Maggie's Farm

Hollywood cares more about its stars than the Defense Department about its own.  One can go online and find every Academy Award winner on its database.  Not only does the Defense Department not have a comprehensive or complete database of all those awarded medals of valor but the Defense Department is opposed to proposed legislation to create one.  What’s wrong with an Honor Roll for those we have honored?

The title of B.G. Burkett’s book Stolen Valor became the title of the Congressional billsigned in 2006 that provided civil penalties for falsely claiming military medals. Congress officially found: “Fraudulent claims surrounding the receipt of the [medals]…damage the reputation and meaning of such decorations and medals…. Legislative action is necessary to permit law enforcement officers to protect the reputation and meaning of military decorations and medals.”  It’s not just a matter of honor involved, however, as many frauds involve claims of government benefits or of status to advance careers or political positions.

Enforcement has been spotty, depending largely upon private individuals to investigate and then US Attorneys to decide whether to prosecute. In late 2007, The US Attorney in Washington state concluded a year-long investigation resulting in eight prosecutions of frauds that cost taxpayers $1.4-million.  One of the defendants had been widely touted by anti-war groups, and accepted at face value by some in the major media, as being an elite Ranger who witnessed commission of atrocities upon Iraqis, and claimed veterans PTSD benefits, but had actually been discharged from the Army about a month after joining the Army. In 2008, there were more than 40 prosecutions in the US, which barely scratches the surface.  Other well-documented cases of fraud were not prosecuted by US Attorneys.

The private citizen whose diligent work led to the Stolen Valor Act, Doug Sterner (website HomeOfHeroes.com), tells me that, “I can show you literally hundreds of slam-dunk/open-and-shut cases of individuals we have photos of wearing unearned awards who have never been touched. The FBI is swamped, and the problem is further generated by a lack of understanding.”

To appreciate the scope of fraud, a Chicago Tribune reporter found that a third of those in Who’s Who who claimed medals of valor had falsely declared themselves recipients of medals for bravery, including prominent lawyers, clergy, businessmen.  The publication has now tightened its rules for citation.

4^th in a series

Kristi Yamaguchi has shared her early lesson in life, to overcome physical limitations through hard work and the spirit to “Always Dream.”

Yamaguchi was born with club feet.  Watching her older sister ice skate, she was determined to try, her mother physically supporting her on the ice.  Yamaguchi recalls, “I just remember that feeling of freedom.”  Ice skating, also, provided an enjoyable exercise to strengthen her feet and ankles.  By junior high school, she began competing, her parents agreeing “as long as you keep your grades up and you’re giving it 100 percent.”

She excelled at both singles and pairs, a rare achievement, winning multiple world junior and national championships with partner Rudy Galindo. She followed with individual victories at the 1991 and 1992 World Figure Skating Championships and the 1992 U.S. Nationals. Her 1992 Olympic gold-medal performance—in which she became the first Asian American woman to win a gold medal in any sport—crowned her amateur career.

Following Albertville, Yamaguchi took the professional skating world by storm, winning the World Professional Figure Skating Championship four times between 1992 and 1997, and toured with Stars on Ice for over a decade.

Yamaguchi’s sport and financial successes were not enough to satisfy her childhood dream.  In 1996, inspired by the Make-A-Wish foundation, she founded the Always Dream foundation.  “All the athletic glory and honors are wonderful but sometimes I come face to face with a disadvantaged child or with a struggling mother or father and I am grateful for my gifts.  And I rededicate myself to doing whatever I can to help someone in need.  The good feeling I get from contributing rivals anything I felt on the Olympic stand in Albertsville.”  Always Dream has focused on building playgrounds which can be accessed and enjoyed by children of all abilities.

To borrow a phrase, the British Empire was built on the playing fields of Eton.  This site better explains the central importance of participation in sports to a child’s development as an energetic, constructive citizen. Kristi Yamaguchi says, “Through my Always Dream Foundation, I simply hope to help children fulfill their dreams.”  Her example and giving exemplifies more than she gives herself credit.  

