Reality - How It Really Is

And it can happen anywhere

Great post PG

Sounds as if Iowa's recruiting coordinators aren't very sharp.

Now days, they try to sign everyone from our town who has talent. Unfortunately over the last couple years they've seen the best football player go to Michigan (Adrian Arrington), the best Basketball player go to Wisconsin (Jason Bohannon) and the best Baseball player sign with the White Sox after committing to San Diego State (Ryan Sweeney)

PG, maybe it was meant to be.
They might not of had the drive once they got on campus at IOWA.
Maybe getting out of there comfort zone helped them to mature and become more driven to succeed.
I'm a believer that things happen for a reason.
It's not are plan, Roll with it.
EH

EH,

Maybe so! We will never know!

Can you believe Zach Johnson won the Masters today? The MASTERS!

quote:

Three kids with a dream… Three kids who were snubbed by their dream college located 15 minutes away… Three kids who reached for the stars… Three kids who never gave up, bucked the odds, never took no for an answer, and ended up at the top! All three from the same class in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. THAT is REALITY!

PG - That was fabulous.

My son has a dream. I know how much it means to him. I can only imagine what it means to them

That is quite a story about Zach Johnson.

Perseverance is the key!! Never surrender!! Eventually, if you live right and do the right things to prepare, you will achieve your dream.

My dream is to play a round of golf with Jack Nicklaus

I apologize to those who were in the chatroom but a phone call took my attention away for a few minutes.

Reality is what a person makes of an opportunity

Happy Easter and peace to all!!

Great Job Jerry and PG staff leading into draft. The information at the main PG website as well as PG Cross-Checker is invaluable! I am thankful for the opportunity to have access to the great information that PG has to offer! peace shep

Never take no for an answer. Sometimes you want something so bad and it just doesn't happen for you. So you pick yourself up and keep on keeping on. And then in the end it all works out for the better because you wouldn't give in. Great story PG! Great story.

.

PG...

And thanks to you, Dave, and all your associates to help get my oldest at least one step closer to his dream. I will try to update you off-line in the next couple of days... but safe to say that the wheels are turning considerably faster tonite, than just recently.

When this is all done, I will share with all of you, just how amazing and caring this Perfect Game organization is.

cadDAD

.

great post pg

Is this a case of the grass is greener on the other side ?

Great stories.

that's a successful group of athletes in cedar rapids. one of those events would be good, but that is awsome and a tribute to the drive instilled in those kids. great post pg.

Nice post, PG.

Congrats to the Master's Champion from Iowa!

A very uplifting story. I do believe that determination and perseverance are huge pieces of the puzzle, right up there with talent!

Great footage watching him on the sidelines with his wife and baby as Tiger was finishing up his round. Every so often we need a Zach Johnson to win a Master's as it keeps the fire burning and dreams alive for others.

quote:

Originally posted by MN-Mom:
A very uplifting story. I do believe that determination and perseverance are huge pieces of the puzzle, right up there with talent!

Very true Julie! Let us all remember that sometimes prayers aren't answered for a reason and there's better things than even we planned waiting for us on our journey!

Thanks for sharing those thoughts PG!

Just an addition... There was a reason Iowa didn't recruit those kids.

Ben was not the best pitcher on the high school team.

Dedric was the best football player, but Iowa took another Iowa HS receiver that year who also had a long NFL career... Tim Dwight! They should have had both.

Zach Johnson was not the best golfer on the golf team in HS. Now at 31 he has earned over $10 million playing on the PGA Tour with much more to come. Most important and amazing... Did I mention?... He won the MASTERS today!

I know it's golf, but I really do hope lots of young players hear about this story. It is a so much better story than seeing the great Tiger Woods win another golf tournament.

My son and I watched the Masters this afternoon. A great story. Thanks for sharing that.

PG-

That was flat out inspiring, thanks!

Very cool .... thanks for sharing.....

These disappointments may have led them to work harder to achieve their goals....

As Jimmy Valvano said in his ESPY speech several years ago when he was dying of cancer....NEVER, never give up!

PG:

These three boys/men are a wonderful story - thanks for sharing - I'll be passing this link on

08

.
Great post PG!

What a great story, an amazing coincidence, and a wonderful study in character...

While I am not naive enough to believe that success is pure perseverance...it is to me clear that success is a great deal more than pure talent.

Attitude, effort, work ethic, preparation, passion and self belief are the factors that are self controlled. They are the factors that no situation, no recruiter, no coach, or doubter can touch. In the end if you can hold those close and play out your dreams (irrespective of the “reality”) to the end of your heart….you’re always a winner. No matter what they say, no matter what the results. Many of the champions who have touched me over the years, many of those who have my greatest respect, bravely battled the odds, and did not win by traditional standards. But showed me great inner courage and heart.

Nice to see three of those “get over the hump”!

Gotta ask...something in the water at the high school?

44
.

In the interest of accuracy…

In all the excitement of Zach Johnson winning the Masters yesterday, I gave out some general statements. Not that it changes the purpose of the post. Here are some additional facts that are a bit more correct. Still pretty amazing stuff! I do hope a bunch of young people who have a goal, read this. Sometimes what people think is impossible is only impossible when you think it is.

Ben pitched in 4 games for the Yankees in 2000 before blowing out his elbow and getting traded to the Cubs for Glenallan Hill. That Yankee team won the World Series that year.

Dedric was a reserve wide receiver on the Patriots when they won the Super Bowl in the 2003/2004 season.

