Name a school for John Woodruff
Recently, a 92-year-old man passed away in an assisted living center. His passing wasn't front-page news. It was buried away deep in the obituary section in some newspapers. Even his feat of winning a gold medal in the 1936 Berlin Olympics was a footnote on the world stage, overshadowed by the legendary Jessie Owens.
What if you had one chance to prove your worthiness? All of your abilities, all of your desires, all of your hard work and practice suddenly were curtailed. What would you do? Would you get frustrated? Would you give up?
This man was 21 years old in the prime of his life. He was running in the difficult 800-meter race.
Boxed in by three runners, he trusted his instinct. He literally stopped on the track. Never before had a strategy such as this been tried. Everyone else ran around him. He was now in last place.
He never panicked. He simply went to the outside and then ran around everyone. He took the lead only to lose it on the backstretch. Then giving it everything he had, regained it on the final turn and won the gold medal for the USA!
He would become the first of his family to receive a college education and obtained a master's degree. Later he served his country during WWII, the Korean War and as a NY City teacher, special investigator, recreation director and parole officer.
Ironically, in the last few years of his life, poor circulation and a broken hip caused doctors to amputate both of his legs above the knee and he was either bed ridden or navigated in a wheelchair.
His gold medal hangs in the University of Pittsburgh Hillman Library.
Remember his name, John Woodruff. Schools should be named after this hero!
Randy F. Gollay
Buffalo Grove