Author: George Hillier
Excerpt: I remember a young boy, Tom Dempsey, who was disabled at birth. Unfortunately, he was born without a right foot and had only a stub of a right arm.
Yet he dreamed about taking part in sports. He even expressed an ambition to play football. Can you imagine his dream? Because of his positive attitude and grim determination, his parents had an artificial foot made for him.
The foot was made of wood and it was encased in a special stubby football boot. Hour after hour, day after day, month after month, and year after year, Tom Dempsey practiced kicking the football as hard as he could with his wooden foot.
Tom tried and tried to make field goals at greater distances. In time he became so efficient that he was hired by a professional football team - the New Orleans Saints no less.
Although this event occurred on November 8, 1970, I can still hear the screams of over 65,000 football fans throughout America when, within the last two seconds of the game, Tom, with his crippled foot, kicked a record-breaking 63-yard field goal.
At the time it was the longest field goal ever kicked in a professional football game. As a matter of fact, it gave the Saints a winning score of 19 to 17 over the Detroit Lions.
....this excerpt from the short story "Give It Everything You've Got Because That's What it Takes to Give" reflects my first quotation by Michael Jordan, in which it states that obstacles may come across your path you just have have to work around them and persevere. In the excerpt it talks about a young boy who was "born without a right foot, and had to have a wooden foot."(George Hillier, par.1) "He expressed an ambition to play football."(George Hillier, par.1) This shows that he wants to overcome his obstacles, his wooden right foot, and pursue his dream. He eventually makes the NFL and sets a record for the longest field goal ever....
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