MAXSC Blog

THE STORY FOR THIS WEEK

Jessie Owens was born September 12, 1913, in Oakville, Alabama, U.S.; he died March 31, 1980, in Phoenix, Arizona.

Jessie was an American track-and-field athlete, who set a world record in the running broad jump (also called long jump) that stood for 25 years and who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. His four Olympic victories were a blow to Adolph Hitler’s intention to use the Games to demonstrate Aryan superiority.

As a student in a Cleveland, Ohio, high school, Owens won three events at the 1933 National Interscholastic Championships in Chicago. In one day, May 25, 1935, while competing for Ohio State University (Columbus) in a Western (later Big Ten) Conference track-and-field meet at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), Owens equaled the world record for the 100-yard dash (9.4 sec) and broke the world records for the 220-yard dash (20.3 sec), the 220-yard low hurdles (22.6 sec), and the long jump (8.13 metres [26.67 feet]).

Owens’s performance at the 1936 Berlin Olympics has become legend, both for his brilliant gold-medal efforts in the 100-metre run (10.3 sec, an Olympic record), the 200-metre run (20.7 sec, a world record), the long jump (8.06 metres [26.4 feet]), and the 4 100-metre relay (39.8 sec) and for events away from the track.

One popular tale that arose from Owens’s victories was that of the “snub,” the notion that Hitler refused to shake hands with Owens because he was an African American. In truth, by the second day of competition, when Owens won the 100-metre final, Hitler had decided to no longer publicly congratulate any of the athletes. The previous day the International Olympic Committee president, angry that Hitler had publicly congratulated only a few German and Finnish winners before leaving the stadium after the German competitors were eliminated from the day’s final event, insisted that the German chancellor congratulate all or none of the victors. Unaware of the situation, American papers reported the “snub,” and the myth grew over the years.

Despite the politically charged atmosphere of the Berlin Games, Owens was adored by the German public, and it was German long jumper Carl Ludwig (“Luz”) Long who aided Owens through a bad start in the long jump competition. Owens was flustered to learn that what he had thought was a practice jump had been counted as his first attempt. Unsettled, he foot-faulted the second attempt. Before Owens’s last jump, Long suggested that the American place a towel in front of the take-off board. Leaping from that point, Owens qualified for the finals, eventually beating Long (later his close friend) for the gold.

SAVAGE COMMENTS.

Would you be prepared to spend a lifetime of training for 10 seconds?

The problem is that we never know how close we are to our goals until we reach them. Jessie did not let anything stop him, even discrimination and being publicly snubbed. Another athlete who he was competing against was prepared to help him even though this athlete might lose to him and eventually did. This is the real meaning of sport and of life. Help those you can along the way. You may not win but what you gain will be immeasurable.

QUOTE

A lifetime of training for just ten seconds.
Jesse Owens

STORY FOR THIS WEEK

Jessie Owens was born September 12, 1913, in Oakville, Alabama, U.S.; he died March 31, 1980, in Phoenix, Arizona.

Jessie was an American track-and-field athlete, who set a world record in the running broad jump (also called long jump) that stood for 25 years and who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. His four Olympic victories were a blow to Adolph Hitler’s intention to use the Games to demonstrate Aryan superiority.

As a student in a Cleveland, Ohio, high school, Owens won three events at the 1933 National Interscholastic Championships in Chicago. In one day, May 25, 1935, while competing for Ohio State University (Columbus) in a Western (later Big Ten) Conference track-and-field meet at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), Owens equaled the world record for the 100-yard dash (9.4 sec) and broke the world records for the 220-yard dash (20.3 sec), the 220-yard low hurdles (22.6 sec), and the long jump (8.13 metres [26.67 feet]).

Owens’s performance at the 1936 Berlin Olympics has become legend, both for his brilliant gold-medal efforts in the 100-metre run (10.3 sec, an Olympic record), the 200-metre run (20.7 sec, a world record), the long jump (8.06 metres [26.4 feet]), and the 4 100-metre relay (39.8 sec) and for events away from the track.

One popular tale that arose from Owens’s victories was that of the “snub,” the notion that Hitler refused to shake hands with Owens because he was an African American. In truth, by the second day of competition, when Owens won the 100-metre final, Hitler had decided to no longer publicly congratulate any of the athletes. The previous day the International Olympic Committee president, angry that Hitler had publicly congratulated only a few German and Finnish winners before leaving the stadium after the German competitors were eliminated from the day’s final event, insisted that the German chancellor congratulate all or none of the victors. Unaware of the situation, American papers reported the “snub,” and the myth grew over the years.

