This column appeared originally on Jan. 27 in the Ellwood City Ledger, but was never posted on the paper's website due to an editorial oversight.
There’s a scene in the first episode of “Band of Brothers” where Richard Winters where he reprimands another officer, Lynn “Buck” Compton, for gambling with the enlisted men.
Compton, who would one day lead the prosecution Sirhan Sirhan for the assassination of Robert Kennedy, thinks Winters – a religious tea-totaling non-gambler – is objecting on moral grounds. But that’s not the case.
“What if you’d won?” Winters asks, which temporarily baffles Compton. “Don’t ever put yourself in a position to take anything from these men.”
Winters, who died Jan. 2 just three weeks short of his 93rd birthday, distinguished himself as a young man during World War II. But fame found him late in life when he wound up as the hero of Ambrose’s book, “Band of Brothers,” and the follow-on Emmy-award-winning television miniseries of the same title.
In the anecdote above, Winters demonstrates a concept known to Christians as servant leadership – exemplified by Jesus when he washed the feet of his apostles.
During the invasion of Normandy, as depicted in the book and on TV, Winters led a force of 13 men in a successful assault on an artillery emplacement that was targeting American troops landing in the Normandy Utah sector. The guns were defended by 50 entrenched German paratroopers.
Earlier that day, Winters had taken command of Easy Company – of 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division – because the plane that was to have dropped the company commander in Normandy was shot down, and everyone on board was killed.
Winters received the Distinguished Service Cross, the U.S. military’s second-highest award, for combat valor for leading the attack. It’s probably not a coincidence that, going by the words of those who served under his command, he was the most widely respected of the Band of Brothers.
But where it relates to Winters, “Band of Brothers” wasn’t just a story of one exceptional soldier, but of a philosophy that has yielded an exceptional military. It wasn’t many years before World War II that the world’s armies parceled out officer’s status based on noble title.
It wasn’t uncommon, for example, command of a regiment to fall upon the man who provided the funds to outfit that regiment, which produced a mentality of entitlement on the part of military leadership.
In his book, Ambrose sets up Easy Company’s World War II battles as not just a clash of military forces, but one of systems, of American democracy and meritocracy against European tradition and aristocracy.
Winters matched wits and guts against German officers who won their commissions in many cases because their grandfathers happened to be barons. The German infantry were exhorted to fight for their country and social betters, while their American counterparts were compelled to battle for their comrades.
And the American system that Winters embodied proved superior, Ambrose wrote in summing up the 101st Airborne Division's heroic stand at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge.
“It was a test of arms, will, and national systems, matching the best the Nazis had with the best the Americans had, with all the advantages on the German side … Democracy proved better able to produce young men who could be made into superb soldiers than Nazi Germany.”
A long time ago, Winters was one of those young men produced by that system. And the legacy of those young men is that in America, a nation created from the rejects of those European aristocracies, the American armed services are exceptional in large part because it embraces command the same way Winters did – as an obligation and a duty rather than a privilege to be exploited.
Eric Poole can be reached online at epoole@ellwoodcityledger.com
Bio
- The Second Row
- Ellwood City, Pennsylvania
- Eric Poole is a reporter and columnist for the Ellwood City (Pa.) Ledger, a small newspaper nestled near the Ohio state line in the heart of Steelers Country. He has a wife, a son and a daughter (so there will be some daddy stuff on this blog). A former steelworker and retired rugby player, Poole has a wide range of interests, which was reflected in the 2008 Pennsylvania Newspaper Association awards, when Poole won first-prize honors for best columns and best special project. His upcoming book, "Company of Heroes," due out March 17, 2015, from Osprey Publishing, tells the story of Vietnam War hero Leslie Sabo and his comrades. Sabo was awarded the Medal of Honor May 16, 2012, in a White House ceremony.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Sunday, November 21, 2010
The simple-mindedness of Bryan Fischer
"Ironically in war, an enterprise more readily associated with killing, Medals of Honor are given more often for saving lives than for taking them."
"... the strongest, most powerful thing a man can do in this world is not to kill or destroy, but to sacrifice."
The first of those two quotes is from page 26 of my book, Forgotten Honor and the second one is the book's closing lines, on page 207.
And they're both directed at Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association, who wrote an article titled "The Feminization of the Medal of Honor," last week on the AFA's website.
