| | He missed the lesson on giving up | |
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Dick Stodghill Five Star Member
Number of posts : 3795 Registration date : 2008-05-04 Age : 98 Location : Akron, Ohio
| Subject: He missed the lesson on giving up Mon Aug 17, 2009 8:30 am | |
| A Stodghill Says So blog: A gangly, uncoordinated fellow played four years of high school football a few decades back. Freshman team, junior varsity, two seasons on the varsity squad. Not once in all that time did he miss a practice session, not even one. He also never got into a game. Not for a minute, not for a second. Not even when his team was ahead by six touchdowns. One of his teammates went on to play professional football in the NFL. Later he returned to town for a class reunion. Others hurried to gather around, to be by his side. He was polite enough, tolerant of people he once had known and some he hadn't. His face lit up when he saw an old teammate across the room, the man who had never gotten into a game. The pro called his name, elbowed his way through the crowd until he was able to shake the uncoordinated fellow's hand and throw an arm around his shoulder. They went to a table off by itself, talked and laughed together for a couple of hours. Later a man who had never gone out for the team took the old pro by the arm and said, "Why did you spend all that time talking to him of all people?" The pro shot him a scornful look. "He was the most important man on the team." The other man laughed. "Important? He never even got in a game." The pro jerked his arm free and walked away. Over his shoulder he said, "He taught us never to quit."
Last edited by Dick Stodghill on Mon Aug 17, 2009 11:37 am; edited 2 times in total |
| | | alice Five Star Member
Number of posts : 15672 Registration date : 2008-10-22 Age : 76 Location : Redmond, WA
| Subject: Re: He missed the lesson on giving up Mon Aug 17, 2009 8:40 am | |
| Thank you, Dick. |
| | | alj Five Star Member
Number of posts : 9633 Registration date : 2008-12-05 Age : 80 Location : San Antonio
| Subject: Re: He missed the lesson on giving up Mon Aug 17, 2009 8:42 am | |
| What Alice said. Ann |
| | | Abe F. March Five Star Member
Number of posts : 10768 Registration date : 2008-01-26 Age : 85 Location : Germany
| Subject: Re: He missed the lesson on giving up Mon Aug 17, 2009 10:30 am | |
| Dick, that was good. It reminds me of the saying, "Quitters never win and winners never quit." |
| | | Brenda Hill Five Star Member
Number of posts : 1297 Registration date : 2008-02-16 Location : Southern CA
| Subject: Re: He missed the lesson on giving up Mon Aug 17, 2009 10:56 am | |
| Can’t believe I’m saying this to you, Dick, but I loved your story. Actually, it was beautiful. There. That's my good deed for today, but be ready for tomorrow. |
| | | Carol Troestler Five Star Member
Number of posts : 3827 Registration date : 2008-06-07 Age : 86 Location : Wisconsin
| Subject: Re: He missed the lesson on giving up Mon Aug 17, 2009 10:59 am | |
| My husband was on our college football team the year they won all their games. Every few year this team gets together. The coach comes and last time said, "We have friends in our life and we have best friends. You guys are my best friends." He meant it, but only sees them now and then.
One player who went on to play pro ball had a very famous player to his home one night and the player brought videos of his college days. He played for a big university and the video showed the stands filled with thousands of cheering fans. So the wife of the player from our school said, "Honey, why don't you show him the videos of your college games." So they got them out and began to view them. The famous player said excitedly, "back up, back up!" So they did. "Are those cows?" Yes they were cows. Our school football field bleachers held a few hundred tops. Next to the bleachers was a field of cows.
My husband has flown throughout the world, but he is very proud of that winning season on the football field next to the cow pasture, as are the others from the team.
Love, Carol |
| | | Abe F. March Five Star Member
Number of posts : 10768 Registration date : 2008-01-26 Age : 85 Location : Germany
| Subject: Re: He missed the lesson on giving up Mon Aug 17, 2009 11:05 am | |
| Memories like that are forever, Carol. Tom impressed me as being a person who sought perfection in everything he did. Now that he's retired, he has perfected his playing of the harmonica. The little things one does is a reflection of the person in other aspects of life. |
| | | Shelagh Admin
Number of posts : 12662 Registration date : 2008-01-11 Location : UK
| Subject: Re: He missed the lesson on giving up Mon Aug 17, 2009 11:28 am | |
| You'll love this, Dick: http://www.speakwell.com/well/2001_summer/images/claudia.mp3 The singer/songwriter is Dr. Martin Collis. We met him at the University of Victoria, BC, in 1985. He gave my husband a signed copy of his LP. The song is about Claudia Kolb: Claudia wins gold! http://www.speakwell.com/well/2001_summer/1.shtml |
| | | Carol Troestler Five Star Member
Number of posts : 3827 Registration date : 2008-06-07 Age : 86 Location : Wisconsin
| Subject: Re: He missed the lesson on giving up Mon Aug 17, 2009 12:04 pm | |
| That's a great article, Shelagh. I loved it along with all the little boxes of great inspirational sayings.
Abe, my husband is the kind of person who tries to do things perfectly. He has had myriad successes. They began when his mother died when he was in high school, when she was only in her forties, a great tragedy for all who knew her. After this tragedy, my husband put his heart and soul into baseball, got awards, made the newspaper. A lawyer alum of the small school with the football field by the cow pasture called him and said he wanted to see his old college succeed in sports, and that he'd pay Tom's way to college.
He succeeded there, was accepted into flight school in the Marines, got a job with American airlines, had the big family he always wanted. Oh, yes, and he met me along the way. Now he loves to play the harmonica and practices every day with a program on his computer.
This weekend we had some college friends here. The man is a 12 year survivor of pancreatic cancer, an impossible achievement. He and I consider ourselves walking miracles. Neither one of us has any idea why we are still here, but we are.
I think the following advice of one of the little boxes in the article is one I'll take to heart:
"If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you." Gnostic Gospels.
Carol |
| | | Dick Stodghill Five Star Member
Number of posts : 3795 Registration date : 2008-05-04 Age : 98 Location : Akron, Ohio
| Subject: Re: He missed the lesson on giving up Tue Aug 18, 2009 8:24 am | |
| Thanks, Shelagh, I did enjoy it. I have always loved Division III football, but not what they call "major" college football. My favorite games have been at Wabash, an all-male college. They don't have a band but a few students bring their instuments to games. The last time we were there the college president joined in with his saxophone. When we lived in upstate New York we went to a lot of games played by very expensive, very exclusive New England colleges. At Hamilton, they featured an all-kazoo band that mocked big-time bands. No cows, but a great number of dogs having the time of their lives on the field. At a Williams College game two students sitting behind us had a continuous conversation about calculus and then classic literature. I didn't think they were paying a bit of attention to the game and wondered why they even came to it, then one broke in the middle of a sentence to say, "The Middlebury quaterback isn't as good as Bowdoin's was last week." You just never can be sure about people. |
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