From Ability, American History (Smithsonian), Always Dream foundation

3rd in a series

Althea Gibson, born in 1927 the child of sharecroppers, was named by the Associated Press as Female Athlete of the Year in 1957 and 1958.  Living in Harlem, her early training was nurtured by fellow Blacks, such as prizefighting great Sugar Rae Robinson, who recognized her natural talents. Gibson was considered the female Jackie Robinson, breaking the color barrier in tennis. The 5-foot-11 right-hander had a strong serve and preferred to play an attacking game. An athletic woman, she had good foot speed, which allowed her to cover the court. As the years went on, she became more consistent from the baseline.

However, that wasn’t enough to break through the color barrier, until the leading female tennis player in the US spoke out on her behalf, and behalf of the sport.  Forced to play in what was basically a segregated sport, at age 23 Gibson was finally given the opportunity to participate in the 1950 US Championships after the World #1 champion from 1936-1940, Alice Marble wrote an editorial for the July 1, 1950 edition of American Lawn Tennis Magazine. Marble said, "Miss Gibson is over a very cunningly wrought barrel, and I can only hope to loosen a few of its staves with one lone opinion. If tennis is a game for ladies and gentlemen, it's also time we acted a little more like gentlepeople and less like sanctimonious hypocrites.... If Althea Gibson represents a challenge to the present crop of women players, it's only fair that they should meet that challenge on the courts." Marble said that if Gibson were not given the opportunity to compete, "then there is an uneradicable mark against a game to which I have devoted most of my life, and I would be bitterly ashamed."

Gibson was now able to compete against the best players from around the world because the color barrier had been broken. Gibson's game improved to where she won the 1955 Italian Championships. The following year, she won her first Grand Slam titles, capturing the French Championships in singles and in doubles with her partner, Jewish Englishwoman Angela Buxton. Buxton had run into discrimination from other players and the tennis establishment along the same lines as those experienced by Gibson, so the two joined forces and achieved great success. Buxton was the first Jewish champion at Wimbledon, and Gibson was the first champion of African descent. An English newspaper reported their victory at Wimbledon under the headline "Minorities Win."

Gibson reached the top of her game in 1957 and 1958 in winning at Wimbleton and the US championship.  It wasn’t until 1999 that another Black woman won the US national tennis title, Serena Williams, or 2000 at Wimbleton, Venus Williams.  Venus Williams paid tribute: “For players like myself and a lot of other African-American players on the tour, Althea Gibson paved the way for us.”

Tennis players made no money in the 1950s, and Gibson’s finances worsened over the years. In 1992, she suffered a stroke. A few years later, Gibson called Buxton and told her she was on the brink of suicide. Gibson was living on welfare and unable to pay for rent or medication. Buxton arranged for a letter to appear in a tennis magazine. Buxton told Gibson nothing about the letter, but Gibson figured it out when her mailbox started to bulge with envelopes full of checks from around the world. In total, nearly $1 million came in.

In 2003, at the age of 76, Gibson died in New Jersey due to respiratory failure.

"If it hadn't been for her," says Billie Jean King, winner of 12 Grand Slam singles titles, "it wouldn't have been so easy for Arthur (Ashe) [the first Black man to win the U.S. Open (1968), Australian Open (1970) and Wimbledon (1975)] or the ones who followed."  If it hadn’t been for those who challenged discrimination, Althea Gibson would not have had the chance to pave the way for others and for sport.

From: Wikipedia, ESPN, Washington Post, Sports Encyclopedia

Second in a series:

Rocky Marciano (Born 1 Sept. 1923), heavyweight boxing champion, was born Rocco Francis Marchegiano in Brockton, Massachusetts, the son of Pierino Marchegiano, a shoe-factory worker, and Pasqualena Picciuto. He was considered the roughest kid in the neighborhood, although he was not overly pugnacious. A star athlete who hoped to become a major league baseball catcher, he dropped out of school at age sixteen…Marciano then became a manual laborer while playing baseball on local semiprofessional teams. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1943 and was honorably discharged in 1946. Marciano kept his baseball dream alive until the spring of 1947, when a tryout with a Chicago Cubs minor league affiliate revealed that he lacked foot speed and a strong throwing arm.