In the article, he refers to last week's Medal of Honor award to Sgt. Salvatore Giunta, who was recognized for his above-and-beyond-the-call-of-duty efforts to save the lives of his comrades during an ambush in Afghanistan. Fischer claimed that Medals of Honor were once awarded for rushing the enemy position at places like the "Pointe Do Hoc" during the D-Day invasion of Normandy during World War II.
A couple of problems with that, Bryan. First, it's Pointe du Hoc. Second, none of the Army Rangers who scaled Pointe du Hoc received the Medal of Honor. Other than that though, you got it completely right.
In the face of criticism both from the media and from the choir of commenters he usually preaches to in his AFA column, Fischer said his words were twisted out of context, that Giunta deserved the Medal of Honor and he was merely pointing out that we no longer honor the kind of "rush the enemy" act that we did once.
OK, then let's use Fischer's words against him: "We rightly honor those who give up their lives to save their comrades. It’s about time we started also honoring those who kill bad guys."
He even revives Gen. George Patton's tired old saw - "You don't win wars by dying for your country. You win wars by making the other bastard die for his."
My response to that, from page 207 of Forgotten Honor, is that "You win wars by preventing you comrades from dying for their (country)."
I know a little bit more about this subject than Mr. Fischer does, primarily from researching my book, a biography of Sgt. Leslie Sabo Jr., who was killed May 10, 1970, in Cambodia during the Vietnam War. Sabo was credited with saving the lives of more than 50 of his fellow soldiers and was killed while providing covering fire for a medical evacuation helicopter lifting two wounded soldiers off the battlefield.
And Fischer is wrong. It IS more important to protect your comrades than it is to kill the bad guys - especially today, because this war is no longer an exercise where one group of heavily-armed men attacks an emplacements that are defended by other heavily-armed men.
The current war is marked by engagements where the enemy strikes quickly in ambush then breaks off before they can be routed by the Americans' superior training, firepower and technology.
But even in the wars to which Fischer looks back nostalgically when he talks about the Medal of Honor's "Feminization," heroism isn't about killing the enemy. It's about defending your friends.
Fischer needs to do what I did - crack a history book or two.
"... the strongest, most powerful thing a man can do in this world is not to kill or destroy, but to sacrifice."
The first of those two quotes is from page 26 of my book, Forgotten Honor and the second one is the book's closing lines, on page 207.
And they're both directed at Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association, who wrote an article titled "The Feminization of the Medal of Honor," last week on the AFA's website.
In the article, he refers to last week's Medal of Honor award to Sgt. Salvatore Giunta, who was recognized for his above-and-beyond-the-call-of-duty efforts to save the lives of his comrades during an ambush in Afghanistan. Fischer claimed that Medals of Honor were once awarded for rushing the enemy position at places like the "Pointe Do Hoc" during the D-Day invasion of Normandy during World War II.
A couple of problems with that, Bryan. First, it's Pointe du Hoc. Second, none of the Army Rangers who scaled Pointe du Hoc received the Medal of Honor. Other than that though, you got it completely right.
In the face of criticism both from the media and from the choir of commenters he usually preaches to in his AFA column, Fischer said his words were twisted out of context, that Giunta deserved the Medal of Honor and he was merely pointing out that we no longer honor the kind of "rush the enemy" act that we did once.
OK, then let's use Fischer's words against him: "We rightly honor those who give up their lives to save their comrades. It’s about time we started also honoring those who kill bad guys."
He even revives Gen. George Patton's tired old saw - "You don't win wars by dying for your country. You win wars by making the other bastard die for his."
My response to that, from page 207 of Forgotten Honor, is that "You win wars by preventing you comrades from dying for their (country)."
I know a little bit more about this subject than Mr. Fischer does, primarily from researching my book, a biography of Sgt. Leslie Sabo Jr., who was killed May 10, 1970, in Cambodia during the Vietnam War. Sabo was credited with saving the lives of more than 50 of his fellow soldiers and was killed while providing covering fire for a medical evacuation helicopter lifting two wounded soldiers off the battlefield.
And Fischer is wrong. It IS more important to protect your comrades than it is to kill the bad guys - especially today, because this war is no longer an exercise where one group of heavily-armed men attacks an emplacements that are defended by other heavily-armed men.
