In the category of reluctant reader
- surely the bane of every teacher and school librarian - boys usually
outnumber girls. How can you coax them into discovering there’s a whole wealth
of interesting, not to mention inspiring, information out there in the world of
books?
Introducing them to books about
real people who came from backgrounds the majority of children can recognise
may not complete the transformation from reluctant to eager reader [and more
enthusiastic scholar?], but it could be a big step in the right direction.
The brilliant movie ‘Chariots of
Fire’, which cleared the decks at the Oscars after its debut in 1981, brought
Eric Liddell’s athletic achievements wide recognition. While, of course, the
movie focuses on Eric’s famous race at the 1924 Olympics in Paris, it portrays
both the athletic greatness and spiritual integrity of the Scottish missionary.
‘The Flying Scotsman’ as Eric
Henry Liddell was affectionately known, was born in Tiensing, China, where his
parents, the Rev. James and Mrs. Liddell, were both missionaries. Eric attended
the local elementary school before being sent to join his brother Rob at Eltham
College in England. It was here Eric first showed his athletic prowess,
particularly his speed on the track.
While studying for a science degree
at Edinburgh University, Eric competed for the university in rugby and on
the track.
He was chosen to represent Scotland
in both fields; unfortunately, though he was outstanding in each sport, his
studies left him no time for both rugby and running. Forced to choose between
them, Eric decided on running. His distances were the 220 yards and the 100
yards but he truly excelled at the latter.
Eric was an automatic choice for
the 1924 Paris Olympics; his elation turned to dismay, however, when he learned
the 100 yards heats were to be held on a Sunday. In those days many Scots
observed Sunday as truly a day of rest. Sunday Dinner would be prepared as far
as possible the evening before! Active outside games like football and skipping
rope were frowned upon. To run on Sunday was against Eric’s Christian ethics.
What could he do?
It was suggested he run the 440
yards, a quarter of a mile. Eric hadn’t trained for this distance, but he had a
plan for success. Tension ran high. On the morning of the race, one of the
masseuses – from the American team I believe - slipped Eric a folded paper on
which he had written an encouraging message and which Eric recognised as the masseuse’s
variation on 1 Samuel 2:30: ‘He that honours me,
him I will honour’.
Eric’s plan was to sprint the first
two hundred yards of the 440 to get as far ahead of the field as possible and
then, he is quoted as saying, he left it up to God to keep him fast. He won the
gold medal in the 440 handily, and the bronze in the 220.
The following year Eric returned to
missionary work in China where Japanese aggression was making life increasingly
dangerous. In 1941, as the Japanese advanced, Eric sent his family to safety in
Canada while he remained to work at a poor station with his brother, who was a
doctor. They were overworked, lacking much of the medicine, equipment and food
they needed to help the desperate Chinese who came day after day seeking help.
In
1943, Eric was interned along with many others when the Japanese invaded the
station. Despite the privations, Eric kept up morale; he taught Bible School,
taught science to the children in the camp, and organised games. Overworked,
exhausted, and undernourished, Eric developed an inoperable brain tumour. His
earthly race finished, he died in February, 1945, just five months before the
camp was liberated.
***
How many Puerto Rican kids or kids
of Puerto Rican descent have not heard of the great Roberto Enrique Clemente
Walker?
Roberto,
born in Carolina, Puerto Rico, was the youngest of seven children. When he was
old enough he helped his father, a sugar crops foreman, by loading and
unloading trucks. Always interested in baseball, Roberto joined Puerto Rico’s
amateur league when he was sixteen years old and played for the Ferdinand
Juncos team. In 1952 he signed with the winter team,Cangrejeros de Santuce.
This was a franchise of the Puerto Rican
Professional Baseball League. While
he was there the Brooklyn Dodgers offered Roberto a contract with one of the
team’s Triple A affiliates.
This meant a move to the Montréal
Royals farm team for Roberto but he never did play for the Dodgers. When
Pittsburgh Pirates scout Clyde Sukeforth saw Clemente, he told the Royals’
manager that the Pirates were going to finish last in the league, therefore had
the pick of the rookies, and he was picking Roberto Clemente Walker, no
question.
His beginnings in Pittsburgh were
not the easiest for Roberto. The winter before his rookie season with the
Pirates a drunk driver slammed into his car at an intersection in Puerto Rico
and left him with a back injury which forced him to sit out many games while he
recovered. Because he was black, and spoke little English, the sports media and
some of the team gave him a hard time; announcers kept referring to him as Bob,
or Bobby, despite his preferring Roberto. His response to this was he had
been raised never to discriminate against anyone because of their ethnicity. As
he proved his worth, Pittsburgh loved Roberto; his number was changed from 13
to 20, the number of letters in his full name.
