Mordecai Peter Centennial Brown (October 19, 1876 � February 14, 1948), nicknamed "Three Finger" or "Miner", was an American Major League Baseball pitcher at the turn of the 20th century. Due to a farm-machinery accident in his youth, Brown lost parts of two fingers on his right hand[1] and eventually acquired his nickname as a result. Overcoming this handicap and turning it to his advantage, he became one of the elite pitchers of his era. He was known primarily for his exceptional curveball, which broke radically before reaching the plate.
Brown was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1949.

In 2005, four Navy SEALs were in the middle of a recon mission in Afghanistan when they were discovered by three goat herders. Rather than killing them, the SEALs decided to let them go. The goat herders then repaid the SEALs' kindness by giving away their position to the Taliban, which in military terms is known as "a [jerk] move."

The SEALs were encircled by somewhere between 50 to 200 Taliban fighters and had to decide whether to fight or surrender. After some careful consideration the leader of the patrol, Lt. Murphy, announced their decision: "[Forget] surrender." During the ensuing battle, one Marcus Luttrell was knocked out by an RPG and fell down a ravine. Turns out he was the lucky one: all the other SEALs were killed.

His nose was broken, three vertebrae were cracked and he had been shot in the leg. Luttrell couldn't even call a rescue chopper on the radio, because that would have involved showing himself in the middle of hostile territory. Not so big on the idea of dying in a ditch, Luttrell started crawling through the mountains. At this point he was attacked by six Al Qaeda assassins, and because he was so wounded, he surrendered.

Just kidding -- he killed them all.

Luttrell made it seven miles through the mountains and was dehydrated to the point where he was licking his own sweat. He later fell off a ridge and was discovered by Afghan villagers, who took him in and cleaned his wounds. They also protected him from the Taliban -- by some incredible strike of luck, Luttrell had fallen into the lap of a village that was bound by tribal custom to defend their visitors to the death. When word got out that the villagers were openly sheltering an American soldier, the Taliban was forced to respect the age-old custom, in the sense that they tried to bribe the villagers, beat up their kids and threatened to kill entire families.

The villagers moved Luttrell back and forth to keep him away from the Taliban, who were lurking in the mountains. And then, after six hellish days of fighting the Taliban and dragging himself through the mountains, Luttrell was rescued by American forces. When Army Rangers found him, the first thing he did was apologize for dragging them out into the cold.

After returning stateside, Luttrell left the Navy and wrote Lone Survivor. He now lives in Texas, where he runs the Lone Survivor Foundation. He recently appeared in a country music video -- but you know what? We're not gonna make fun of that ... he's earned it.

Luttrell married Melanie Juneau on November 27, 2010 in Texas. She gave birth to their first child, a boy named Axe, on May 8, 2011. On January 14, 2012, at an event for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, he announced that he and his wife were expecting their second child. Their daughter Addie was born on August 26, 2012.

In 1942, Robinson was drafted and assigned to a segregated Army cavalry unit in Fort Riley, Kansas. Having the requisite qualifications, Robinson and several other black soldiers applied for admission to an Officer Candidate School (OCS) then located at Fort Riley. Although the Army's initial July 1941 guidelines for OCS had been drafted as race-neutral, practically speaking few black applicants were admitted into OCS until after subsequent directives by Army leadership.[47] As a result, the applications of Robinson and his colleagues were delayed for several months.[48] After protests by heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis (then stationed at Fort Riley) and the help of Truman Gibson (then an assistant civilian aide to the Secretary of War),[49] the men were accepted into OCS.[43][48][50

] This common military experience spawned a personal friendship between Robinson and Louis.[51][52] Upon finishing OCS, Robinson was commissioned as a second lieutenant in January 1943.[35] Shortly afterward, Robinson and Isum were formally engaged.[48]


After receiving his commission, Robinson was reassigned to Fort Hood, Texas, where he joined the 761st "Black Panthers" Tank Battalion. While at Fort Hood, 2LT Robinson often used his weekend leave to visit the Rev. Karl Downs, President of Sam Huston College (now Huston-Tillotson University) in nearby Austin, Texas; Downs had been Robinson's pastor at Scott United Methodist Church while Robinson attended PJC.[30][53]


An event on July 6, 1944, derailed Robinson's military career.[54] While awaiting results of hospital tests on the ankle he had injured in junior college, Robinson boarded an Army bus with a fellow officer's wife; although the Army had commissioned its own unsegregated bus line, the bus driver ordered Robinson to move to the back of the bus.[55][56][57] Robinson refused. The driver backed down, but after reaching the end of the line, summoned the military police, who took Robinson into custody.[55][58] When Robinson later confronted the investigating duty officer about racist questioning by the officer and his assistant, the officer recommended Robinson be court-martialed.[55][59]

After Robinson's commander in the 761st, Paul L. Bates, refused to authorize the legal action, Robinson was summarily transferred to the 758th Battalion�where the commander quickly consented to charge Robinson with multiple offenses, including, among other charges, public drunkenness, even though Robinson did not drink.[55][60]


By the time of the court-martial in August 1944, the charges against Robinson had been reduced to two counts of insubordination during questioning.[55] Robinson was acquitted by an all-white panel of nine officers.[55]

The experiences Robinson was subjected to during the court proceedings would be remembered when he later joined the MLB and was subjected to racist attacks.[61]

Although his former unit, the 761st Tank Battalion, became the first black tank unit to see combat in World War II, Robinson's court-martial proceedings prohibited him from being deployed overseas, thus he never saw combat action.[62]


After his acquittal, he was transferred to Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky, where he served as a coach for army athletics until receiving an honorable discharge in November 1944.[63] While there, Robinson met a former player for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League, who encouraged Robinson to write the Monarchs and ask for a tryout.[64] Robinson took the former player's advice and wrote Monarchs' co-owner Thomas Baird.[65]

John Wayne

What about John Wayne made him interesting & inspiring & admirable for you?

Like many men, John Wayne and John Ford helped me find a masculine identity.

Yes alcoholic, adulterous men are so manly.

Yes alcoholic, adulterous men are so manly.

"Success is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming."

�Never try to be better than anyone else, but never stop trying to be the best you can be.�

Coach John Wooden, the "Wizard of Westwood".

Coach (UCLA) won ten NCAA national championships in a 12-year period�seven in a row! (whoa) Within this period, his teams won a record 88 consecutive games! (wows X2) Coach was renowned for his short, simple inspirational messages to his players, including his "Pyramid of Success". Coach instructed/inspired his players at how to be a success in life as well as in basketball.

Link to site: "The John R. Wooden course"

There is a great video of Coach talking about success. Watch it.