A couple of years ago I bought a book that looked interesting but never took the time to read it. It was titled UNBROKEN written by Laura Hillenbrand, the author of SEABISCUIT on which the movie by the same name was based. My daughter Emma picked it up last month and read it. She then gave it back to me and said You should read it dad, youd like it! So I did. UNBROKEN is the true story of Louie Zamperini who as a young man, overcame much to become one of the greatest distance runners in the world and threatened to become the first person to break the four minute mile barrier before World War II overtook him and changed his life forever. His bomber crashed in the Pacific, he and the pilot endured 47 days adrift in a rubber raft, were captured by the Japanese and made slave laborers enduring unimaginable brutality until liberated by the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Louis subsequently returned home to his family which included his older brother Pete who had before trained him as a great runner. Louie overcame the great emotional trauma that the war had inflicted on him and eventually found his calling in life as a motivational speaker and founder of Victory Boys Camp for troubled youth. His brother Pete went on to become a very successful high school football and track coach in southern California, logging only one losing season in 30 years, retiring in 1977. I discovered in reading this account that I have a tiny personal connection to this story which some may find interesting. In 1972 I had been selected to play in the annual North/South Shrine High School football game held that summer in the Los Angeles Coliseum. I was a member of the North team. As it turned out, the outcome was a total embarrassment for us on the North squad...perhaps one of the most lopsided routs in the games history. We lost 42-0. As I had thought about it, searching for explanations it was apparent that we were outplayed at every position. I discovered that at that time, the players on the North team had been selected by a vote of sports media people in northern California. The players on the South team were selected by a vote of coaches in southern California. I assume that had a great impact on the difference in the quality of players on the respective teams. I will give one example and end with the defining example which is also my link to UNBROKEN. I played defensive tackle. The guy I played nose-up on was a kid named Terry Albritton. He was a high school All-American at offensive tackle and also held the national high school shot put record. Terry later in college was the national shot put champion in 1976 and 1977 at University of Hawaii and at one point set a new world record in that event. Three out of the four other offensive linemen for the south were also high school All-Americans at their positions. Needless to say, I and my teammates on the defensive line got fed to the lions in the Coliseum that night. But the story didnt stop there. Seems that the quarterback for the south was a young man whose name will ring a bell with old football fans. Vince Ferragamo! Vince later played QB for two University of Nebraska championship teams, was named by Sporting News in 1976 as College Football Player of the year and went on to play starting QB in the NFL for the Rams, Bills and Packers from 1977 to 1986. As if that wasnt enough, his primary target in the Shrine game was a young man named Steve Rivera who just happened to be Ferragamos teammate on his high school championsip team. They had their timing down perfectly before they ever came to the Shrine game! They played for Banning High School. My ever-so-slight connection to UNBROKEN? Ferragamo and Rivera played at Banning High School. Pete Zamperini coached at none other than Banning High School! As Paul Harvey used to say...And now you know, the rest of the story! By the way, I recommend the book. Very inspiring.
Posted on: Mon, 04 Nov 2013 23:10:09 +0000
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