Just saw this on E$PN. Great story.

Quote:18-year-old Latipha Cross overcame homelessness and two bouts of cancer to earn a full track and field scholarship to Eastern Michigan University.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=8954733

(02-17-2013 11:54 PM)MidnightBlueGold Wrote:  Just saw this on E$PN. Great story.

Quote:18-year-old Latipha Cross overcame homelessness and two bouts of cancer to earn a full track and field scholarship to Eastern Michigan University.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=8954733

And she is a budding star at EMU. She won the 400 meter sprint at an UofM indoor meet this past weekend.

http://www.emueagles.com/news/2013/2/16/...ath=wtrack

This is certainly an example of how and why our country should make every reasonable effort to give everyone a chance to be 'all they can be'.

A similar story is Michael Oher (think I got the name right) the offensive tackle for the Baltimore Ravens who went from homelessness to NFL star.

Great story.

Yes Steve, the Blind Side is a similar story to this.

This is why it's a travesty that the big programs are driving out the others. The more schools that drop scholarships in olympic sports, to save money, the fewer opportunities there are for Latipha and others.

(02-18-2013 10:42 AM)DrTorch Wrote:  This is why it's a travesty that the big programs are driving out the others. The more schools that drop scholarships in olympic sports, to save money, the fewer opportunities there are for Latipha and others.

Great points. Fantastic story overall, good for her. EMU's track program is a force to be reckoned with, so it's no small feat to do what she's done over in Ypsilanti.

What an awesome young lady. Inspiring to say the least.

Wow, I got to admit something.

I didn't watch the video because I THOUGHT I had seen it before. It was ANOTHER (older) story on her that I saw.

Yes, this is Michael Oher story re-done by a female, Olympic-sport athlete at a mid-major school.

I have to send this video to some folks I worked with.

Their daughter finished up T&F at UofM (Maryland) but had a year of eligibility left (because of a medical redshirt).

I suggested to the parents that EMU has a very good women's T&F program and it was worth an e-mail to contact the EMU AD.

Things started moving at lightning speed and the daughter joined the EMU women's T&F team as a graduate student under the NCAA's fifth year transfer program for college graduates.

She scored during the MAC T&F championships for EMU. (May 2011).

I can say I have actually found a recruit for EMU.

This is O/T but while Ben Braun was at EMU, there was this 6' 11" center who played at Takoma Academy, in suburban D.C. I saw him play while watching an EMU recruit play in a private h.s. tourney. I asked someone what is with this kid?

I was told Duke, etc. was looking at him but there were 'religious issues' - he was a Seven Day Adventist and they don't participate in athletes between sun down Friday/sun down Saturday.

I contacted EMU and he was scheduled to visit EMU. A faculty member I know was going to EMU presentation. EMU was then playing Saturday night conference games. The staff didn't see an issue.

At the last minute he canceled his EMU visit and opted to go to church-related school. His big goal in life wasn't hoops but becoming a medical doctor.

BTW, the MAC indoor championships are this weekend at EMU. :)

(02-18-2013 03:57 PM)emu steve Wrote:  Wow, I got to admit something.

I didn't watch the video because I THOUGHT I had seen it before. It was ANOTHER (older) story on her that I saw.

Yes, this is Michael Oher story re-done by a female, Olympic-sport athlete at a mid-major school.

I have to send this video to some folks I worked with.

Their daughter finished up T&F at UofM (Maryland) but had a year of eligibility left (because of a medical redshirt).

I suggested to the parents that EMU has a very good women's T&F program and it was worth an e-mail to contact the EMU AD.

Things started moving at lightning speed and the daughter joined the EMU women's T&F team as a graduate student under the NCAA's fifth year transfer program for college graduates.

She scored during the MAC T&F championships for EMU. (May 2011).

I can say I have actually found a recruit for EMU.

This is O/T but while Ben Braun was at EMU, there was this 6' 11" center who played at Takoma Academy, in suburban D.C. I saw him play while watching an EMU recruit play in a private h.s. tourney. I asked someone what is with this kid?

I was told Duke, etc. was looking at him but there were 'religious issues' - he was a Seven Day Adventist and they don't participate in athletes between sun down Friday/sun down Saturday.

I contacted EMU and he was scheduled to visit EMU. A faculty member I know was going to EMU presentation. EMU was then playing Saturday night conference games. The staff didn't see an issue.

At the last minute he canceled his EMU visit and opted to go to church-related school. His big goal in life wasn't hoops but becoming a medical doctor.

I wasn't paying attention when this story came on sportscenter today because I thought it was the same one you posted awhile ago.

Wow, I have to admit I got a little choked up watching it. What a great story...had to share it on my facebook. It's kind of sad to hear her basically saying that she didn't expect she deserved anything good throughout her life. I hope she continues to find success throughout life and a college degree is a great start.

Thanks for sharing.

Latipha Cross won her 400M prelim heat and will be in the finals tomorrow w. teammate Asia Rawls. EMU is good in the track events.

(02-18-2013 10:42 AM)DrTorch Wrote:  This is why it's a travesty that the big programs are driving out the others. The more schools that drop scholarships in olympic sports, to save money, the fewer opportunities there are for Latipha and others.

I agree and I chalk it up to just another unintended consequence of the corruption of collegiate athletics by the BIG TV $$$$ that have transformed college football and basketball from collegiate sports into the big buck entertainment extravaganzas they have become. The problem is that competing for a share of all that revenue flowing in has allowed (or demanded) the costs of the "money" sports to (amazingly) actually escalate even more rapidly than all that revenue can cover----which of course leads to cost benefit analyses which in turn leads to cutting a couple of "non-revenue" sports in such a way as to be compliant with Title IX while still stoking the insatiable appetite of the needs of the "revenue sports" which have become inviolable because they are now the "institutional brand" for all those institutions outside of the Ivy League and a few of those small liberal arts schools that decline to "play the game" both literally and figuratively.

Just my opinion but I see some cause and effect between the INCENTIVE to raise costs across the board at universities as being supported if not encouraged by the excesses arising from increased TV revenues in the "revenue sports" (or the desperate need by some institutions to compete with those on the receiving end of most of those revenue payments). This is coupled with the even greater problematic Federal Student Loan Program that has ENABLED the drastic escalation of University costs over the past 25-30 years by supplying an even larger revenue source to feed the insatiable beast. The effect of the confluence of these two events has IMHO badly damaged (if not destroyed the future of) Higher Education in the US.