The biography I chose was The Express: The Ernie Davis Story. Its about an inspirational and heroic African American Football player. Robert C. Gallagher wrote this book. Ernie Davis passed away when he was only 23 years old from leukemia. (Gallagher, 151). Even though his life was short he treated others with dignity grace and compassion. The life he led made him a hero. He was considered by professionals in his field to be one of the best running backs ever. He was most famous for being the first African American to win the Heisman trophy (Gallagher, 1). Davis was born, in New Salem, Pennsylvania on December 14, 1939 (Gallagher, 15). His parents were separated, and his father was killed in an auto accident before Davis was born. When Ernie was born his father was deceased and his mother struggled to raise Ernie. She found out that she could not take care of him on her own. When Ernie was about a year old his mother sent him to her parents home to live (Gallagher, 19). His grandparents, Willie and Elizabeth Davis had twelve children. Willie worked hard as a coal miner and Elizabeth was a homemaker who cared for the children. They raised all of the children including Ernie equally and with the same amount of love. Ernie called his grandparents mom and dad because he was treated just like their other children. He learned to be generous and appreciative by living in a big family. His grandparents also taught Ernie to have a strong trusting, relationship with God (Gallagher, 20). Ernie grew up playing with his older uncles. They spent a large amount of time together and he learned many great lessons about sports from them. When Ernie prepared to enter high school, his mother asked him to return to her. Ernie had a hard time ... ... middle of paper ... ... and showed that he had less than a year to live (Gallagher, 124). Ernie went through chemotherapy and spent two months in and out of hospitals On October 4, 1962 his doctor finally explained the extent of his illness to him. He also told Davis he could continue to play football if his disease went into remission. Amazingly his leukemia went into remission. His coach made the difficult decision to keep him on the sidelines (Gallagher, 151). Ernie never complained about his sickness. He remained hopeful that he could beat the disease and refused any pity offered by others. He was always gracious and he never complained to the people who helped him. In the end after all his struggles, on May 18, 1963, Ernie Davis passed away (Gallagher, 124). 160 “Ernie was one of the finest football players, but more important the finest gentleman I’ve ever known”(Gallagher,167).
When he was 7 coaches noticed that he was soon to be a football star. In his teen years he was not only in football, but boy scouts, he was also in the choir at church, and in the marching band at his church. As much as he liked playing football, school came first, he spent many times reading books, and studying. In Jr. High Walter didn’t really want to play football, he usually went to his brothers games and practices. One day when practice was over, Eddie’s coach asked Walter to try out for the team, Eddie’s coach realized what talent he had, but was confused as to why he wasn’t going out. So the next day Walter tried out, at the end of the practice, Coach came up to Walter and said, “ Congrats you made the team”, Walter didn’t know how to react because he was scared and excited at the same time.
...ail. He was crippled with arthritis until he died on March 30, 1967 in Doylestown. Many people now look up to Toomer as a
Before 1860 it was virtually impossible to get a letter or other form of correspondence from St. Joseph Missouri to Sacramento California in less than 20 days. 20 days seemed entirely too long for the west coast merchants and bankers to wait for documents from the east. So three men, William Russell, Alexander Majors and William Waddell created the Pony Express. The Pony Express ensured fast and safe delivery of the mail.
After school was out Philip waited on the bleachers behind the school for Joe’s football practice to be over. The Darby Gulch High football team wasn’t much to be envious over. The plays were sloppy and predictable, at least according to most of the players parents. Of course, also according to them, this was solely the coach's fault. Although, cutting Mr.Galindo some slack, have a mascot like ‘The Darby Gulch Seagulls’ doesn’t really pull fear out of our enemies. Basketball, baseball, Soccer, Volleyball, basically any other sport than football in Darby Gulch had a good team. Philip was suppose to play basketball next season, then soccer the season after that. At this point in his life he wasn’t sure. He had planned on quitting baseball before
George best was an athlete that played soccer for Manchester United and Northern Ireland national team. Best was suffering from alcoholism throughout his whole life which lead to many issues including his death. Around 1984 best was given a 3 month sentence to prison for getting caught drunk driving and for also assaulting a police officer. Later in best life he was diagnosed with severe liver damage around 2000. In 2001 George was taken to the hospital and then found out he had pneumonia. In London of August 2002 George best had a liver transplant in kings college hospital. Due to best liver transplant there were controversy because of him being an alcoholic. He was found drinking and driving once again which lead to a 20 month banned. later in 2002 he was taken to the hospital due to a kidney infection because of the immunosuppressive drugs that were use to prevent his body from rejecting his transplanted liver. In 2005 best was dead due to lung infection and multiple organ failure.
