Dreams Fulfilled: Inspirational Comeback Stories

By Tom Kloske

Incredible inspirational comeback

Stories of six determined athletes. Read amazing lessons of perseverance and the “never give up” attitude. Learn how they beat the odds by overcoming obstacles of defeat, persecution, age, and doubt. Dreams Fulfilled takes you on a journey of inspirational life stories, teaching us about the unlimited spirit of human achievement that resides in all of us.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: May 6, 2016
• ISBN: 9781483447087

Book preview

DREAMS

FULFILLED

40788.png

Inspirational Comeback Stories

TOM KLOSKE AND STEVE KLOSKE

Copyright © 2016 Tom Kloske and Steve Kloske

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means---whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic---without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-4707-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-4708-7 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 4/13/2016

Contents

Dedication

Tom's Acknowledgments

Steve's Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1 The Three-Wish Life

Chapter 2 The Comeback Champion---Pablo Morales

Chapter 3 Yifter the Shifter---Miruts Yifter

Chapter 4 Against All Odds -- Wilma Rudolph

Chapter 5 Never Give Up---Dan Jansen

Chapter 6 The Unbreakable Miler---Hicham El Guerrouj

Chapter 7 Victory in Defeat---Dan O'Brien

Chapter 8 Reflection Time

Motivational Books, Movies/Videos, and Music

Going for the Gold

Dedication

This book is dedicated to educators worldwide. You teach because of your passion to educate children. Facing numerous students every day in the classroom and teaching with love and patience, you extend yourself for the sake of a better tomorrow. We thank you educators for dedicating yourself to others.

Over a century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt made this statement:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

THE MAN IN THE ARENA

Excerpt from the speech Citizenship in a Republic delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on April 23, 1910.

Educators, you are that man or woman in the arena. Thank you.

Similar to the athletes written about in this book, educators often go the extra mile, in order for students to benefit academically and make the world a better place.

Tom's Acknowledgments

Authors are always indebted to writers whom have written before themselves. Hence, we are indebted to David Wallechinsky and Jaime Loucky, authors of The Complete Book of the Olympics: 2012 Edition and The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics: 2010 Edition. We are thankful for their statistics and insightful stories. Likewise, David Miller, the author of: The Official History of the Olympic Games and the IOC: Athens to London 1894---2012 is an outstanding book and a valuable resource.

Authors also always need a fresh set of eyes to make their work more enjoyable to read. We're thankful to have friends and family who have helped in making this a better book. We would like to thank first and foremost, Natalie Murrie, for her suggestions and valuable rewrites. To Dr. Bob Dunaway, Dr. Bob Carpenter, and Dr. Suzanne Ashby for making helpful corrections and suggestions. To Melonie Burton, Mary Breite, Eric Haase, and Doug Bost, Lonoke high school football coach---teaching colleagues, for their corrections, yet kind support and encouragement to see it through to publication.

Thanks to Yvonne Furniss, another colleague, for assigning her students to read the book and write essays on the various chapters, for which Whitney Kidd won an award. (See her essay at the end of the book.) And thanks to her students for their honest assessments.

Thanks to Jenna Brush for allowing her eighth and ninth grade English classes at Jacksonville Lighthouse Charter School to critique each chapter and write comments to the anonymous author---who actually was this writer, a mathematics teacher at the same school. Special thanks to these ninth graders for their helpful comments: Estefania Becerril, Jordan Brown, Emily Busby, Desiree Byrd, Skye Crockett, Brittney Curran, Angela Dean, Jasmine Debose, Jonathan Ivy, Benjamin Johnson, Ashley Jones, Darryl Brooks, Emily King, Cameron Leonard, Lizeth Perez, Emilee Perry, Katie Ramirez, Felipe Ramos, Cristian Rivera, Holly Smiley, Cassidy Smith, Haley Smith, Lee Smith, Katlyn Stagg-Scalia, Savannah Traywick, and Marissa Wallace. Two eighth graders in another class who were particularly complimentary were DaJuan Ridgeway and Kassidy Nixon.

Thanks to Ryan Iles, Sherry Bradish, and Bill Oei for also making helpful corrections. Despite all their help, any and all errors are ours and not theirs.

Tom wishes to thank his wonderful children, David and Stephen and their wives, Hannah and Shana respectively; and to our grandchildren, Mykenna and Holden, I love you more than I have the ability to express in words. Last, but certainly not least, my wife, Pat, whose constant support has been more than patient. When I'm down---she cheers me up, and when I'm up---she brings me down. My hope is this work is worthy of her patience.

Steve's Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments are essential to thank individuals who contributed their patience, time, or constructive criticism to improve the writing. I express my gratitude to the following educators at Remington Traditional School of the Pattonville School District in Maryland Heights, MO. To Diane Langston, Allison Stout, and Dodie Logue; thank you for spending your time and offering suggestions to enhance this book.

I want to thank my family; my daughters, Andrea Huffmaster and Bethany McKinzie, who inspire me with their commitment as educators seeking to instill in young minds the desire to learn. No success in any career is achieved without dedicated teachers. To them, their husbands, Heath and Sheldon and my three wonderful grandchildren: Luke, Tye, and Jocelyn, thank you for your support and love with each writing effort I attempt.

To my wife, Marsha, who extends her patience while I am busy working through rewrites; listening to my attempts to craft precise thoughts and offers her perspective to improve the wording. Thank you for your continued support. Finally, to my co-writer Tom, but more importantly my brother, who allows me to participate in his vision to motivate young people to never give up because you just may achieve what others say is impossible. My hope is these stories will inspire readers to learn the value of perseverance in their lives and watch how it can impact their futures no matter where life takes them.

Introduction

Olympic fever is spreading across the globe. The anticipation of the Olympic Games is upon the world. The games will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from August 5th---21st, 2016.

Millions anticipate the two weeks