Bob Richards， the former pole-vaultchampion， shares a moving storyabout a skinny young boy who loved football with all his heart. Practiceafter practice， he eagerly gave everything he had. But being half the sizeof the other boys， he got absolutely nowhere. At all the games， thishopeful athlete sat on the bench and hardly ever played. This teenagerlived alone with his father， and the two of them had a very special rela-tionship. Even though the son was always on the bench， his father wasalways in the stands cheering. He never missed a game. This young man was still the smallest ofthe class when he entered high school. His father continued to encouragehim but also made it very clear that he did not have to play football if hedidnt want to. But the young man loved football and decided to hang inthere. He was determined to try his best at every practice， and perhapshed get to play when he became a senior. All through high school henever missed a practice nor a game， but remained a bench-warmer allfour years. His faithful father was always in the stands， always with words ofencouragement for him.
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