See Also:
Beginning of a FAMOUS Hero: The Tony Hawk Story.
Life Lesson #77 – Honesty is the Best Policy.
Roberto Clemente was born near San Juan, Puerto Rico on August 18, 1934. He was the youngest of seven children, and his father worked on a sugar plantation. His mother ran a grocery store for the plantation workers. Roberto’s parents taught him to be honest, to be generous with what he had, and to always respect other people.
Growing up, Roberto was a natural athlete. He was really good at track and field events, but the game he loved most was baseball, and he worked hard at perfecting his skills. He was in high school when he signed his first professional baseball contract in Puerto Rico, and just two years after that, he signed on with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Later he played for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Through the years he had many successes in baseball, held several records, and became the first Latin-American to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
But the teaching he learned as a child about honesty, respect, and generosity—that’s what made Roberto a HERO. He used his talent as an athlete to earn a lot of money, but then he would use his money and his free time to help others. Once, he paid all of the hospital bills for a child that he did not even know. Another time, he bought a complete set of farming equipment for an entire town, and after a terrible earthquake in the country of Nicaragua, he paid for food and supplies for the people of that country. Roberto Clemente often said, “Anytime you have the opportunity to make things better, and you don’t, then you are wasting your time on this Earth.” Roberto Clemente was certainly a HERO!
– Jim Lord