“The only place where success comes before work is the dictionary.” - Vidal Sassoon
We all love miracles. The curing of leukemia, the birth of a healthy baby after prolonged infertility, the ending of a pandemic. In sports, one of my favorite miracles was “The Catch,” Dwight Clark’s leaping touchdown reception of a Joe Montana pass in the 1981 season’s National Football Conference championship game between the perennial powerhouse Dallas Cowboys and the upstart San Francisco 49ers. Trailing 27-21 with 58 seconds left in the game, the 49ers faced a third down and three on the Cowboy’s six yard line. Joe Montana took the snap from center and rolled to his right looking for his primary receiver, Freddie Solomon. Solomon slipped while running his route, forcing Montana to scramble to elude the rush of three oncoming Cowboys, including 6’8” Ed “Too Tall” Jones. A split second before being forced out of bounds, Montana lofted a pass to the deep right corner of the endzone, where Clark leaped above defender Emerson Walls to catch the ball with his fingertips and send the 49ers to the Super Bowl, where they would win their first of five Super Bowls over a thirteen year period. What many people forget about “The Catch” is that it was preceded by a dramatic thirteen play drive that began for the 49ers on their own 11 yard line with 4:54 left in the game. “The Drive” included four Montana pass completions, four runs totaling thirty yards by Lenvil Elliot, and an end-around run by Solomon good for fourteen yards. Just as we remember “The Catch” as being the play that defined the end of the Cowboy’s reign and beginning of the 49ers dynasty, I suspect that historians will attribute the end of this pandemic to a vaccine or drug. However, when we eventually get to the other end of this virus infested tunnel, we should record for posterity that we would not have survived this disease without the people who sheltered in place, the engineers who kept the lights on and sewage flowing, the essential workers who kept us fed, and the many members of the healthcare team who left their homes and families to tend to the sick. They, we, are the unsung Lenvil Elliots and Freddie Solomons, without whom there would be no civilization left for a vaccine or drug to save.
We all love miracles. The curing of leukemia, the birth of a healthy baby after prolonged infertility, the ending of a pandemic. In sports, one of my favorite miracles was “The Catch,” Dwight Clark’s leaping touchdown reception of a Joe Montana pass in the 1981 season’s National Football Conference championship game between the perennial powerhouse Dallas Cowboys and the upstart San Francisco 49ers. Trailing 27-21 with 58 seconds left in the game, the 49ers faced a third down and three on the Cowboy’s six yard line. Joe Montana took the snap from center and rolled to his right looking for his primary receiver, Freddie Solomon. Solomon slipped while running his route, forcing Montana to scramble to elude the rush of three oncoming Cowboys, including 6’8” Ed “Too Tall” Jones. A split second before being forced out of bounds, Montana lofted a pass to the deep right corner of the endzone, where Clark leaped above defender Emerson Walls to catch the ball with his fingertips and send the 49ers to the Super Bowl, where they would win their first of five Super Bowls over a thirteen year period. What many people forget about “The Catch” is that it was preceded by a dramatic thirteen play drive that began for the 49ers on their own 11 yard line with 4:54 left in the game. “The Drive” included four Montana pass completions, four runs totaling thirty yards by Lenvil Elliot, and an end-around run by Solomon good for fourteen yards. Just as we remember “The Catch” as being the play that defined the end of the Cowboy’s reign and beginning of the 49ers dynasty, I suspect that historians will attribute the end of this pandemic to a vaccine or drug. However, when we eventually get to the other end of this virus infested tunnel, we should record for posterity that we would not have survived this disease without the people who sheltered in place, the engineers who kept the lights on and sewage flowing, the essential workers who kept us fed, and the many members of the healthcare team who left their homes and families to tend to the sick. They, we, are the unsung Lenvil Elliots and Freddie Solomons, without whom there would be no civilization left for a vaccine or drug to save.
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