The current war is marked by engagements where the enemy strikes quickly in ambush then breaks off before they can be routed by the Americans' superior training, firepower and technology.
But even in the wars to which Fischer looks back nostalgically when he talks about the Medal of Honor's "Feminization," heroism isn't about killing the enemy. It's about defending your friends.
Fischer needs to do what I did - crack a history book or two.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Sunny Sundays a memory to cherish
(From the Sept. 9, 2010, Ellwood City Ledger)
From the gorge bottom, about 40 or so feet below Breakneck Bridge, the sun doesn’t shine so much as stab golden shafts through the trees, polka-dotting the rocks and stream at our feet.
My son sees those sun-spotted rocks piled atop one another and clambers up while pretending to be a dinosaur, which sends me into a spasm of worry.
He doesn’t read the newspaper yet, so he’s not aware of McConnells Mill State Park’s history as a hazard to the imprudent. A warning on the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources website urges hikers in the park to keep to the marked trails.
The words “Your life may depend on it” aren’t part of the warning but including that phrase wouldn’t be alarmist in any way. Every year, a handful of people, either by accident or carelessness, wind up falling over one of the sheer rock faces that lie within feet of the park’s trails.
Last May, a Butler County man fell to his death in the park while trying to rescue another hiker who had stumbled and sustained a severe injury.
My son, enraptured with a sense of wonderment and oblivious to the possible danger, storms across the rocks bellowing a T-rex roar until I reel him in, even while admiring his sense of adventure.
“Come be a dinosaur over here on the path,” I say.
We’re coming up on the first anniversary of what was one of the best days in my life, on the second Sunday of last September. That afternoon, totally on a whim, I decided to blow off the Steelers game and take my son for a walk in the woods.
Well, maybe not totally on a whim. By this time of year, we’re all keenly aware that the number of beautiful weekend days remaining before winter is limited.
And while it’s impossible to say when the brilliantly sunny Sunday afternoons will run out, by this time of year, each one could be the last. So, as much as I like a good football game, I knew there would be another one next week and the week after that.
Even today, walks like this remind me of my own childhood, when I followed my grandfather and cousins through the woods where I picked up small smooth rocks and acorns, and put them in my pocket for a collection that my mom would toss out, just the way my son does today.
My grandfather – a World War I veteran – is long gone now, but I can still remember him taking us into those woods to teach us the virtues of spending sunny days underneath a leafy canopy.
The terrain in McConnells Mill is more rugged than in the woods where I grew up about 60 miles south and east of here. McConnells Mill and nearby Moraine state parks mark the southernmost glacial advance about a million years ago during the last ice age.
Those walls of ice carved out gorges and shoved massive rocks while lurching southward by a few feet every year until they reached the outskirts of present-day Ellwood City, then retreated, leaving behind the formations where my son can pretend to be a dinosaur.
I was probably about the same age then as my son is now, so maybe he’ll remember this himself some day. Maybe then, he’ll understand why that sunny Sunday afternoon last year was one of the best days of my life.
And maybe that memory will make it one of the best days of his life too.
From the gorge bottom, about 40 or so feet below Breakneck Bridge, the sun doesn’t shine so much as stab golden shafts through the trees, polka-dotting the rocks and stream at our feet.
My son sees those sun-spotted rocks piled atop one another and clambers up while pretending to be a dinosaur, which sends me into a spasm of worry.
He doesn’t read the newspaper yet, so he’s not aware of McConnells Mill State Park’s history as a hazard to the imprudent. A warning on the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources website urges hikers in the park to keep to the marked trails.
The words “Your life may depend on it” aren’t part of the warning but including that phrase wouldn’t be alarmist in any way. Every year, a handful of people, either by accident or carelessness, wind up falling over one of the sheer rock faces that lie within feet of the park’s trails.
Last May, a Butler County man fell to his death in the park while trying to rescue another hiker who had stumbled and sustained a severe injury.
My son, enraptured with a sense of wonderment and oblivious to the possible danger, storms across the rocks bellowing a T-rex roar until I reel him in, even while admiring his sense of adventure.
“Come be a dinosaur over here on the path,” I say.
We’re coming up on the first anniversary of what was one of the best days in my life, on the second Sunday of last September. That afternoon, totally on a whim, I decided to blow off the Steelers game and take my son for a walk in the woods.
