablet. It could be four games going on at once,” Sherri stated. Abercrombie participates weekly in an article for AL.com where he offers his picks for the week’s games, his dad Marty Abercrombie explained. He also attends every Harvard Crimson home football game and frequently talks to the coaches and players.
Abercrombie and his family expressed excitement toward the multiple community events that take place for him each year. The 7th annual Ben Abercrombie Day at El Jefe’s will take place on Dec. 10, where all proceeds from the day go to the Ben Abercrombie Fund, designed to assist the Abercrombies and anyone else who suffers a catastrophic injury at Harvard. “It helps my family a lot,” he said, but noted that this year could be the last one as he is graduating. The Harvard Varsity Club additionally hosts an annual “3.2 for Ben” for the fund—a 3.2-mile virtual walk or run that can be completed during November. The 3.2 is in honor of Abercrombie’s football jersey for the Crimson, number 32.
After graduation, his plans to go into financial management remain the same from when he first came to Harvard in 2017. His room—which he has not had to leave since moving into Winthrop—is decked out in sports memorabilia: half Harvard, half Alabama, and a gifted 32 jersey from this year’s Crimson team. Abercrombie has enjoyed his time back in Harvard Square—though he often misses the warm weather of Hoover (“Nothing is better than home”)—dining out at Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage, Cava, and of course, Jefe’s. He was adamant about how Winthrop House and the community support have been great to him. And the dining hall food? “It will do.”
Layla Chaaraoui ’26 (laylachaaraoui@college.harvard.edu) can barely use Excel, but does share Abercrombie’s love for spicy beef nachos at El Jefe’s.