Sandy Koufax story--Sabbath HEROES
FOR TODAY: Reader's Digest, April 1996, p. 185
TO BE A BEACON
Thirty years ago Sandy Koufax--a Jewish pitcher with a sling like
David's for a left arm--announced that he wouldn't play on the holist
day of his year, Yom Kippur. Koufax's employer, the Los Angeles Dodgers,
respectfully pointed out that this was the first game of the 1965 World
Series. Couldn't he pitch just a little? "No," Koufax said. But later he
pitched a shutout in games five and seven, and the Dodgers won the
series, 4-3. Well, Sandy would love a kid named Eli Herring, a 340-pound
offensive tackle for Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. In his
senior year Herring sported a 3.5 grade-point average and was judged a
top senior offensive tackle in the pro draft. But Herring, a devout
Mormon, turned down a possible multimillion-dollar deal with the Oakland
Raiders because he, too, won't play on a holy day.
Unfortunately his holy day, Sunday, comes up once a week, just when the
Raiders buckle on their equipment and go to work. Herring meditated
intensely over his dilemma. He could sign up with the NFL, play ball on
Sundays and fill his life with fancy cars and houses, or he could teach
math for $20,000 a year and honor the Sabbath. Herring's answer was to
honor the Sabbath. He announced to the NFL that if he were drafted, he
wouldn't serve.
Wow! Talk about a role model for kids adrift in a cultural sea of
avarice, especially in sports. But what about his financial future?
Well, to people like Herring a blessing from above is better than a bank
account. Hey, as the country-gospel song says, "You can't be a beacon if
your light don't shine."
--Ted Roberts in The Wall Street Journal
Great Handout Idea - "You can't be a
beacon if your light don't shine."
Ted Roberts in The Wall Street
Journal - Attached to Flashlight, Candle, Lighthouse, etc. (Alice
Gifford - YW Connection - (12/1/2006)
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