Despite the politically charged atmosphere of the Berlin Games, Owens was adored by the German public, and it was German long jumper Carl Ludwig (“Luz”) Long who aided Owens through a bad start in the long jump competition. Owens was flustered to learn that what he had thought was a practice jump had been counted as his first attempt. Unsettled, he foot-faulted the second attempt. Before Owens’s last jump, Long suggested that the American place a towel in front of the take-off board. Leaping from that point, Owens qualified for the finals, eventually beating Long (later his close friend) for the gold.

SAVAGE COMMENTS.

Would you be prepared to spend a lifetime of training for 10 seconds?

The problem is that we never know how close we are to our goals until we reach them. Jessie did not let anything stop him, even discrimination and being publicly snubbed. Another athlete who he was competing against was prepared to help him even though this athlete might lose to him and eventually did. This is the real meaning of sport and of life. Help those you can along the way. You may not win but what you gain will be immeasurable.

Quote:

My mother taught me very early to believe I could acience any accomplishment I wanted to. The first was to walk without braces.

Wilma Rudolph

Story for this week

On September 7, 1960, Wilma Rudolph made Olympic history by becoming the first woman, not to mention the first African-American woman, to win three gold medals.  Her accomplishments in track and field—taking first place in both the 100-meter and 200-meter dash and in the 4×100 relay—opened the door for women and girls in previously all-male track and field events.  Graceful, fast and slender, the Italian press called her La Gazzella—the gazelle.

Born in segregated Clarksville, Tennessee, on June 23, 1940, the twentieth of twenty-two children, she weighed just four-and-a-half pounds.  Her parents were hardworking but quite poor.

Wilma’s mother nursed her sickly child through the measles, chicken pox, double pneumonia and scarlet fever.  When Wilma’s left foot and leg drew up and turned in, the diagnosis of polio seemed final.  Doctors gave the little girl no hope of ever walking without braces or crutches, if at all.

But her mother didn’t accept the doctors’ opinions.

Twice a week for two years she drove Wilma the fifty miles to Nashville for treatment at Meharry Hospital, part of Fisk University, a black college.  The doctors showed Mrs. Rudolph how to exercise Wilma’s muscles, and she in turn taught the therapies to Wilma’s brothers and sisters.

Everyone helped, and by age eight Wilma was not only walking without crutches and braces, but playing basketball in the backyard.

Wilma joined her junior-high basketball team, but the coach didn’t put her in a single game.  By her sophomore year in high school Wilma started as guard.  Her performance caught the attention of Ed Temple, coach of the Tennessee State University Tigerbells, who offered her a full scholarship when she graduated.

Besides guiding the basketball team to a championship Wilma also excelled at track and field, earning a spot in the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, where the sixteen-year-old brought home a bronze medal in the 4×4 relay.

But it was her outstanding accomplishments in Rome that brought Rudolph fame and influence.   Despite all the obstacles she had to overcome she won 3 gold medals - an awesome achievement

Excerpted from ThroughYourBody.com

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other. Abraham Lincoln

Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure. George Edward Woodberry

THIS WEEKS STORY

The setbacks of Abraham Lincoln were devastating. He failed in business in 1831.

He was defeated for state legislature in 1832.

He tried another business in ’33. It failed.

His fiancé died in 1835.

He had a nervous breakdown in ’36.

In ’43 he ran for Congress and was defeated.

He tried again in ’48 and was defeated again.

He tried running for the Senate in ’55. He lost.

The next year he ran for vice president and lost.

In ’59 he ran for the Senate again and was again defeated.

FINALLY IN 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected the sixteenth president of the United States.

COMMENT

PASSION, BELIEF and SELF-TRUST are the fuel for a positive attitude that causes us to be totally COMMITTED to a goal. GIVING UP IS NOT AN OPTION.

The following quotes are from Vince Lombardi.

It’s easy to have faith in yourself and discipline when you’re a winner, when you’re number one.  What you have got to have is faith and discipline when you’re not a winner.

The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.

This weeks story

Eddie Arcaro dreamed of becoming the world’s greatest jockey.  But watching him ride it became apparent the he was awkward, clumsy and when in the saddle he couldn’t do anything right.  In his first 100 races he never came close to finishing.  Still he continued to try.
Arcaro was only a little over 5 feet tall and weighed about 80 pounds.  The other kids teased and shunned him.  Finally he convinced his dad to let him leave school and pursue a career as a jockey.

No one was betting on Arcaro but he was determined not only to ride but to become the world’s greatest jockey.  Finally he got to ride in a race.  Before the race was over he had lost his whip and cap and had almost fallen off the saddle.  By the time he finished the race the other horses were on their way back to the stables.  He’d come in dead last.
After that Arcaro went from track to track looking for an opportunity to ride.  Finally, an owner took pity on him and gave him a chance.  Every after 100 trophy-less races he was still giving him a chance and Arcaro wasn’t about to quit.  The trainers saw something in this unlucky jockey, something they couldn’t define.