Well, maybe not totally on a whim. By this time of year, we’re all keenly aware that the number of beautiful weekend days remaining before winter is limited.
And while it’s impossible to say when the brilliantly sunny Sunday afternoons will run out, by this time of year, each one could be the last. So, as much as I like a good football game, I knew there would be another one next week and the week after that.
Even today, walks like this remind me of my own childhood, when I followed my grandfather and cousins through the woods where I picked up small smooth rocks and acorns, and put them in my pocket for a collection that my mom would toss out, just the way my son does today.
My grandfather – a World War I veteran – is long gone now, but I can still remember him taking us into those woods to teach us the virtues of spending sunny days underneath a leafy canopy.
The terrain in McConnells Mill is more rugged than in the woods where I grew up about 60 miles south and east of here. McConnells Mill and nearby Moraine state parks mark the southernmost glacial advance about a million years ago during the last ice age.
Those walls of ice carved out gorges and shoved massive rocks while lurching southward by a few feet every year until they reached the outskirts of present-day Ellwood City, then retreated, leaving behind the formations where my son can pretend to be a dinosaur.
I was probably about the same age then as my son is now, so maybe he’ll remember this himself some day. Maybe then, he’ll understand why that sunny Sunday afternoon last year was one of the best days of my life.
And maybe that memory will make it one of the best days of his life too.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
The naked politican double standard
When the reports of Scott Brown's naked photos turned up, I heard a few commentators wonder about what would happen if a woman did the same thing.
She'd be dead in the water, was the consensus. Those people were right, and you don't have to wonder about it.
With Brown's victory Tuesday in the Massachusetts special election, I'm wondering what Carmen Kontur-Gronquist thinks.
Kontur-Gronquist is the former small-town mayor from Oregon who was forced into a recall election in 2008 and driven from office when pictures of her in her bra and panties turned up on the Internet.
Disclosure: I don't know what Kontur-Gronquist's party is in or where she stands on the issues, but I can heartily endorse her stance on the running boards of red trucks in her underwear.
Anyway, Kontur-Gronquist is now a former mayor, and only because of the racy pics. Think she wishes she'd posed in the buff? At least she would have gotten her money's worth.
Scott Brown, conversely, is now the junior U.S. Senator-elect from Massachusetts.
Yeah, I think that's a double standard.
And speaking of double standards, it's apparently acceptable for male representatives and senators to be any shape or size. Female ones, conversely, are restricted to a single option - rail thin.
It's almost like someone slapped a "No Fat Chicks" bumper sticker on the Capitol Building.
She'd be dead in the water, was the consensus. Those people were right, and you don't have to wonder about it.
With Brown's victory Tuesday in the Massachusetts special election, I'm wondering what Carmen Kontur-Gronquist thinks.
Kontur-Gronquist is the former small-town mayor from Oregon who was forced into a recall election in 2008 and driven from office when pictures of her in her bra and panties turned up on the Internet.
Disclosure: I don't know what Kontur-Gronquist's party is in or where she stands on the issues, but I can heartily endorse her stance on the running boards of red trucks in her underwear.
Anyway, Kontur-Gronquist is now a former mayor, and only because of the racy pics. Think she wishes she'd posed in the buff? At least she would have gotten her money's worth.
Scott Brown, conversely, is now the junior U.S. Senator-elect from Massachusetts.
Yeah, I think that's a double standard.
And speaking of double standards, it's apparently acceptable for male representatives and senators to be any shape or size. Female ones, conversely, are restricted to a single option - rail thin.
It's almost like someone slapped a "No Fat Chicks" bumper sticker on the Capitol Building.
Friday, July 31, 2009
One man's idea to save newspapers
Apparently, a sportswriter for New Hampshire's largest newspaper, the Union-Leader, has found a unique way of supplementing his income in these hard times for the print media.
Prosecutors said Kevin Provencher, a former New Hampshire sportswriter of the year, ran a prostitution ring, advertised on Craigslist, and screened potential clients in the United States and Canada to keep the police out of his operation.
I think this is what you call social climbing.
This is funny, and by that I mean odd, because I always thought sportswriters never got any action, much less hooked up other people.
