Brad Herzog - Incredible Stories of Courage in Sports

As shown by the wonderful stories in Count on Me: Sports, athletics can not only reveal character, but also inspire it.

Shannon Miller, two-time Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics

The true tales in Brad Herzogs books show how the games we play can teach seriously important life lessons.

Jake Delhomme, former Super Bowl quarterback for the Carolina Panthers

Copyright 2014 by Brad Herzog

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Unless otherwise noted, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher, except for brief quotations or critical reviews. For more information, go to www.freespirit.com/company/permissions.cfm.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Herzog, Brad.

Incredible stories of courage in sports / by Brad Herzog.

pages cm. (Count on me: Sports)

Audience: Interest Level Ages: 813.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-57542-478-1 ISBN 1-57542-478-9 1. AthletesConduct of lifeJuvenile literature. 2. CourageJuvenile literature. 3. HeroesJuvenile literature. I. Title.

GV706.3.H465 2014

306.483dc23

ePub ISBN: 978-1-57542-505-4

Free Spirit Publishing does not have control over or assume responsibility for author or third-party websites and their content.

Reading Level Grade 5; Interest Level Ages 813;
Fountas & Pinnell Guided Reading Level V

Edited by Alison Behnke
Cover and interior design by Michelle Lee Lagerroos

Cover photo credits: background Bruxov|Dreamstime.com;
clockwise from top left: AP Photo/Susan Ragan; Bettmann/Corbis / AP Images; AP Photo/Jeff Chiu; AP Photo; AP Photo/West Hawaii Today, Michael Darden; AP Photo/James Crisp, File.
For interior photo credits, see .

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Minneapolis, MN
(612) 338-2068
www.freespirit.com

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Contact for pricing information on multiple quantity purchases.

DEDICATION

To the Hanson-Kaplan kidsJosh, Ben, and Josie. And to Adam and Stephfor the courage of their convictions and their companionship.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you to Judy Galbraith, Margie Lisovskis, and the rest of the crew at Free Spirit Publishing for having the courage to pursue a series of books celebrating stories of character in sports. I found Alison Behnke to be both insightful and inclusive as an editor, an authors dream combination, and Michelle Lee Lagerroos put in overtime making sure the designs were just right. Finally, I am grateful to Aimee Jackson for bringing me to Free Spirit in the first place and for her unwavering support and friendship.

Under tremendous pressure, a baseball pioneer produces an enormous hit.

By overcoming her fears, a teenager turns a surfing tragedy into triumph.

With a gold medal on the line, a tiny gymnast comes up big when it matters most.

A football player trades in stardom for immortality as a hero.

A horse and his courageous rider wind up saving each other.

A courageous basketball star produces an all-star moment that will live forever.

A runner pushes herself to the limit in the face of an incurable disease.

A brave young fans perspective helps turn a struggling placekicker into a star.

A tennis champion makes a point for equality and respecton and off the courts.

A Hall of Fame basketball player ignores teasing and aims for the basket.

One girl, one coach, and a bunch of teammates convince Little League Baseball to take a big step.

A college crew is inspired by a courageous teammates fight against cancer.

Two Olympic athletes raise their fists to raise awareness about injustice in the United States.

As the first player to try something different, a hockey star makes a lasting impression.

After years of being afraid to talk, a golfer finds courage that speaks volumes.

After being criticized for competing at all, an Algerian runs to a gold medal.

Instead of being a victim, a basketball player makes his life into something victorious.

A football players heroic instincts save his friend, and his brave choices save himself.

A boy runs from despair in Sudan to the glory of the Olympic Games.

One of baseballs all-time greats gives one of the most courageous speeches in sports history.

By the winter of 1949, golfer Ben Hogan had won dozens of pro tournaments. But it looked like his careerand maybe his lifewould end on a Texas highway. A Greyhound bus swerved to pass a truck. The bus hit Hogans car head-on. Right before the crash, Hogan threw himself across the passenger seat to shield his wife. She had only minor injuries. He wound up with a broken collarbone, a broken ankle, chipped ribs, and a fractured pelvis.

There were whispers that Hogan would never play golf again. People have always been telling me what I cant do. I guess I have wanted to show them, he said. Thats been one of my driving forces all my life.

Hogan spent 59 days in the hospital. When he got out, he could barely walk. But within a year, Hogan came close to winning a tournament. And just 16 months after the accident, he won the national championshipthe U.S. Open. Hogan won five more major tournaments over the next few years. He became one of the top golfers in history.

Hogans comeback was courageous. So was his instinct to protect his wife. Bravery comes in many forms. And many kinds of bravery can be found in the pages of this book.

Hogans very best season was in 1953. That year, he won five of the six tournaments he entered. That same year, another all-time great golfer found out she had cancer. Mildred Babe Didrikson Zaharias was one of the best athletes ever. She earned two gold medals and a silver medal in track and field at the 1932 Olympics. She also played semi-professional basketball and won tennis and diving championships. Zaharias could even punt a football 75 yards. Then she took up golf. She went on to win 82 amateur and professional tournaments.

After her 1953 cancer diagnosis, Zaharias took time off for treatment. In 1954, she came back and won the U.S. Womens Open. The competition wasnt even close. Zaharias won by an incredible 12 strokes. It was her 10th and final major championship. She died in 1955.

Zaharias had a courageous comeback story. She also displayed another kind of courageby simply being herself. In her era, people often scorned strong female athletes for being manly. But Zaharias was proud of her strength and her skills. She kept her hair short. She didnt wear dresses. She was who she was. It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are, wrote poet e.e. cummings. (And yes, he had the courage to spell his name without capital letters.)

The tales in these pages celebrate gutsy sports figures of all kinds. Somelike football player Mike Tepper and horse trainer Boyd Martinrisked their lives to save others. Some faced health issues with grace and dignity, such as baseball great Lou Gehrig and basketball Hall-of-Famer Magic Johnson. Golfer Sophie Gustafson and gymnast Kerri Strug overcame physical challenges in very public ways. Other athletes dared to be different, like basketball forward Rick Barry and hockey goalie Jacques Plante. Still others, including tennis star Billie Jean King and football player Pat Tillman, stood for ideas greater than themselves.