While 1980 US Olympic hockey team coach Herb Brooks was incredibly hard on that team mentally and physically, at the same time he let them call him Herb instead of coach and had no curfew at any time. His leadership was rather fascinating to watch as he orchestrated the greatest sports moment in U.S. history. During their 7 month training going into February of 1980, he would sometimes send some of the players down to the minors. One day he called the feisty Mark Wells to the rink for a meeting. Of Chippewa ancestry and hailing from Harrison Township in southeastern Michigan, Wells was just 58 and 175 and had always had to prove himself. High School. Bowling Green. Everywhere. Im going to send you down, Herb told him, and I dont think youll make it back up. I dont think youll make the team. Wells started seething. He literally started shaking. His Dad had always told him to never let anything stop his dream, and ever since he had watched Mark Spitz win 7 golds at the Munich Games in 1972 he was determined to make the Olympics one day. A darn good player at Bowling Green University, he knew he was good enough to make that team. Wells started slowly skating around Herb. I know the mind games you play, Herb, and they wont work with me. I am going to make this team. You can send me down, but I will be back by February. And then he leaned down and spat on Herbs skates. Herb did nothing about that, because he loved that kind of fire within, but he did send him down, and did bring him back up as the 20th and final man on that roster. His job was to harass the opposing players on ice, especially the Soviets, and he did that job well. Wells was so proud of being on that team that he slept with his gold medal for years afterwards. Life hasn’t been easy for Wells since. A degenerative illness left him bedridden for decades. He had five back surgeries, the first taking 11 hours and had to get around with a walker. He built up hundreds of thousands in medical bills. It got so bad he had to do the unthinkable and sell his gold medal. To this day he cannot talk about it without losing control of his emotions. He said it killed him to do it but he was about to lose his home and had massive medical bill debt. Wells is doing better these days. He can get around. Just this past March, he was surprised as a rink at the St. Clair Shores Civic Arena was dedicated to him. This is what he told the audience: “My personal story was about probably one of the biggest underdogs — youngest, smallest players that ever came out to play hockey. I was never given a scholarship in college (Bowling Green State University). I was a walk-on. I take people and say, ‘Why do you say, “I can’t”?’ I can reverse that — it’s called sacrifice. It’s called dedication. “To do it your whole life is the biggest challenge of all. I represent more than just the challenges of life. I’ve been successful. I got one of the greatest moments in sports. It’s about a human story of a young boy coming out of St. Clair Shores that wanted to be the best he could be.”
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 23:50:48 +0000
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