Gay Masters saw the photograph in an adoption magazine and could not forget the little girl staring back at her. Oksana was living in Ukraine, had severe limb differences and had already been passed over by other prospective families. Gay did not see a list of medical problems. She saw the child she wanted to bring home. Getting Oksana out took roughly two years of paperwork, delays and persistence.
Five days before the best game of his life, Jim Abbott got crushed. Cleveland scored seven runs, collected ten hits, and knocked him out before the fourth inning was over. On September 4, 1993, Abbott faced the same team again at Yankee Stadium, and this time Cleveland did not get a single hit. The Motion Nobody Else Had to Learn Abbott was born without a right hand, yet he became an elite left-handed pitcher.
By the end of 2017, Patrick Henry was homeless in Los Angeles. Some nights he slept in 24-hour spas. Other nights he found himself sleeping outside or staying in a homeless shelter in Koreatown. He had spent years making expensive clothes for other people, but now he couldn’t afford a place of his own. He … Read more
In 1960, a laborer named Dashrath Manjhi picked up a hammer and chisel and began breaking apart a mountain near his village in Bihar, India. He had no construction equipment, no money to hire workers and no experience building roads. But he had decided that the mountain needed an opening, and he was going to … Read more
Jessica Cox had always been afraid of flying. But during a flight one day, the pilot sitting beside her offered to let her try the controls. She took off a shoe, wrapped her toes around the control wheel and began moving it. Then the pilot took his hands away. Jessica was flying the airplane herself. … Read more
Arunima Sinha was traveling to Delhi in April 2011 when her life changed in a matter of seconds. She was on her way to take an exam for India’s Central Industrial Security Force, hoping to build a career after years of playing competitive sports. During the journey, men on the train tried to steal her … Read more
Chung Ju-yung grew up on a poor farm in Korea, where his family expected him to spend his life working the land. But even as a teenager, Chung dreamed of leaving home and finding something better. He tried running away more than once. His father kept bringing him back, determined that his eldest son would … Read more
When the United States entered World War I in 1917, Eugene Bullard already had something the American military badly needed. He was a trained fighter pilot with experience flying for France. Bullard was American, born and raised in Georgia. He wanted to serve his own country, so he applied to join the U.S. Air Service. … Read more
Fauja Singh was 89 years old when he decided to run his first marathon. He had spent most of his life working as a farmer, and he had never imagined becoming a long-distance runner. Eleven years later, at the reported age of 100, he crossed the finish line of the Toronto Waterfront Marathon. He had … Read more
Sheldon Yellen was in his final year of high school when his family nearly lost their home in Detroit because of unpaid property taxes. His mother was raising four boys on welfare, and money had been tight for as long as he could remember. Yellen had been working since childhood, but his part-time earnings weren’t … Read more
In 1938, Károly Takács was one of Hungary’s best pistol shooters. He had spent years developing the speed and accuracy needed to compete at the highest level and had already been part of a world championship team. Then, during a military training exercise, a grenade exploded in his right hand. The injury destroyed the hand … Read more
Dean Forbes thought professional football was going to be his future. As a teenager growing up in southeast London, he was playing in Crystal Palace’s youth system and working toward a career in the sport. But injuries and his eventual release from the club ended that dream when he was just 17. His family was … Read more
At 16, Evelyn Glennie wanted to study at one of Britain’s most prestigious music schools. She had spent years developing her skills as a percussionist and was ready to audition for the Royal Academy of Music in London. There was one problem. Glennie was profoundly deaf, and the Academy initially refused to let her audition. … Read more
Mohed Altrad grew up in the Syrian desert in a Bedouin family with very little money. He was orphaned at a young age, and even getting an education was a struggle. As a child, he was initially denied the opportunity to attend school. But Altrad wanted to learn, so he began teaching himself to read … Read more
In 1930, 22-year-old George Jenkins walked away from a job that most people his age would have been thrilled to have. He was managing a major Piggly Wiggly grocery store in Winter Haven, Florida, but he was growing frustrated. Jenkins had ideas about how stores should operate, how employees should be treated and how customers … Read more
Art Williams was earning about $10,000 a year coaching high school football in Georgia when his father’s sudden death made him take a closer look at life insurance. He wanted to understand how families protected themselves financially and why some policies cost so much more than others. The more he learned, the more convinced he … Read more
In 2002, 13-year-old Jan Mela was playing table tennis with friends in Malbork, Poland, when a rainstorm sent them looking for shelter. Jan entered an electrical transformer building, where he received a devastating 15,000-volt electrical shock. He survived, but his injuries were so severe that doctors had to amputate his right forearm and part of … Read more
In 1907, a 16-year-old boy named Sidney Weinberg walked into the offices of Goldman Sachs looking for work. He didn’t have a university degree, wealthy relatives or any experience in banking. He was simply a teenager who needed a job. Goldman Sachs hired him for $5 a week as an assistant to the janitor. His … Read more
Before Lee Su-jin became a billionaire, he spent his days cleaning rooms at a small motel in Seoul, South Korea. The job wasn’t glamorous. He changed sheets, scrubbed bathrooms, cleaned up after guests, and worked long hours for relatively little money. But there was one advantage. The motel provided somewhere for him to sleep, which … Read more