Wilma Rudolph and the Ways She Went Unrecognized
(The Unrecognized Aspects of an Athlete)
Through out the course of history, many people have done great things. Maybe at some point they were recognized, but how long did that really last? Even though athletes and entertainers have their few minutes of fame, they are quickly pushed to the side and overlooked by future generations. Some of those who are only seen in their few seconds of fame mean so much more and more so teach than the few seconds they have allow them to give to the world. An athlete who I admire is like this, Wilma Rudolph. Wilma Rudolph overcame large obstacles early in her life and went on to become the first American woman to win three gold medals in the Olympics. Rudolph
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is recognized for her Olympian accomplishments, but not for what she could teach us from her life story, and she is commonly overlooked by today’s society. Wilma Rudolph can teach us to never give up, have faith, and believe you can do what ever you try to.
Wilma Rudolph was the twentieth child out of twenty-two children. When Rudolph was four years old, she was diagnosed with polio. The doctors didn’t expect her to able to walk ever again. There wasn’t much to be done for her because she came from a poor family, her mother was a maid and her father was a railroad porter. Even though the doctors believed that Wilma would never walk again, every week her mother took her on a long bus trip to a hospital so that she could receive physical therapy. The physical therapy didn’t help her, but the doctors suggested massaging and rubbing her legs every day. Her mother taught her older brothers and sisters how to do the rubbing correctly, and each day they rubbed her legs four times a day. By the time she was eight, Wilma could walk while wearing a leg brace. Then she began to play basketball with her brothers while wearing high-tops for support. She easily became able to play basketball with no shoes at all once she was eleven years old. A track coach at her school encouraged her to go out for track, and by her senior year she qualified for the 1956 …show more content…
Olympics. Wilma Rudolph may be known by people for her accomplishments once she made it to the Olympics, but very few know the story behind her success.
Her story is easily overlooked by most who hear her name. I believe that the story that gets her to the Olympics is the best part of her whole story because it teaches a person to try no matter what. The doctors told Wilma’s parents that she would never walk again, but her mother didn’t take no for an answer and did everything in her power to make her daughter walk again. I also think that this story can teach us about dedication and not giving up because of how her whole family took care of her to make her better, and they rubbed her legs four times everyday until she was able to walk, they didn’t ever stop just because they weren’t quite sure if it would work or not. I also think Wilma’s story is one of love and teamwork, it relates to how they didn’t give up, and their unselfishness to take care her even though her situation didn’t effect any of them, they must have really loved her. I believe that the “behind the scenes” part of Wilma Rudolph’s story, the part that lead her to fame, is greatly overlooked even though it’s the best
part. Wilma Rudolph also goes unrecognized as a barrier breaker for racial and gender tensions of the time. In was the later in the Fifties when Rudolph became famed for her Olympic accomplishments. In that time period, women and African Americans were breaking through social barriers. This was a time period when “like a girl” was a meaningful insult and when African Americans were protesting for their rights during the Civil Rights Movement. Wilma Rudolph was both African American and a woman, therefore she had to face hardships of standing against both stereotypes. When she became an Olympian, it must have been a bit different for an African American woman to be representing the United States in an international competition. And I’m sure many negative attitude quickly changed once she became the first American woman to win three gold medals. But once Wilma Rudolph won gold medals in the Olympics and setting world records, it was a hard hit against those stereotypes that society had. Rudolph is unrecognized for her help in breaking down social barriers in America. Even though athletes and entertainers have their few minutes of fame, they are quickly pushed to the side and overlooked by future generations. Some of those who are only seen in their few seconds of fame mean so much more and more so teach than the few seconds they have allow them to give to the world. Wilma Rudolph overcame large obstacles early in her life and went on to become the first American woman to win three gold medals in the Olympics and setting world records. Her story can teach people the lessons of hope, determination, love and teamwork. Wilma Rudolph also goes unrecognized as a barrier breaker for racial and gender tensions of her time.
The athlete I chose is Natasha Watley. She is a professional softball player and the first African-American female to play on the USA softball team in the Olympics. She’s a former collegiate 4-time First Team All-American who played for the UCLA Bruins, the USA Softball Women’s National Team, and for the USSSA Pride. She helped the Bruins will multiple championships and also holds numerous records and one of the few players to bat at least .400 with 300 hits, 200 runs, and 100 stolen bases. She’s also the career hits leader in the National Pro Fast pitch. She won the gold medal in the 2004 summer Olympics and a silver in the Beijing Olympics. She was inducted into the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame in 2014.
...er family and all of her loved ones that she had what it takes to be put to the test and pass it. Even though her journey was not smooth, Gabby managed to push through. Gabby Douglas is an inspiration to me and many others because of all of her wonderful achievements and fantastic ability to shine even when it is dark.
Jennie Wade was the only civilian to die in the battle of Gettysburg. Jennie Wade was born in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and died there just twenty short years later. The battle of Gettysburg was then known as one of the bloodiest battles in the American civil war. This caused a single civilian to lose their life, Jennie Wade was that person to die at Gettysburg. Many other civilians died in the war itself, but only she died at Gettysburg.
Joes High School’s total enrollment consisted of sixteen girls, and twenty boys. Ten of the boys that had enrolled there played basketball. All of the boys were over six feet tall. Lane Sullivan, the new coach of the basketball team, had never even touched a basketball before he started coaching. Sullivan had never coached anything at all before he started coaching the Joes basketball team. In order to gain knowledge about the sport, he got a book about it. He started coaching in 1927, but before the 1928 basketball season, Joes High School didn’t even have a gym. Instead, they’d practice outside on a dirt court, and two times a week they’d take a bus to the nearest gym, which was ten miles away. In order to play home games, the boys had to play in the local dance hall. The “court” was nowhere near regulation size, and the ceiling was so short that the boys couldn’t shoot an arched shot. The people who attended these basketball games had no place to sit and watch the game, the all stood around the edges of the court and on the small stage. Joes High School finally got their own gym around Christmas time because the people of Joes donated their time and material in order to make it happen.
Her birth name is Pat Sue Head. She was born in June of 1952 in Clarksville, Tennessee. She was the second to youngest in the family of seven. Pat was 5 foot 9 in the third grade, talk about a giant! Pat was raised in a strict environment. Her father Richard Head expected the best of his kids. He expected them to be hard workers and to do work around the farm. Every morning Pat had to wake up at five in the morning to go work on the farm before school. Her father never told his kids that he loved them; he never hugged them her father believed in tough love. At Pats sixteenth birthday party she had to work on the farm and missed her entire party. Pats father supported her wanting to pursue her dream in playing basketball. Richard Head built a basketball court on top of the hayloft, and strung lights so Pat and her siblings could play at night. When Pat reached high school her father moved the whole family across the county line six miles to Henrietta, so that she could play basketball, because the school she’d been assigned to in Clarksville didn’t have a team for girls. Basketball in Pats day was slowly growing. Pat Summitt took her basketball talents to play college ball at UT Martian.
“Winning is great, sure, but if you are really going to do something in life, the secret is learning how to lose… If you can pick up after a crushing defeat, and go on to win again, you are going to be a champion someday”(“Wilma Rudolph”). Wilma Rudolph was an Olympic athlete in the 1960 and 1966 Olympics. Wilma Rudolph in 1944 at age four was diagnosed with Polio.Wilma Rudolph survived polio for eight long, hard years before overcoming it in 1952. And later in life became a great runner and an amazing inspiration to many.
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