I'm no stranger to sex scandals at the Union-Leader. One of my former co-workers wound up at that politically conservative publication as the front page editor of the Sunday issue.
On the day after a biker gathering in Manchester -- remember, this is the Sunday issue, the one that New Hampshirites read before heading off to church -- this guy put a picture of an obviously surgically-enhanced porn star, who attended the biker rally, on the front page.
But at least, in keeping with the demand of USA Today founder Al Neuharth, he got her "(breasts) above the fold."
Anyway, back to Kevin Provencher. With the state of the newspaper business, he was probably just setting up his next career.
And prosecuting him is the last thing they ought to be doing because Provencher might be on to something here that could save newspapers -- he might be the first print reporter to successfully monetize the Internet.
This could be a doable business model if every newspapers branch out into the full-service escort business.
Just think, men across the country can get both their news and next Saturday night's date at the same Web site.
"Pimp" is such an ugly word. We prefer "circulation manager."
Prosecutors said Kevin Provencher, a former New Hampshire sportswriter of the year, ran a prostitution ring, advertised on Craigslist, and screened potential clients in the United States and Canada to keep the police out of his operation.
I think this is what you call social climbing.
This is funny, and by that I mean odd, because I always thought sportswriters never got any action, much less hooked up other people.
I'm no stranger to sex scandals at the Union-Leader. One of my former co-workers wound up at that politically conservative publication as the front page editor of the Sunday issue.
On the day after a biker gathering in Manchester -- remember, this is the Sunday issue, the one that New Hampshirites read before heading off to church -- this guy put a picture of an obviously surgically-enhanced porn star, who attended the biker rally, on the front page.
But at least, in keeping with the demand of USA Today founder Al Neuharth, he got her "(breasts) above the fold."
Anyway, back to Kevin Provencher. With the state of the newspaper business, he was probably just setting up his next career.
And prosecuting him is the last thing they ought to be doing because Provencher might be on to something here that could save newspapers -- he might be the first print reporter to successfully monetize the Internet.
This could be a doable business model if every newspapers branch out into the full-service escort business.
Just think, men across the country can get both their news and next Saturday night's date at the same Web site.
"Pimp" is such an ugly word. We prefer "circulation manager."
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Athletes turned politicians: the Top 10
I first came up with this idea a couple of months back after former Congressman and vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp died.
The whole thing crystallized a few weeks later, when I was re-reading the book “Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot” by Minnesota’s junior U.S. Sen. Al Franken, which includes a list of politicians who have showered with black people.
My list – of the most 20 illustrious politicians-turned athletes – is a little more tame.
I started with a list of 20 and ranked them all from 1 to 20 in both politics and sports, then added together each athlete-politician's ranking. Lowest number was first, and so on through 20 (Julius Caesar Watts).
The Second 10:
Julius Caesar Watts (college football, Congress), Heath Shuler (pro football, Congress), Charles McMillan (pro basketball, Congress), Jim Ryun (Olympics, Congress), Judy Martz (Olympics, governor of Montana), Wilmer “Vinegar Bend” Mizell (Major League Baseball, Congress), Lynn Swann (Pro Football Hall of Fame, Republican candidate for Pennsylvania governor), Morris Udall (Pro basketball, Congress), Alan Page (Pro Football Hall of Fame, Minnesota Supreme Court Judge) and Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Olympics, U.S. Senate).
The top 10:
10. Ralph Metcalfe
Sports (eighth): Won a 4 x 100-meter relay gold medal in 1936, won two silver medals and a bronze medal in 1932 and 1936.
Politics (14th): Long-time Chicago Alderman and served in Congress from 1971 until his death in 1978. A founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
That’s odd: Ran second to Eddie Tolan in a photo finish of the 100 meters at the 1932 Olympics
9. Richard Petty:
Sports (first): The greatest stock-car racer of all time (although the people with all those angel-wings-and-halo No. 3 window stickers might beg to differ). While there are some great athletes on this list, no one else here is on the short list of “greatest in his sport.” Petty might have topped this list if his political resume weren’t so slim.
Politics (20th): Won Republican nomination for North Carolina Secretary of State, but lost the general election.
That’s odd: Petty, whose nickname is “The King,” voiced the character of “The King” in the Pixar film Cars.
8. John K. Tener
Sports (14th place): Pitched for three Major League teams from 1885-90; lifetime record 25-31.
