Other than the Miracle on Ice, what are some great true inspirational sports stories?

Question

I was thinking about the 1980 US Men's Olympic Hockey victory over the heavily favored Russians and wanted to see if anyone here would be willing to share other, lesser known true inspirational sports stories. Doesn't necessarily have to be hockey.

Answer 1

-Lance Armstrong.. need I say more?

-Mario Lemieux comeback!

-Bonnie Blair

-Michael Johnson

-Andreas Galarraga- return to baseball after cancer

-Eric Davis- return to baseball after cancer

-Belarus' amazing 4-3 win over Sweden in the quarterfinals of the Olympic hockey tournament was the Belorussians' seventh game in 12 days-  With no crowd support and with three of its players going down with injuries, Belarus still managed to beat the top-seeded team in the elimination round to earn a spot in the semifinals. Toss in the fact that almost all of Sweden"s team plays in the NHL while Belarus has one NHL player, and you can see that Belarus had almost no shot.

-Boston Red Sox... down 3-0 in the series, they reel off 4 straight wins against the MIGHTY YANKEES to advance to the Works Series

Answer 2

Wayne Gretzky, Edmonton Oilers, always passed the puck for an assist if it was the right thing to do, and when they needed a goal to win he would set someone up, or score it himself make that extra effort! Then when he went to the L.A. Kings, Janet became more important to Wayne than Hockey!

Answer 3

Mario Lemieux's comeback, for sure.

Answer 4

Mighty Ducks.

Answer 5

TRAVIS ROY. In his first shift as a BU freshman, he broke his neck and has been a quadriplegic since. Now he gives motivational speeches and such.

Amazing. I would ask for a gun to be put to my head

Answer 6

After The Limo Accident that Left The Detroit Red Wings In Complete Shock after Winning their 1st Stanley Cup in 42 yrs., they battled through the accident in high Hopes and Belief and won the Cup again.

And then they gave the Cup to Vladdy on the Ice. Amazing Moment in Hockey History I believe.

Answer 7

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08125/878...

Local hero around these parts...even got a lift to the Yanks game by A-Rod.

Answer 8

Terry Fox and the Marathon of Hope.    Well-known story in Canada, probably not as well-known in the States.  Lost his right leg to cancer when he was young.  In 1980 he started a East coast-to-West coast Canada run to benefit cancer research.  He was forced to stop when his cancer metastasized and he passed away a few months later but that's the one I'll always remember.  I encourage poeple to look into his inspirational story.

Answer 9

Just one nobody has mentioned yet--- the movie- We are Marshall..  About the schools rebuilding of their football team after all their players were killed in a plane crash..

The Jimmy V speech will probably never be topped..

Answer 10

Heres a good story that wasn't mentioned yet.  It was game 6 during the 1964 stanley cup finals between Toronto and Detroit.  Detroit had a 3-2 series lead. Toronto defenceman Bobby Baun stopped a hard shot and was taken off the ice with a broken ankle. He later returned to the game in overtime, with the broken ankle, and scored the game winning goal.  Toronto would go on to take game seven and win the stanley cup.  Stories like this that just prove hockey players are by far the toughest athletes in the world.

Answer 11

The year that Ottawa won. Great fictional movie.

Answer 12

The Red Wings winning their 2nd Cup in 1998, after Vladimir Konstantinov's career was ended in a debilitating drunk driving accent (his limo driver was drunk).  The first person Stevie Y handed the cup to was Konstantinov.  He was up for the Norris that season too, and he was only in his 4th year.  I miss Vladdy.

Answer 13

Kerri Strugg at the Olympics with the severely injured ankle

Jesse Owens at the Germany Olympics

John Lester and Doug Davis returning from Cancer to pitch in the MLB.

Lance Armstrongs story is a personal favorite of mine.

Jimmy Valvano's speech still gives me chills.

The BEST of all time though is Lou Gehrig at Yankee Stadium, after learning that he was terminally ill, he states "Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break I got. Yet today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and I have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans. Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn't consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day?"

-Yes I am a nerd for knowing by heart.