Friday, April 26, 2013
Monday, April 22, 2013
The Reverend Bob Richards, the Vaulting Vicar.
When I was at Wabash College between 1952 and 1955, the national Decathlon was held. At that time, the Reverend Bob Richards was an outstanding pole vaulter, nicknamed the vaulting vicar. I had the privilege of eating breakfast with him at the start of the second day of track and field events. His forearms seemed to have more muscle than my thighs.
He was behind a younger athlete in scoring for the five events of the first day. He shared with me how much he would like to win, but that would take everything going his way through the day ahead.
I was serving soft drinks at the high jump event where the leading, young athlete had missed twice at the present height. This was Bob Richards chance to overtake him. If he missed his third attempt, he would be scored at his prior successful height.
Amazingly, Bob Richards went over to him and said, "You can make this jump. You are planting your foot a little bit too far away from the bar." Bob Richards took a silvery gum wrapper and placed it carefully in front of the bar saying, "If you plant your foot on this, I think you can clear it."
I was stunned, knowing how much Bob Richards wanted to overtake the young athlete, and yet, here he was helping him.
Then it really hit me. The leading athlete and his coach never hesitated with thoughts that Bob Richards might be trying to sabotage him. With confidence, he planted his foot firmly on that gum wrapper, glinting in the sun, as though it were a scripture from the Bible and cleared the bar.
I don't remember who won the high jump, but Bob Richards won the Decathlon.
As I saw Bob Richards on the package of Wheaties as a Breakfast of Champions, I thought how favored I was to have witnessed such a great athlete and one with such an unquestioned reputation of sportsmanship.
When I was at Wabash College between 1952 and 1955, the national Decathlon was held. At that time, the Reverend Bob Richards was an outstanding pole vaulter, nicknamed the vaulting vicar. I had the privilege of eating breakfast with him at the start of the second day of track and field events. His forearms seemed to have more muscle than my thighs.
He was behind a younger athlete in scoring for the five events of the first day. He shared with me how much he would like to win, but that would take everything going his way through the day ahead.
I was serving soft drinks at the high jump event where the leading, young athlete had missed twice at the present height. This was Bob Richards chance to overtake him. If he missed his third attempt, he would be scored at his prior successful height.
Amazingly, Bob Richards went over to him and said, "You can make this jump. You are planting your foot a little bit too far away from the bar." Bob Richards took a silvery gum wrapper and placed it carefully in front of the bar saying, "If you plant your foot on this, I think you can clear it."
I was stunned, knowing how much Bob Richards wanted to overtake the young athlete, and yet, here he was helping him.
Then it really hit me. The leading athlete and his coach never hesitated with thoughts that Bob Richards might be trying to sabotage him. With confidence, he planted his foot firmly on that gum wrapper, glinting in the sun, as though it were a scripture from the Bible and cleared the bar.
I don't remember who won the high jump, but Bob Richards won the Decathlon.
As I saw Bob Richards on the package of Wheaties as a Breakfast of Champions, I thought how favored I was to have witnessed such a great athlete and one with such an unquestioned reputation of sportsmanship.
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Musings
For a country to succeed while having the
capability of deficit spending and a central bank that has the power of
creating money as though by simply printing, it demands a maturity of
wisdom beyond that of our current leadership.
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