Destiny
May 1, 2012
A University of Wisconsin football player from my hometown years ago was hit from behind in the closing minutes of spring football practice. It caused an injury that required surgery. That caused him to miss the next fall’s football season; and to protect him from further injury, he was allowed to skip the following spring’s football practice and to work out with the Badgers baseball team.
He ended up leading the Big Ten Conference in hitting, and he eventually received the largest signing contract in the history of professional baseball, becoming the first “Bonus Baby” for Gene Autry’s Los Angeles Angels.
“If not for that injury in football,” he once told an audience, “caused by an unskilled walk-on in the last five minutes of the last spring football practice, I would never have played college baseball. I would never have played Major League Baseball for 11 seasons.
“You never know,” he said, “when you are five minutes from your destiny.”
Everyday Heroes
October 21, 2014
The last two Heisman Trophy winners have been mostly an embarrassment to college football after receiving what is supposed to be the sport’s highest individual award.
This has caused me to recall that Charles Schulz, the creator of “Peanuts” comic strip, was said to have often asked people to name the last few winners of the Heisman Trophy, the Pulitzer Prize, Miss America and Academy Awards. He reported that few people could name many of the recipients.
Then Mr. Schulz would ask the same people to name teachers and/or coaches who had inspired them. He reported that just about everyone had at least one to name quickly.
Schulz’s point was that for most of us, it is not award winners whom we remember. For most of us, the really important people are the “everyday heroes” who influenced our lives without fanfare or tribute.