MPW.70 / 2018 Double Overtime by Carlton Ward
Photographer
Carlton Ward Tama, Fla.

Team Gilka

Story Summary

Identical twins Caleb and Luke Fry wake at 5 a.m. every day to lead the cows to the milk barn, spread manure with a tractor and hand feed the calves. They work past sunset every night helping run their family’s third generation dairy farm, with a break in between for their junior year at Mountain Grove High School, where they share most classes and compete in varsity sports. Like their father before them, Caleb and Luke are on the football team – the Mountain Grove Panthers. But Luke is indefinitely sidelined because he broke his back in a dirt bike accident at the farm. With rods and screws bracing his spine, he races cross country and track but cannot risk being paralyzed by impact sports. Caleb plays center in the starting offense. Both brothers are interested in continuing the family farm, which now includes Ozark Mountain Creamery, to sell fresh milk throughout southern Missouri and northern Arkansas. With their mother Lori and father Dwight, the Fry brothers set the bar high for a midwestern work ethic that is double overtime.