Inspirations From My Youth

In grade school I became interested in both sports and history, and loved to read all kinds of books, but mainly biographies and sports books. I read about Glenn Cunningham, who was an Olympic long-distance runner in 1932 and ’36. As a boy he was badly burned and doctors said he might never walk again but he never gave up. His favorite Bible verse was Isaiah 40:31 – “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

I also read about Pete Gray, who lost his arm in an accident as a boy but played baseball and was called up to the majors with the Cleveland Indians in 1945 as a left fielder. And of Wilma Rudolph who had polio at age four and but wore a brace on her left leg and foot until she was nine but went on to win 3 gold medals as a sprinter in the 1960 Olympics.

I saw Tom Dempsey, who was born without toes on his right, kick the longest field goal on NFL history in 1970 – a 63-yarder that stood as a record until 2013. In my adulthood, I saw Jim Abbot, who was born without a right hand but pitched in the major leagues and threw a no-hitter for the New York Yankees in 1993.

So these people made me think about people in a sport I love – golf. How many of them had to overcome adversity to succeed? It was a matter of persistence and faith in self, and God, that I believed drove them, along with the character that defined who they were. I wrote about people like these in my books, as they offer inspiration to all.