Take a Risk!

Three Comeback Kids

by Rev. Dale M. Glading, President

Late in the after- noon on Sunday, April 14, 2019, Eldrick “Tiger” Woods thrust his arms triumphantly in the air as his winning putt dropped into the hole on the 18th green, giving him a one-shot victory over Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, and Xander Schauffele. By claiming his fifth green jacket, Woods broke a tie with Arnold Palmer and now only trails Jack Nicklaus, who won six. More importantly, he narrowed the gap between his 15 major wins and Nicklaus’ record of 18.

Many commentators hailed Tiger’s victory at August National as the greatest comeback in sports history. After all, they reasoned, he hadn’t won a major since the 2008 U.S. Open, a span of almost 11 years. In the interim, Woods’ personal life made headlines and he underwent four back operations and multiple knee surgeries. Most people, including Tiger himself, doubted whether he would ever play golf again, let alone compete at the game’s highest level.

However, without detracting from Tiger’s achievement, I would only rank his comeback at #3 on the all-time list. To me, what Ben Hogan accomplished in 1950 was even more impressive.

On the morning of February 2, 1949, Hogan and his wife Valerie were driving on a fog- shrouded bridge just east of Van Horn TX. Out of nowhere, they were hit head-on by a Greyhound bus. Hogan nearly died, suffering a broken pelvis, a fractured collar bone, a broken ankle, and multiple - potentially deadly - blood clots. Told that he might never walk again, Hogan was confined to his hospital bed for almost two months before being discharged.

The following year, after months of painful rehabilitation, Hogan entered the Los Angeles Open, where he surprised everyone by tying for the lead after 72 holes before losing to Sam Snead in a playoff. That June, Hogan was again in contention at the U.S. Open, sitting in fifth place after the second round, two shots behind Dutch Harrison.

Back then, the final 36 holes were played on a Saturday - 18 in the morning and 18 in the afternoon. With his legs wrapped in bandages from his hips down, Hogan limped through both rounds to finish in a three-way tie with Lloyd Mangrum and George Fazio. In the next day’s playoff,
Hogan bested Mangrum by four strokes and Fazio by six.

Hogan successfully defended his U.S. Open title the following year and then, in 1953, he won five of the six tournaments he entered, including three majors. To commemorate that historic milestone - and in recognition of his courageous comeback - Hogan was given a ticker-tape parade in New York City.

So, you may be wondering, if it’s not Tiger Woods or Ben Hogan, who do I consider to be the greatest “Comeback Kid” in sports history? To answer that question, we have to leave the golf links for the baseball diamond. Specifically, the pitcher’s mound.

On October 7, 1988, San Francisco Giants pitcher Dave Dravecky had surgery to remove a cancerous desmoid tumor in his throwing arm. The doctors removed half of his deltoid muscle and froze his humerus bone. Although he was advised not to pitch for at least a year, Dravecky rehabbed tirelessly in the minors and was back on a Major League mound by late summer.

On August 10th, he threw eight strong innings as the Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds. Five days later in Montreal, Dravecky tossed three no-hit innings before feeling some tingling in his arm. In the sixth inning, on a pitch to Tim Raines, his humerus bone snapped in two, the sound echoing throughout the stadium as Dravecky collapsed to the ground.

Dave suffered a second break to the bone during a post- season celebration, after which X-rays revealed a malignant tumor. Dravecky was forced to retire and, after two more surgeries, his left-arm and shoulder were amputated.

Undaunted, Dravecky launched a new career as a motivational speaker. He also co-wrote two books, “Comeback” with Tim Stafford (1990) and “When You Can’t Comeback” with his wife Jan and Ken Gire (1992). “Comeback” is a good read and very, very inspirational. However, I much prefer Dave’s second book, because it deals honestly and transparently with the aftermath of Dave’s career-ending injury and Jan’s subsequent depression.

If I could summarize “When You Can’t Comeback” in a single sentence it would be this: there is nothing wrong with admitting our weaknesses - physically, emotionally, and even spiritually. For as Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians 12:10, “when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Living H2O Stories

The true - and touching - stories from our Living H2O Initiative just keep coming. Here are a few of the most recent ones, all of which occurred on June 6th...

Story #1 - I arrived at the church gym around 5:50 p.m. and a young man named Jonathan was waiting for me. He held the door open as I unloaded the basketballs, water bottles and other equipment. Then he shared the following...

"As you can see, I'm trying to make as many basketball nights as possi- ble before I have to report."

Jonathan has been faithfully attend- ing our program for about four years and on June 18th, he reports to basic training in Michigan to serve our country. Please pray for a hedge of protection and that God reveals Himself to Jonathan in a profound way.

Story #2 - During our half-time gospel presentation, I was sharing with the young men about the 100-Hole Golf Marathon that my two sons and I played in the day before. Here is how the conversation went...

Dale: "Chris, what were you doing at 7 a.m. yesterday?" Chris: "Playing golf with you, Dad."
Dale: "How about at Noon." Chris: "Playing golf."
Dale: "And at 4 p.m. and 7:45 p.m.?"
Chris: "Still playing golf."

I then told the young men that the reason we had subject- ed our bodies to playing 100 holes over 13 hours in 88- degree temperatures was because we were trying to raise money for our Living H2O Initiative.