In 1958 he signed for the U.S.
Marine Corps. Under their rigorous training he gained ten pounds and had no
back problems. By then Roberto was so invaluable to the Pirates team that State
Senator John M. Walker sent a letter to U.S. Senator Hugh Scott requesting his
early release from the Marines in 1959. Roberto remained a Marine Reserve until
September, 1964.
His rewards in baseball were many,
culminating when he earned the World Series Most Valuable Player trophy, yet
far outflanking those are his rewards in how he has lived, in what he has done
to help others. He helped financially, never to gain recognition but simply
because he could, and wanted to. He cared about children especially; his dream
was to build a ‘Sports City’ where young Puerto Ricans would have access to
coaching in many sports, facilities, and encouragement. In the off-season he
taught baseball and ran free clinics for kids in Puerto Rico, especially those
from poorer families. He loved his country and did much to raise the status of
Puerto Rico and Latin America in the world’s eyes.
He was involved in a great deal of
charity work, and when Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, was hit by a massive
earthquake on 23rd December, 1972 he immediately began arranging
relief flights. When he heard the aid on the first three flights had been
siphoned off by the corrupt officials and never reached the victims he decided
to go on the fourth flight himself, in hopes his presence would shame them into
honesty. On December 31st he set off on an overloaded plane with an
incompetent crew. It crashed into the Atlantic Ocean immediately after takeoff
due to engine failure. Roberto’s body has never been recovered, but his legacy
lives on in the selfless work he did during his lifetime.
***
And now we come to the last of our
sports heroes, who was in his own words a really rotten kid, Louis Zamperini.
With co-author David Rensin, in his book ‘Don’t Give Up, Don’t Give In’ he
speaks for those kids who are seen to be seriously off the tracks.
Born in America of Italian
parents who spoke Italian at home, he went to kindergarten in California speaking
very little English, and very poorly at that. He hated recess when the other
kids would surround him to taunt and jeer, to punch and kick him over his poor
English, his wiry hair, and big ears. Eventually his father made him a punch
bag, so that Louis learned to fight back – and win.
His older brother Pete was the
model son who could do no wrong, and Louis the changeling child who could do no
right. He felt he could never live up to Pete, so Louis set out to be as bad as
he possibly could be. He was forever getting into trouble with the police, with
school, and with his parents. One would think Pete might get fed up with Louis
but he never did. He loved his little brother and when all three of the
authorities mentioned above were at their wits end, Pete took Louis to the
local steel mill, where the workers ‘looked hot, greasy, and dirty’. Louis was
aghast. He didn’t want to end up like that, and Pete pointed out that’s exactly
where he would end up, unless he smartened up. He warned Louis that no one could
force him to turn his life around – he had to want to do that himself.
The school officials decided to
give Louis another chance, especially after Pete suggested sports. Too small
for football, Louis was entered in an interclass race to run the 660 yards with
the promise if he ran, his school slate would be wiped clean. He ran. He came
in last, in pain and suffering from having smoked since he was six years old.
But the running bug had caught him. He ran, and in running and eventually
winning, he found self-respect. He set himself to learn at school, recognizing
the importance of education.
Adrift on a raft in the Pacific
Ocean for many days before being captured by the Japanese in WWll, Louis
endured the brutality of their prison camps. Beaten day after day, he
stubbornly refused to give in. When he was finally liberated and returned to
America, at first it was great and then it appeared Louis was once again on the
slippery slopes. Until his wife persuaded him to hear Billy Graham. Louis
finally realised hatred consumes and destroys the person who hates, and
accepted Christ in his life. He worked tirelessly to help young people
improve their lives, applying Christ’s teaching of love and tolerance, tough
yet encouraging.
***
All
pictures are, to the best I can ascertain, in the public domain.
For our
family, yes and no. We have always had books that are in the winter holiday
box, to be read when everyone is cuddling together over hot cocoa. We have
books that live in the costume box with other Halloween things and only come
out in October. But there are also wonderful, timeless books that may have a
special place during Halloween or the winter holidays, but are a pleasure all
year round. Chris Van Allsburg’s The Widow’s
Broom is one. It is a story that has special meaning during the holidays,
but is meaningful anytime, for readers of all ages. 