Mercedes Pacheco is the youngest member of a group of family-oriented athletes. Athletics are nothing rare in the Pacheco family; from her father who swam for the Lobos, to her brother, Nathanael, who played soccer at Gonzaga. Mercedes herself entered into the athletic world at a young age, however, her first sport wasn’t the sport that she stuck with. At a young age, she started as a dancer and gymnast without giving any attention to other sports. It was in 8th grade though that she had the opportunity to try out for sports and so she gave volleyball a chance. She fell in love with the game, quit dance and gymnastics and “from then on, it’s just been volleyball.”
Miles Davis was born May 26, 1926 in Alton, Illinois. He was raised in an upper-middle-class family, with his father, Miles Dewey Davis Jr., being a dentist, and his mother, Cleota Mae Davis a music teacher. He spent his childhood in St. Louis and was interested in music by age 12, when he started to take trumpet lessons. At 16, he took up opportunities to play music locally and a year later, Davis joined Eddie Randle’s group known as “The Blue Devils” (Macnie; “Miles Davis” Sony; Ruhlmann).
As most children did, I had the choice to play whatever sport I wanted. Considering my height, 5’10, most would assume that I played either basketball or volleyball. No one expected me to play tennis, and was surprised when I said that I did. During my elementary years, I played softball for seven years, and when I hit eighth grade, I decided to play tennis. My decision came about because of my sister. I had always followed closely in her footsteps because I looked up to her a lot, so when I saw she was playing; I wanted to try it out too. I had never really thought about what it would be like to play tennis. I didn’t hate it, or really know what it would be like to play it. And little did I know that playing would demand so much time, energy, and effort.
Miles Dewey Davis III was born May 26 of 1926 in Alton, Illinois, but he grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. His father, Dr. Miles Dewey Davis, Jr., was a dental surgeon and his mother, Cleota Henry Davis, was a music teacher as well as a violinist. He has two siblings; an older sister, Dorothy Mae Davis, and a younger brother, Vernon Napoleon Davis.
He became a professional runner. He ran a series of entertainment races against horses, cars, and motorcycles. All the while, he was looking for other means of work. He was at one point a partner of a dry cleaning company but nothing seemed to provide him with a good enough pay In 1950, he moved from Cleveland to Chicago and began working with children as a director of the South Side Boys Club. He gave speeches, along with other celebrities such as the Harlem Globetrotters, on the Goodwill Tours in America. In the early 70's, he published two books, Black think and I Have Changed. Two years later in 1979, President Jimmy Carter awarded him with a Living Legend Award. Jesse Owens died on March 31, 1980 due to lung cancer. Ten years later in 1990, he was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal by President George H.W. Bush. As the son of a sharecropper and the grandchild of a slave, he had great deal to overcome. He worked hard his entire life to reach greatness. He was much more than a record setting athlete. He opposed segregation and racism. He would never go to the top and leave others behind, for example not taking off to college until he made sure his family would be able do without his financial support. He helped children in the Southside Club, and made every effort to use his accomplishments to better the world for
After all the trouble Allen got to choose to return to his old high school Bethel. He didn’t go back to his school and decided to work with a tutor to earn his high school diploma. While this was going on his mother contacted georgetown university coach, John Thompson and convinced him that her son would be the best player for him. He was conceived and set up a meeting with Allen. John was impressed with talking to him and also watching him in workouts. That he put down a scholarship on the table. Allen took this scholarship and arrived on campus for a fresh start.
When Allen entered high school he was thinking about the possibility of playing professional sports. He wanted to get his mother and sister out of the projects. He started on the football and basketball teams his freshman year. As he got older his skills impro...
With the sound of the whistle ringing throughout the gym, I called in my fifth grade boys basketball team. My team composed of seven boys whom I’d coached since they were barely able to dribble a basketball in the first grade. We played for the Immaculate Conception School in Newburyport, a small catholic elementary school I attended from kindergarten to eighth grade. This community we had formed had grown into something special, the type of team that only came through the school every decade or so. These boys played their hearts out every game, and it made me proud to be their coach. Coaching basketball provides me an opportunity to give back to the game that has given me so much throughout the years. It affords me the opportunity to
Quincy Jones was diagnosed with Stage 4 mesothelioma cancer, in July 2015 and given one year to live, but he is not letting that stop him from enjoying his life. According to Creative Loafing, Quincy will continue fighting for his dream of taping his stand-up comedy act and he is very close to it becoming a reality.
The cancer spread to his femur, pelvis and bladder. John Cheever died on June 28th in 1982 in Ossining, New York.