Boxing, as with many sports, takes more mental toughness than physical ability.

ISU Boxing Coach Terry Dowd has proven that fact outside of the ring as well.

Four months ago, Dowd, 48, suffered a stroke that paralyzed the entire left side of his body. The prognosis was not good, but Dowd’s determination was.

“I wasn’t supposed to walk, or talk, or do anything again, and I proved them wrong,” he said.

And to keep proving people wrong, Dowd returned to coach the team nearly two weeks ago. He said is feels “excellent” to be back for a 14th year at the helm.

Dowd said his aggressive personality helped him defy the odds. For Dowd, anything less would have been unacceptable.

“I’m not allowed to fail,” he said.

One difficult thing for Dowd to cope with has been the loss of some athletic ability.

Dowd’s wife, Marge, said it has been really hard on both her and her husband. “He’s always been a very active person. [With] him to be basically stuck in an inactive body, he gets frustrated very easily,” she said.

Dowd said, “I used to run every day, lift everyday. I can’t do that right now. This is tough to deal with, really tough. It’s no fun.”

Before suffering the stroke, he benched 300 pounds. Currently, he can bench press 45 pounds.

Dowd’s’ weight also plummeted from 197 pounds to 157 pounds.

He said the team has been key to his comeback. “[I’ve received] a lot of help from them. They motivate me big time. They drive me.”

“There’s a couple of them who’ve been injured in past experiences,” he said. “They stuck with it, so why shouldn’t I?”

Marge said that going down to State Gym to watch his competitors practice gave Dowd a more positive attitude.

She said he would say, “I have to do this because I have to get back to boxing.”

And Dowd’s boxers wanted him to return to the ring just as badly as he wanted to.

Qais (“Case”) Aldoub, an ISU boxer, said his coach’s comeback has been inspirational for the entire team.

“We were very motivated,” he said. “We thought he was gone forever.”

Marge said the continued outpouring of help is a special tribute for the well-respected coach.

“A lot of the fellows who have boxed for him previously have come down and been there for moral support, physical support, whatever they can do for him,” she said.

Aldoub agreed. “If he needs to talk to someone he always finds us and talks to us,” he said.

When Dowd was released from the hospital, he used a wheelchair, but has since shed his self-described “half-man, half-car” persona for a walking cane.

Dowd said that full recovery time is expected to be two or three years. And it’s a pretty safe bet that he will spend that time pacing alongside his nationally-ranked boxers, just as he has been doing for more than a decade.