May 2012 – New Jersey Schnauzer Rescue – Fanwood, New Jersey: William had been rescued from a kill shelter an hour away. He had been abandoned. At 15, he was deaf, almost blind and his arthritic hips made it difficult to walk. Hopeless, he lay in his cage at the...
Early Spring, 1999 – Big Lake, Texas: Coach Jim Morris’ baseball team wasn’t very good. The Reagan County Owls had won one game in each of the past three seasons. They expected to lose. Morris urged them to chase a dream – to win the district championship – something...
August 1964 – Anderson, South Carolina: He showed up on the hill overlooking the McCants Junior High football practice field. From a safe distance, he watched the team practice each afternoon. After a week, Coach Harold Jones invited the young man to attend practice....
1937 – Los Angeles, California: After his business went bankrupt and two marriages failed, Lionel Mayell swallowed his pride and moved back home with his mother. When he was a boy, she had often referred to him as “the little runt.” Disappointed in his looks and tiny...
Spring 1961 – Palm Springs, California: At the end of spring training camp the Los Angeles Angels baseball team cut him from the roster. Manager Fred Haney’s feedback was short, to the point, “You don’t have a big league arm.” They gave him a bus ticket back to...
Early May 1984, Dodger Stadium – Los Angeles, California: Venerable Los Angeles Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda summoned 25-year-old rookie relief pitcher Orel Hershiser to his office after the game. With his red face inches from Hershiser’s face, Lasorda yelled,...
