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Walter Rakowich

Dear Friend,

My recent interview with Rocky Bleier on Off the Rak revealed two major themes in his amazing life, and I found our conversation a great reminder that neither of these factors should ever overshadow the other.

First, there’s the hard work, humility and grit that helped Rocky go from a marginal professional football prospect and wounded Vietnam veteran to a four-time Super Bowl champion. His persistence in the face of extreme adversities should inspire us to rise to the challenges in our lives.

Second, and perhaps less obvious, there’s the role other people played by encouraging and supporting him along the way. Rocky did his part, but he didn’t do it alone.

Rocky’s high school team in Appleton, Wisc., never lost a game, and he was a star running back for Notre Dame. They won a national championship during his junior year, and he was a team captain as a senior.

The Pittsburgh Steelers made him a late-round draft choice in 1968, but he played sparingly as a rookie, was drafted into the army, and left football for the war in Vietnam. When the enemy ambushed his platoon on Aug. 20, 1969, Rocky took a bullet in his left thigh and shrapnel from a grenade in his lower right leg.

“My first reaction was, ‘Well, I didn’t lose an arm. I didn’t lose a leg. And I have been injured before,’” Rocky told me.

But his optimism took hit in a hospital in Tokyo when he asked his doctor what he thought about the possibilities of him playing again in the NFL.

“Well, don’t worry about it,” the doctor told him. “You’re going to have a normal life. You’re going to be able to do the things that normal people do. Just don’t expect to get back on the gridiron. You just won’t have the strength or the flexibility to do the things that are necessary to be a running back in the NFL.”

That prediction “sucked the hope right out” of Rocky, he said, and for the first time in his life he considered giving up football.

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Thanks for reading,
Walter Rakowich

Speaking of persistence...
Poland's Paralympic athlete Łukasz Mamczarz made a high jump at Paris 2024 that's gone viral, being hailed as inspirational. The 36-year-old completed the run and 1.77m jump without wearing a prosthetic. Watch here.
What to do when it seems like there’s nothing to do?
An excerpt from Rethinking Empathy: How to Share Support When You Don’t Share Another’s Experience, a bonus chapter to Transfluence. Read here.
Why the world is missing more empathetic leaders (and what to do about it).
Back in season one, bestselling author and speaker Anita Moorjani joined me to talk about empathy.
Download "Rethinking Empathy"
A Bonus Chapter to Transfluence
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