There were long years when he was broke.  He had many brushes with death and several broken bones.  Every time he was hurt he would get patched up and return to the saddle.

Then Arcaro began to win..and win…and win.  In thirty years of riding he won 4,779 races, becoming the only jockey in history to win the Kentucky Derby five times.  When he retired in 1962 he was a millionaire and a legend in the racing community.

From the moment Arcaro walked out of school and onto a track he had his mind on the finish line.  And although the race took thirty years, he never quit until the line was crossed.

Cynthia Kersey

Comments by Savage

This is a true story about someone who travelled a bumpy road to reach success.  Would you still be attempting to get better after 99 failures?  I’m not sure I would.

But the real point here is that while you are attempting to learn a new skill, reach a new level of performance or whatever it is you are attempting to achieve you are on a journey of discovery.  As you go along you have no way of knowing whether the next attempt will be the one where everything falls into place and you are successful.  What if this jockey had stopped after the 99th attempt.  He would NEVER have achieved the success that he did.

I mentioned this story to a friend who remembered this jockey. All he remembered was what a great jockey he was. He had no idea what went into this success.  Others don’t see how difficult it is to get good at something, they only see your successes.

The big secret in life is that there is no secret.  Whatever your goal, you can get there if you are willing to work. 

Marcy Blochowiak From “No Glass Ceiling”

Dream what you want to dream;

Go where you want to go;

Be what you want to be,

Because you have only one life

And one chance to do all the things

You want to do.

As we review the past year we should be proud of our achievements but not complacent.  Where we are now should be our starting point for the next year.  Do not worry about those areas where you think you have failed.  Remember failures are the stepping stones to success.

Sit down and write down what you plan to achieve in 2010. 

Will you be a hero and choose to take risks necessary to fulfill your dreams?

It looks to me like you guys are really doing a good job of making the best of what comes your way.  Remember there are no bad experiences.  They are only bad if we perceive them to be.  Really they are steps along the way to a better situation.  From all experiences you learn and it looks to me like you guys are learning and figuring out how to be the best you can be given the situation.   I think you are doing a great job of looking forward and planning for better days.  I applaud you.  Hang in there - things will get better for you.

“The difference between a successful person and others is not lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of determination.”

-Vince Lombardi

Savage’s Take:

Great achievers don’t sit back and wait for success because they think they deserve it, they keep moving forward and striving because they are determined to achieve it. They are committed to being the best that they can be. No matter how hard, no matter how tough, no matter how far the goal appears, no matter how discouraged they feel, they keep moving toward the one thing most important to them - their goal.

What is your main goal of focus at the moment and what steps are you taking that let you know that you are determined to achieve that goal? If this is an area of struggle, how can we here at MaxSC help you get the level of determination you need to achieve it?

Please comment or email to savagem@u.washington.edu for more feedback.

“Regardless of what came before or of what is yet to come, what matters most right now is how you choose to respond to the challenge before you.” Will you lie down or will you fight? 

It all happened on a perfect day for surfing in Maui in 2003.  A 13 year old protégé with desires to become a professional surfer had just finished riding a 20 foot wave and was preparing to ride out to catch another wave.  With no warning she felt a tug at her arm.  She had been attacked by a shark.  The shark had bitten through her board and taken her left arm in a single bite.  In one short second it seemed her dreams would be shattered.

However she was determined to surf again and with the help of family and friends within 10 weeks she was back surfing again.  She now realized that she could overcome the physical challenge but the big one was her fear of another attack. 

In less than a year she was back competing and took 5^th place at the National Surfing Championships.   What words would you use to describe here:  courageous, committed, determined, someone with a passion. 

What hurdles do you have in front of you?  They may not appear to be this big but to you they are.  What are you doing to overcome the shark bite stopping you from being the best that you can be?

Let us know your thoughts.  Respond to the blog or e-mail me at savage@maxsc.net

Steps for creating an improved future

1.       ENVISION it.  Live as if it has already happened.

2.       VISION will ignite your PASSION that fuels your COMMITMENT to do WHATEVER IT TAKES to achieve excellence. 

3.       Only VISION allows you to transform dreams of greatness into the reality of ACHIEVEMENT. 

4.       VISION has NO boundaries and knows to limits.

5.       Our VISION is what we become.

From:  Quiet Strength: A memoir of Tony Dungy by Nathan Whitaker

DO YOU HAVE A VISION?

LET US KNOW YOUR VISION AND HOW WE CAN HELP YOU ACHIEVE IT.