http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=11993996
Posted: Feb 16, 2010
By Gil Diaz - gdiaz@kesq.com
PALM SPRINGS - You may not recognize him, but, you may know his
name: John Carlos. He is the same John Carlos who won a bronze medal
in the 1968 Summer Olympics, and raised his fist on the podium as a
salute to black power.
Forty-two years later, Carlos gave students at Palm Springs High
School the power to succeed.
"You have to know who you are," he said. "You have to know what you
want, what you're looking for in life. Many people have money, but
money doesn't really make them what they want to be out of life."
Carlos is no stranger to hardships. Growing up in Harlem, N.Y., he
also was diagnosed with dyslexia. It was a hurdle he knew he had to overcome.
"I thought it was necessary for me to learn how to read if I was
going to be productive in athletics and everything else because I
felt it was far more than just athletics if you become a 'superstar.'"
Carlos now works at the high school. He has been there for nearly
two dozen years. On Tuesday, he and a handful of prominent speakers
celebrated Black History Month.
Sharing the stage with Carlos was Will Pellum, a Class of '84 alum
and now one of the school's football coaches. Pellum says you learn a
lot of life's lessons through sports.
"You learn to get up and go to practice Monday thru Friday," Pellum
said. "Friday nights, you play the game. It's like payday!"
Pellum channeled his athletic experiences when dealing with his own
family struggles, like when he found out his son had leukemia in December 2008.
"Getting through that and learning that we can work this out, we can
make this happen. I went back to all the struggles I had with sports
and how I learned and pushed through those. That's what got me through."
Take it from these guys: Playing sports is more than a way to stay
out of trouble. It's a way to tackle life on and off the fields ---
and on and off the Olympic podiums.
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