Moment With The Master
“Never Give Up!”
Categories: Moment With The Master"Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13-14)
Pete Dawkins was born March 8, 1938 in Royal Oak, Michigan. Dawkins was stricken with polio as a child. At the age of eleven he developed scoliosis, a debilitating back condition.
Due to his health Dawkins was told he would never play sports. However, Pete Dawkins’ love for the game of football motivated him to persevere. Thus, he entered into an experimental training program that included aggressive physiotherapy. A regimen of weight lifting was considered to be a cure for curvature of the spine.
Six years later the 180 pound Dawkins, a quarterback for Michigan Prep School, pursued a career of football at West Point. In 1956 Pete Dawkins joined the Army football team. After a few varsity practices coach Earl Blaik gave Dawkins two choices 1) quit the team, or 2) become a scrub. Coach Blaik made it clear that Pete Dawkins would never play a game of football for Army. Dawkins chose to be a scrub. His brutal job was to return punts, or become tackling practice for a team of hungry cadets. In 1958, against all of the odds, Pete Dawkins won college football’s most coveted award – the Heisman Trophy.
The secret to Dawkins’ success was an exercise he’d learned during his early years with scoliosis. Each night after taps, when the lights were out, this determined cadet would lift weights on his room floor. This was an exercise prohibited by college coaches. It was believed that lifting weights would be harmful to a player’s agility.
In 1958 this one-time scrub unleashed his 220 pound body to reap the fruit of years of hard work. Dawkins likes to say, “Sometimes the things you think are the most awful disappointments turn out to be the most important opportunities you ever had.”
The Christian’s life is full of setbacks and challenges, but we must give all we’ve got. We must run hard for the finish line. One day God will award the victory crown!
George Slover