Politics (seventh place): Governor of Pennsylvania from 1911 to 1915, Congressman from 1909-11. Credited in starting the annual Congressional baseball game
That’s odd: Kener, who was born in Ireland, accepted the job of National League president in 1913, when he was still governor, and performed double duty for the next two years, although he didn’t take any pay from the National League until he left the governor’s office.
7. Gerald Ford
Sports (16th): All-American lineman at the University of Michigan. Ford might have bagged top overall spot, had he played a few years in the NFL, which had been an option. Ford rejected offers from at least two teams in 1935 to attend law school.
Politics (first): The only President on this list, and longtime member of Congress.
That’s odd: Ford was a member of the Warren Commission, which investigated the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
6. Steve Largent
Sports (third): Hall of Fame wide receiver. At the time of his retirement, he held records for most receptions and most receiving yards (those marks have since been broken).
Politics (11th): Congressman from Oklahoma from 1994 to 2002, ran unsuccessfully for Oklahoma governor in 1992.
That’s odd: Largent was appointed to replace James Inhofe, who had won a special election to the U.S. Senate, where Inhofe still serves.
5. Byron “Whizzer” White
Sports (ninth): Played three years in NFL, was an all-pro back each one.
Politics (sixth): Served on Supreme Court from 1962 to 1993, the 12th longest high court tenure.
That’s odd: During World War II, White was the naval intelligence officer who debriefed John F. Kennedy after the PT-109 incident, in which a ship commanded by the future president was rammed by a Japanese destroyer. Almost 20 years later, Kennedy appointed White to the Supreme Court.
4. Bob Mathias
Sports (second): Just as the Olympics’ 100-meter champion is acclaimed as the World’s Fastest Man, the decathlon winner earns the honor of World’s Greatest Athlete. And Mathias is the only person to have done it twice in non-boycotted Olympics, in 1948 and 1952.
Politics (11th): Served in Congress from 1967-75.
That’s odd: When he won his first gold medal, Mathias was 18 years old. He also played on Stanford’s 1951 Rose Bowl champion football team
3. Jack Kemp
Sports (10th): Seven-time AFL All-Star, 1965 league MVP.
Politics (third): Congress from 1971 – one year after retiring from pro football – to 1989, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President George H.W. Bush, Republican vice-presidential nominee in 1996.
That’s odd: Kemp did one thing Hall of Famer Jim Kelly couldn’t. Kemp quarterbacked the Buffalo Bills to their only two league championships, in 1964 and 65.
2. Jim Bunning
Sports (seventh): Hall of Fame pitcher from 1955 to 1971 with 224-184 won-lost record. Pitched a perfect game in 1964.
Politics: In U.S. Senate from 1999 to present, and in Congress from 1987-1999.
That’s odd: Bunning is one of three ex-Pittsburgh major league pitchers on the list, joining John K. Tener in the Top 10, and another former Pirate, Wilmer “Vinegar Bend” Mizell, in the second 10.
1. Bill Bradley
Sports (fourth): Hall of Fame basketball player at Princeton and the New York Knicks, won Olympic gold medal in 1964.
Politics (third): In U.S. Senate from 1978 to 1996, ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2000.
That’s odd: Bradley and Manu Ginobili are the only players to win Olympic basketball gold medals, European league titles and NBA titles.
The whole thing crystallized a few weeks later, when I was re-reading the book “Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot” by Minnesota’s junior U.S. Sen. Al Franken, which includes a list of politicians who have showered with black people.
My list – of the most 20 illustrious politicians-turned athletes – is a little more tame.
I started with a list of 20 and ranked them all from 1 to 20 in both politics and sports, then added together each athlete-politician's ranking. Lowest number was first, and so on through 20 (Julius Caesar Watts).
The Second 10:
Julius Caesar Watts (college football, Congress), Heath Shuler (pro football, Congress), Charles McMillan (pro basketball, Congress), Jim Ryun (Olympics, Congress), Judy Martz (Olympics, governor of Montana), Wilmer “Vinegar Bend” Mizell (Major League Baseball, Congress), Lynn Swann (Pro Football Hall of Fame, Republican candidate for Pennsylvania governor), Morris Udall (Pro basketball, Congress), Alan Page (Pro Football Hall of Fame, Minnesota Supreme Court Judge) and Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Olympics, U.S. Senate).
