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Dan Rather
Broadcast Journalist
I hitchhiked up to Sam Houston State Teacher's College, which was on the Dallas Highway, 70 some odd miles north of Houston. It was a small college and I thought, "Well, the University of Texas, SMU, Rice, A&M, our larger football factories have failed to recognize my prowess so I'd probably have a little better luck at a smaller place." And I hitchhiked to Sam Houston State Teacher's College. And I didn't know who the football coach was but I asked. It was a guy named Puny Wilson. I asked where he was and they said they thought he was in the gym watching basketball practice. I went to the gym and I sidled up to him and I introduced myself. He looked at me like I was a hitchhiker with pets. I told him I was a football player and that I'd appreciate it very much if he'd consider me for a scholarship. And he looked at me, and looking back on it, I think he was kind of amazed but I also think he kind of respected it. He had not heard of me, which was no surprise, but he basically said, "Well, when do you graduate?" I told him I was a midterm graduate. I said, "Well, I graduate in two weeks." It was just after Christmas in January. He said, "Well, spring practice starts (I've forgotten the date) sometime in March and I'll be glad to see you there." I left the gym absolutely walking on air because this to me was my ticket to get to college.
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Dan Rather
Broadcast Journalist
Anyway, Coach Puny told me -- he was kind about it but he was also forceful about it --that not only was I not getting a scholarship but he made it pretty clear that I wasn't likely to have one in the future. If I was a project, I was too big of a project for Coach Puny. And I left his office and it was raining, and I walked in the rain, and I cried about it, which I'm not proud of. I shouldn't have, because I was already grown, but it meant a lot to me. But in I guess kind of a perverse way, I had some pride that I really had stuck it out. And you know, you never know when you're a teacher, you may say something to a child or even a young man who is a student, that you have no idea it's going to stick with him for a long time. But Puny, who was a kind of idol, partly because he was a coach, also because he'd been All-American -- you know, big, raw-boned country guy. The only thing he gave me -- he didn't give me a scholarship, he didn't give me any hope, he didn't give me any phony expectations, but he shook my hand. He says, "You didn't quit." And so in my disappointment, in my --I think it's not too strong a statement -- my crushed state, I had that. Now my journalism teacher, Hugh Cunningham, when I went to him, he said, "Well thank God! Thank heaven. That foolishness is over. You know, you're not a football player. You're weren't going to be a football player. It's not compatible with my making a journalist of you. So let's suck it up here and let's have some supper and let's talk about how you're going to be a great journalist."
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Dan Rather
Broadcast Journalist
Somebody once said, you know, "It's good to be smart, brilliance is even better, but persistence will trump them both if it comes down to that." My whole professional life has taught me of the importance of "if you have a goal don't give up on it. If you have a dream, don't let the dream die." That what's absolutely essential is a fierce blinding determination to make it, and it doesn't always have to manifest itself in aggressive ways. But the persistence of just putting one foot in front of the other and just keep on keeping on no matter what the odds, no matter how dark it looks, just say, "Well listen, if I can make one more minute, I can make one more hour, I can make one more day, make one more week, make one more month." It's impossible to overestimate the importance of that in my opinion and based on my experience. Somebody half jokingly said, you know, "Ninety percent of life is just showing up." I think there's something to that. I think if you show up, that's a lot of it. And then if you stick to it, those are, I think, the two biggest things. Go for it, stick to it. Listen, God's grace and luck plays a lot, timing, all of those things come into it, but I think they're infinitesimal compared to sticking to it.
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Lloyd Richards
Tony Award-Winning Director
Lloyd Richards: I worked in a barber shop one time. I sold papers from the time I was eight years old or something like that, which was tough because people didn't pay you. There you were running down the street delivering papers, and you'd go around on Saturdays to collect the few pence that it was. That was tough because people took advantage of kids. I sold magazines, Ladies Home Journal, and all those other things that one does to make a buck. Then I worked in a barber shop, I shined shoes, cleaned up the barber shop. At college, I ran the elevator. You do all kinds of things. That makes it possible not only to live, because it wasn't just subsistence that we were concerned with. We were concerned with the future, and making a future possible, by going to school, getting an education, and making a life.
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Lloyd Richards
Tony Award-Winning Director
Lloyd Richards: You tried to get auditions and when you finally got an audition, they said, "Fine, good, hey, I love your talent, but we don't have anything for you." The fact was with there being so few roles, and the fact was, I did not necessarily in radio come over as a black actor. But they would say, "There are things you can play, but I can't cast you." Why? "Well, you know there are such things as sponsors, and our programs go into the South, and if it was ever known that you as a black actor were playing something else, then " So, you ran into that all the time. You weren't generally told that, but you knew that was behind it.
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Sally Ride
First American Woman in Space
Sally Ride: It was hard to become an astronaut. It was hard to make it through the selection process and the training itself was very difficult, not anywhere near as much physical training as people imagine, but a lot of mental training, a lot of learning. You have to learn everything there is to know about the Space Shuttle and everything you are going to be doing, and everything you need to know if something goes wrong, and then once you have learned it all, you have to practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice until everything is second nature, so it's a very, very difficult training, and it takes years.
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