It seems like every time I see the news it is always something negative about the economy, somebody hurting someone else, or something negative about the war.
I just read this refreshing article on MSNBC.com. The article is entitled "At 73, he's the oldest player shooting college hoops."
Back in 1956, Ken Mink was attending a religious college, which had a low tolerance for misbehavior. Someone sprayed shaving cream all over the coach's office. Mink was called into the college president's office and was blamed for the incident. He was expelled from the college. To this day he still maintains his innocence. The college president acted as judge, jury, and prosecutor.
Mink then joined the Air Force, got married, and raised a family. He's semiretired now and pursuing an active lifestyle.
Even through all of life's experiences, he still felt cheated out of a year of basketball. That one incident has frustrated him all of his life.
Fortunately, Mink found a junior college coach willing to give him a chance. Mink worked out hard to get in shape. His first practices were tough, but he kept getting better through the season. His teammates were skeptical, but have embraced him.
Mink doesn't get much play time, but his dream is coming true and the fans are loving it. In fact, he's now writing a book about his experience.
Way to go, Ken!
Another inspiring story I found was "Graduating high school at 90: 'Just plain wonderful.'"
John Locher had to drop out of school in the 10th grade back in the early 30s. His father contracted tuberculosis. John, being the eldest child, felt he had to take on the responsibility of supporting the family. They were starving. John worked many jobs and in 1936 got a job with GM.
The lack of a high school diploma always bothered John and his children knew it. Last year, two of his daughters contacted his old high school. They wanted to see if he could be declared a graduate. They wanted to do something special for his 90th birthday. School administrators decided he had enough "life credits" and mailed a diploma to John at Christmas.
When John opened up the diploma he almost fainted. He was overwhelmed and very appreciative. When he went through the commencement line, he received a standing ovation.
These two wonderful men are a testimony to the fact that you are never to old to fulfill your dreams. They set an example for all of us to hold on to our dreams, you never know when they may come true. I wish we could see inspiring stories like this everyday in the news!
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We must have been on the same wavelength this week--I also wrote about a more upbeat topic.
ReplyDeleteI especially enjoyed the first story about the man who went back to play ball later in life. I found it interesting that missing that one year of basketball tormented him his whole life. I'm always curious what experiences we are better off letting go and which ones we can improve our life experience by hanging on to and pursuing to some fruitful end. Obviously, he was able to make a good experience out of his life regret, but I wonder how many people just end up wallowing or getting 'stuck' because they can't let something go....
I loved both articles that you talked about. I had read the one about Ken Mink but I had not heard the other story. Being that I am still young I think this is very important that I do everything that I have the opportunity to do now so that when I look back I dont have any regrets about life. I think it is amazing that the Junior College coach let Ken come and play. The only though that I thought about is how do you think his teammates feel.If I was part of a team like that yes I would have to agree it would be very different to have someone that age on my team.
ReplyDeleteI think that boys are going to have a different feeling about this than girls are. I think guys might think it would be very weird where as girls might be more welcoming of the idea.
Great Article