Zach turned pro in 1998, but didn’t make the PGA Tour until 2004. So this would be his fourth year and he has won close to $9 million on the tour. And of course, yesterday he won the biggest golf tournament of all… The Masters!

Isn't that amazing - no one I know has ever heard of Zach before and he has already won 9 million on the PGA tour

PG - if you don't mind talking about it again, wasn't it you that said out of all your sons you had the lowest expectations for Ben and yet he climbed the highest mountain?

CD,

I have posted something like that and when time allows I'll post it again. Only because it is a great story for other young people to read.

To be honest, "the highest mountain" was climbed by my oldest son when he became an officer in the US Navy.

Zach surprised everyone but his peers. He has never finished out of the top 40 PGA Tour Money List and played great in the Ryder Cup last fall. I took a lesson from his coach the Monday after the Ryder Cup. He was pretty pumped. Zach definately is not from a pro golf incubator in Iowa though. That is a bit surprising. As hard as recruiters work, they still can't measure the size of a players

PG,...
I'm going second what thegame2003 said, if I may:

quote:

That was flat out inspiring, thanks!

A definate good read of reality & inspiration!!!
Believe it and achieve it!!!
Nothing wrong with that and it's especially nice to know that it can happen, it has happened, yes indeed, it has!

Great Stuff PG!

Just goes to what I've always said to my own late growers...the world is not ordered the way HS ends up.

Great posts, great thread.

Hey did PG mention that Zach Johnson Won THE MASTERS.
That's awesome PG.
Three young men that rose to the top of there game.
EH

That's it - we're moving to Cedar Rapids!

Thank you for the post PG.

It's just fun to know the story!

Saw an interesting interview yesterday on a young golfer who dropped out of high school recently to pursue golf full time. His Dad seemed to be the driving force behind all the decisions that were made and seemed to be driving his son - HARD. His Dad said, "Why go to college if your goal is to be a pro golfer in the first place?" He proceeded to tell how he wakes his son up for a 5:00 AM jog each morning while he fixes breakfast. After breakfast sends him out to golf 18 holes. After golf, he lifts weights and works on his game some more. No where during the day did they mention anything but golf. The father reasoned that if his son were to go to college, he would have to spend at least half his time studying which he now can devote to golf full time The father also said he had invested two million dollars in son's career thus far. Todd Marinovich came to mind.

Here is my question. Whose reality is reality? Is it worth it to say you made it to the top if you gave up every other experience along the way? Is it possible to achieve something worthwhile yet lose other things just as valuable? Is balance in life a more worthwhile goal than winning at all costs? What exactly are the right questions to ask when determining one's "reality." Food for thought. This has been an interesting topic.

quote:

While I am not naive enough to believe that success is pure perseverance...it is to me clear that success is a great deal more than pure talent.

A great story PG. I appreciate you sharing it. Should be an inspiration to all those that play sports (or in life in general), but especially to those that somehow don't ever seem to have the spotlight shine squarely on them. You just never know, with hard work and a little opportunity, one day they could be the ones standing there realizing their dream.

CD that sounds like the Sean O'Hair story. Dad turned the kid pro at 17. They were estanged by 19. Balance is extremely important, imo.

Sean O'Hair

CD
Thats kind of the life of a minor league baseball player signing out of high school and thats the type of committment that a player needs to play pro. sports
Its also why it has to be the players passion and not the parents......( I'd rather have the 2 mill and invest it)

In case anyone might be interested… Here is another amazing story about a Cedar Rapids Iowa High School player.

In 1989 I decided to help coach the local American Legion Team. My second oldest son played on that team. He ended up signing out of college and having a brief career with the Cincinnati Reds. We also had another player who later played some professional baseball.

Now here is the amazing story…

On that team was a young guy that we played in the outfield. He was pretty good, but played three sports in High School. His best sport was Basketball, but he was pretty good at both Baseball and Football. I actually talked to him about concentrating a bit more on Baseball because I thought that was his best chance at the next level. His favorite sport though was football in spite of not having any DI offers. So he went to UNI and sat on the bench a few years. Then he started as a senior! Did real well, but no interest from pro football, his playing days looked over.

He tried out for the Arena League football team in Iowa and actually made the team. Not making hardly any money he worked part time stocking shelves at the local grocery store.

Fast forward to 1998 , this same player was signed as a back up by the St Louis Rams. !999 was his real rookie year, when Trent Green went down with an injury, and the kid at age 27-28 took over the starting job.

Interesting Note: Guess where Trent Green was born, you guessed it… Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In fact his dad (Gene Miller) and I were in the same class and played baseball and basketball together. His dad and Judy his mom (a former cheerleader at the high school) got a divorce. His mom remarried to another class mate and good friend of mine (Jim Green) and they moved to Missouri.

Back to the guy I tried to talk into playing baseball rather than football. He was now one of two QBs on the Rams from Cedar Rapids.

He led St Louis to two Super Bowl Championships. He was named the NFL MVP in 1999 and again in 2001. In 2000 he was the Super Bowl MVP and received the ESPY award as the outstanding Pro Football Performer. He doesn’t stock shelves these days, he is a multi millionaire.

I’m sure everyone has guessed by now… We are talking about Kurt Warner… yet another kid that did not quit who grew up in Cedar Rapids. I realize these things happen in other places around the country, but these cases were right in our back yard! In his case reality became – Super Bowl Champion and MVP.

pg
i'm not familiar with cedar rapids but i think of it as a small town. you have so many great athletes, i'm thinking of moving. lol. great storys pg and i'm sure these are great people as well.