How tobacco defeated ‘Mr. Invincible’
If something killed him, it wasn’t going to be his lungs. Gordon Everett convinced himself of that when he started smoking.
“My thinking back then was, ‘My lungs are tough,’” he said. “I figured if I got sick with anything, it would be cardiac.”
The North Bend man has a history of confronting medical challenges. He was diagnosed with polio at nine months old. Doctors said he’d never walk. They were wrong. He not only got control of his legs, he also developed into one of Southern California’s top gymnastic talents.
Gordon made all-conference three times in high school. His prowess on the pommel horse, parallel bars and rings led his squad to a second-place finish in Southern California. A respiratory therapist tested his lungs, marveling at their capacity. He jokingly describes his self-image in those days: “Mr. Invincible.”
He kept up gymnastics in college at San Jose State. After college he went to work at a nearby hospital and later married a co-worker.
He tried a cigarette in his late 20s. It was disgusting.
But when his marriage fell apart, he moved in with a chain-smoking friend. One night, he asked for a puff.
“It went down pretty easy,” he said. “It just came to be a habit.”