Marciano had begun boxing competitively while in the army, mainly to avoid KP duty…. In 1948 Rocky participated in the Golden Gloves and advanced to the All-East championship tournament. He had aspirations to box in the Olympics, but he broke a thumb in winning a New England AAU (Amateur Athletic Union)tournament that served as a trial for the Olympics. He then decided to turn professional and gave up his job as a digger for the gas company. Experts considered Marciano too old, too short, and too light, at 5' 10" and 190 pounds, to become a successful heavyweight prizefighter….Marciano was [then] extremely well trained and took care of his diet.

Photo Courtesy of Michael N. Varveris, author of "Rocky Marciano The 13th Candle"

An out-and-out killer in the ring, instinctively swinging for blood on every punch, he is the mildest, friendliest and most loyal of men outside it.

Rocky's amazing record of 49 consecutive professional wins will probably never be exceeded, nor his KO percentage of 87.76%.

Marciano was the first and last champion in the heavyweight ranks to retire undefeated. And he only lost once in a 12-fight amateur career.

Marciano enjoyed life in the fast lane ("If you want to live a full life then live dangerously"), disliked routine, and was fascinated by the mobsters with whom he socialized and did business, such as Vito Genovese. He was a great hero to Italian Americans. Friends and acquaintances customarily gave him spending money, bought him dinner, and paid for his clothes. Parsimonious, Marciano never picked up checks. However, he was a poor businessman who made several bad decisions…

In the mid-1960s Marciano turned down $2 million to fight Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) when he could not get into fighting shape. In 1969 he participated in a computer tournament involving former champions that grossed about $1.7 million. For this endeavor he lost nearly 50 pounds, wore a toupee, and sparred eight hours of one-minute rounds with Ali to produce a marketable conclusion. Seven different endings were prepared, with the computer giving the victory to Marciano.

One day before his 46th birthday, on August 31, 1969, Marciano died tragically in a plane crash near Newton, Iowa, while on the way to a birthday party.

From the American Council of Learned Societies, Sport (January 1953), and the National Italian-American Sports Hall Of Fame

This has the makings of an ongoing series, ethnic firsts in pro sports.  If you have ideas with links for me to follow up upon, please add them to the comments.

Photo © Peter S. Horvitz, Inset courtesy of the Jewish Museum in Cyberspace

 [A]sk a group of die-hard baseball fans to name the first professional baseball player and you’ll either get blank stares or some good but inaccurate guesses.

Truth is, going by the strict technical definition of what constitutes a professional—being paid for what one does consistently and with a high degree of output and efficiency—then the mystery man is a Jewish guy from Brooklyn. The first salaried player of America’s favorite pastime was a powerful hitter and enormously fast runner named Lipman Pike.

A Dutch-Jewish New Yorker born on May 25, 1845, “Lip” Pike became baseball’s first professional player in 1866 when the Philadelphia Athletics engaged him at $20 a week to play third base. You won’t learn that in most baseball almanacs and other sports reference books…

In July 1866, his first year playing with the Philadelphia Athletics, the left-handed Pike established baseball’s first homerun record, hitting six homers in one game against another Philadelphia team, the Alert club….

Although homers were not common in those early years—the game was very different then, with its soft balls and huge outfields—Pike was still one of the homerun leaders of his day, sporting ten during his six-year National Association tenure. Also impressive was his cumulative .321 batting average.

In one of professional baseball’s earliest publicity stunts, in August 1873 Pike raced a famous trotting horse named Chronicle in a 100-yard dash. Even though Chronicle had a 25-yard head start, Pike is reported to have won the race in ten seconds flat and claimed the $250 prize….

In 1887, Pike retired from the game at the age of forty-two, thereafter living a quiet life working in Brooklyn as a haberdasher and attending his local synagogue, Temple Israel.