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S9905/11B[0TuW+n&e`Zk9g]ǾO)z5o 4u#kG=N%17Dr,| ,SW.t0h L/ڛ_# :QX^X_cӽy7_]7xw\CQAȧkC)NdAJn;H 3K)HN0|k4&0 :xN.; 5! OQ?֚"fpJάFqZ#u'$cZxצhfdBb?lqQpR*z Öo3aI_LuE'5B1l;WD xa5|1= grNtyS4gzU?U9 0)/\bүʹ"OJniF+ߴhcNA_?W!t-:HH q"Cdҡ[sd v 6) tLR0N9wQWSƪ@! 9ԑ:S2&MnOw@1Ԯ:\rs8ml@"5 *Vfa6RJP{fb},M`jJoH#嵋JX ώkt<ŖYrQZ+WUrFq\MmxUզ-(kC4wP0k|4O x#JHsb iO׵8ܳq.9$wֲvҳ"_js2kAU=>7I9F: Hͼavr>Ƴ-n{Vr~Qǵd4ſp|udE:t4u0>隟Uf,rB0# 1R8ufX|`b-Ǘ H+~#z^瞧&|/46>ly rYT]N4K;y z`yu#H'UU8?Ҹ/*cdƿGЭ]O*A:u>!Լ8mwMcM4ҳ9+ɦ_.ִ0^ipZBX@8FVE8UXײxz,GRq^S5:uz+AY`OLi$oUNaOS?׊:rqҴ 2H*"š""-cnҨnڧa;UU~7T6VXUU\}xP~sϜbvwsEEt@:BpxI+ NEQMXk9 oE_IzFKiA,-IEC5]V[MF2F#ٮ;Our team knows that we could have easily been in the playoff hunt. Yet perhaps the greatest tribute to this group of kids is that they didn t dwell on what could have been or what we should have done, they focused on winning today.<br>Coach Shepard, your seminar made a profound impact on our players and coaches. It was the best financial investment our football program has ever made. We already have captains for next year s team. One of them came up with the idea to have stickers for our helmets with the number eleven. The kids all want to do this. Another captain wants to paint the number 11 in the weight room and the locker room. Our team will be committed to touch it as they pass. Thanks for helping us develop our vision for greatness!<br> <br>The coach sent me their football program book. Some of the players wrote a thank you note. I would like to share one of these from one of last season s captains: <br> Dr. Shepard, you influenced our team to the fullest, and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. Keep spreading your light. <br>In my quiet moments as I reflect on this experience, it is difficult to hold back the tears. I am so very thankful for coaches and kids like the players at this high school. May God bless our great country and help us all to Be An Eleven a little more often.<br>a few months later Dan entered the decathlon event in Talence, France. There he set a new world record 8,891 points a record that still stands today. For Dan, he had proven to himself that he had what it takes to be the world s greatest athlete. But the public only remembered the no-heighter. To tuly redeem himself, and earn the title he so fervently desired, Dan knew he needed the Olympic gold.<br><br>Dan went on to win two more world championships before the 1996 Olympic trials came around. Once again, all eyes were on Dan, and the event they watched most closely was the pole vault.<br><br> I knew it was a big deal, says Dan.  But I wasn t worried in the least. It<br>was no longer an issue for me. I <br>wasn t even worried about the trials.<br> I had one goal; that was the gold. Not the bronze, not the silver. I knew exactly what I wanted and was counting the days to Atlanta. <br><br>He sailed through the trials. In Atlanta, he sailed through the decathlon, holding on to a steady point margin throughout each of the ten events. Dan became the first American to win the decathlon since Bruce Jenner in 1976. His only disappointment was that he did not break his own world record. That is a goal he is still working on.<br><br>Historic Parallels<br><br>For those who follow the sport of decathlon, the parallels between Dan s life and that of the first gold medal decathlete, Jim Thorpe, cannot be ignored. Both were born of mixed races. Both have Irish surnames. Both came from small schools and towns. They have each enjoyed immense popularity and adulation, and also humiliation. For Thorpe, stripped of his medals after a controversial decision by the governing Olympic board, redemption and restoration of those medals would occur only after his death. Dan O Brien was able to set the record straight and place his own name for all time on the list of the World s Greatest Athletes. But his story is far from finished.<br><br>Dan feels strongly that his story is one that can help inspire and fuel<br>other young athletes.  I don t try to hide from the fact that I ve made<br>mistakes; we re all only human, says Dan.  There were a lot of things in my life that could have pulled me down. I had excuses to fail but I <br>didn t let them take hold of my psyche. I knew I was a winn change.&nbsp; In my neighborhood there are gangs and drugs.&nbsp; The last time I went home wo kids got killed in a gang war righ in front of my home.</P> <P>"I'd like to be an elementary school teacher and coa