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Beloved tennis coach back to work after surviving terrible crash

SUGAR LAND, Texas - After surviving a terrible car accident and spending months in the hospital, a popular tennis coach is back to doing what he loves.

John Furlow is a tennis coach at Clements High School and has been around for more than 30 years.

He was nearly killed in a car crash several months ago and doctors weren't sure if he'd survive.

"It was September 10 to be exact. I'll never forget the day," Furlow said.

Witnesses captured the aftermath of the horrible wreck on Highway 90 halfway between Rosenberg and Sugar Land.

Furlow was headed west when a car that was street racing tried to pass him.

"Then he tried to cut in behind me and when he did, it clipped the back of my truck and sent me spinning," said Furlow, adding that he went through the median, across to oncoming traffic, airborne and into a ditch.

Paramedics airlifted him to Memorial Hermann Hospital.

"Doctors didn't know if I was going to live through the first few nights," he said.

He spent a few months in the ICU, another month in the hospital and then another month in rehab.

"I had a broken arm, a broken nose, broken ribs, punctured lungs, parts of my back were broken, I was just beaten up," Furlow said. "I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to get out of there and get back to what I loved doing."

Though he needed tubes to feed him until February, he's back at the helm of the program where he's been since 1983.

"What happened to Furlow was really sad, but it was really great to watch the whole team come together and support (him)," said Nikita Pradeep, a senior at the high school.

The team sold t-shirts and raised money for his cause but it seems more than anything the story inspired his players.

"It's really good motivation that if Furlow can do something like that, we should be able to win matches," Pradeep said.

Furlow says the two men that were street racing came back to the crash and were eventually thrown in jail. He doesn't know for how long and he says he doesn't want to know.

During those first trying days, he didn't know if he was going to go back to coaching.

He says he's grateful to his doctors for their support, adding that coming back to Clements High was the best medicine he could've asked for.

He's taking Pradeep and two others to the 6A state championship next week at Texas A&M.

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