The top 10:
10. Ralph Metcalfe
Sports (eighth): Won a 4 x 100-meter relay gold medal in 1936, won two silver medals and a bronze medal in 1932 and 1936.
Politics (14th): Long-time Chicago Alderman and served in Congress from 1971 until his death in 1978. A founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
That’s odd: Ran second to Eddie Tolan in a photo finish of the 100 meters at the 1932 Olympics
9. Richard Petty:
Sports (first): The greatest stock-car racer of all time (although the people with all those angel-wings-and-halo No. 3 window stickers might beg to differ). While there are some great athletes on this list, no one else here is on the short list of “greatest in his sport.” Petty might have topped this list if his political resume weren’t so slim.
Politics (20th): Won Republican nomination for North Carolina Secretary of State, but lost the general election.
That’s odd: Petty, whose nickname is “The King,” voiced the character of “The King” in the Pixar film Cars.
8. John K. Tener
Sports (14th place): Pitched for three Major League teams from 1885-90; lifetime record 25-31.
Politics (seventh place): Governor of Pennsylvania from 1911 to 1915, Congressman from 1909-11. Credited in starting the annual Congressional baseball game
That’s odd: Kener, who was born in Ireland, accepted the job of National League president in 1913, when he was still governor, and performed double duty for the next two years, although he didn’t take any pay from the National League until he left the governor’s office.
7. Gerald Ford
Sports (16th): All-American lineman at the University of Michigan. Ford might have bagged top overall spot, had he played a few years in the NFL, which had been an option. Ford rejected offers from at least two teams in 1935 to attend law school.
Politics (first): The only President on this list, and longtime member of Congress.
That’s odd: Ford was a member of the Warren Commission, which investigated the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
6. Steve Largent
Sports (third): Hall of Fame wide receiver. At the time of his retirement, he held records for most receptions and most receiving yards (those marks have since been broken).
Politics (11th): Congressman from Oklahoma from 1994 to 2002, ran unsuccessfully for Oklahoma governor in 1992.
That’s odd: Largent was appointed to replace James Inhofe, who had won a special election to the U.S. Senate, where Inhofe still serves.
5. Byron “Whizzer” White
Sports (ninth): Played three years in NFL, was an all-pro back each one.
Politics (sixth): Served on Supreme Court from 1962 to 1993, the 12th longest high court tenure.
That’s odd: During World War II, White was the naval intelligence officer who debriefed John F. Kennedy after the PT-109 incident, in which a ship commanded by the future president was rammed by a Japanese destroyer. Almost 20 years later, Kennedy appointed White to the Supreme Court.
4. Bob Mathias
Sports (second): Just as the Olympics’ 100-meter champion is acclaimed as the World’s Fastest Man, the decathlon winner earns the honor of World’s Greatest Athlete. And Mathias is the only person to have done it twice in non-boycotted Olympics, in 1948 and 1952.
Politics (11th): Served in Congress from 1967-75.
That’s odd: When he won his first gold medal, Mathias was 18 years old. He also played on Stanford’s 1951 Rose Bowl champion football team
3. Jack Kemp
Sports (10th): Seven-time AFL All-Star, 1965 league MVP.
Politics (third): Congress from 1971 – one year after retiring from pro football – to 1989, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President George H.W. Bush, Republican vice-presidential nominee in 1996.
That’s odd: Kemp did one thing Hall of Famer Jim Kelly couldn’t. Kemp quarterbacked the Buffalo Bills to their only two league championships, in 1964 and 65.
2. Jim Bunning
Sports (seventh): Hall of Fame pitcher from 1955 to 1971 with 224-184 won-lost record. Pitched a perfect game in 1964.
Politics: In U.S. Senate from 1999 to present, and in Congress from 1987-1999.
That’s odd: Bunning is one of three ex-Pittsburgh major league pitchers on the list, joining John K. Tener in the Top 10, and another former Pirate, Wilmer “Vinegar Bend” Mizell, in the second 10.
1. Bill Bradley
Sports (fourth): Hall of Fame basketball player at Princeton and the New York Knicks, won Olympic gold medal in 1964.
Politics (third): In U.S. Senate from 1978 to 1996, ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2000.
That’s odd: Bradley and Manu Ginobili are the only players to win Olympic basketball gold medals, European league titles and NBA titles.
Friday, May 22, 2009
About the Jocks-turned-Statesman list
After the death of Jack Kemp, former Buffalo Bills quarterback and Housing and Urban Development Secretary under President Ronald Reagan, I assembled the comprehensive ranking of this nation’s most successful athlete-politicians.
That list is available (link temporarily disabled until Suite 101 article is published).
The procedure for putting together that list is as follows:
1) Everyone cited must have performed his or her (there was one, and almost two) women on the list) athletic and political careers entirely in the United States (or, in the case of Olympians, representing the United States). Sorry, Arnold; my list, my rules. Seriously, though, it was difficult enough to judge the merits of an Olympic gold medalist against those of a pro football hall-of-famer without adding an Austrian bodybuilder to the mix.
2) I took 23 names from a list of athlete-politicians from Wikipedia, and my memory, and dropped three people as unqualified to make for a nice round list of 20 finalists. Those dropped were Jack Mildren, a former NFL backup quarterback and lieutenant governor of Oklahoma; Ellen Pena, who was in the 1980 Olympic trials as a middle distance runner, and was in President Bill Clinton’s cabinet; and Kevin Johnson, an NBA standout who went on to become mayor of Sacramento.
Johnson has the potential to make the list if he won a seat in Congress because his athletic cred is well-established.
3) With the 20 finalists, I ranked each according in both athletic and political categories. Judging the 20 as athletes was subjective compared to the political comparison. In the end, I judged an Olympic gold medal to have been equal to induction into a professional hall of fame, and placed those eight finalists at the top. Beneath that, those who played professionally were placed above those who didn’t. But within those parameters, the athletic ranking was entirely my judgment call as a sports historian.
The political ranking was more objective. Each finalist’s placement was based upon the highest office he held, with consideration given to electoral losses in high-profile races. Those rankings went pretty much as follows: President, Vice-President, U.S. Senate, Cabinet, Supreme Court, Congress, Governors. If more than one person rose to the same office, seniority was used to break the tie. If the tie remained after that step, all equal finalists were judged to be tied.
4) The top-ranked person in each category received 20 points, with 19 points awarded for second and so on down to 1 point for 20th place. The athlete and politician scores were added together to determine rankings.
That list is available (link temporarily disabled until Suite 101 article is published).
The procedure for putting together that list is as follows:
1) Everyone cited must have performed his or her (there was one, and almost two) women on the list) athletic and political careers entirely in the United States (or, in the case of Olympians, representing the United States). Sorry, Arnold; my list, my rules. Seriously, though, it was difficult enough to judge the merits of an Olympic gold medalist against those of a pro football hall-of-famer without adding an Austrian bodybuilder to the mix.
2) I took 23 names from a list of athlete-politicians from Wikipedia, and my memory, and dropped three people as unqualified to make for a nice round list of 20 finalists. Those dropped were Jack Mildren, a former NFL backup quarterback and lieutenant governor of Oklahoma; Ellen Pena, who was in the 1980 Olympic trials as a middle distance runner, and was in President Bill Clinton’s cabinet; and Kevin Johnson, an NBA standout who went on to become mayor of Sacramento.
Johnson has the potential to make the list if he won a seat in Congress because his athletic cred is well-established.
3) With the 20 finalists, I ranked each according in both athletic and political categories. Judging the 20 as athletes was subjective compared to the political comparison. In the end, I judged an Olympic gold medal to have been equal to induction into a professional hall of fame, and placed those eight finalists at the top. Beneath that, those who played professionally were placed above those who didn’t. But within those parameters, the athletic ranking was entirely my judgment call as a sports historian.
The political ranking was more objective. Each finalist’s placement was based upon the highest office he held, with consideration given to electoral losses in high-profile races. Those rankings went pretty much as follows: President, Vice-President, U.S. Senate, Cabinet, Supreme Court, Congress, Governors. If more than one person rose to the same office, seniority was used to break the tie. If the tie remained after that step, all equal finalists were judged to be tied.
4) The top-ranked person in each category received 20 points, with 19 points awarded for second and so on down to 1 point for 20th place. The athlete and politician scores were added together to determine rankings.
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