Misfit STRONG
Pioneers
MISFIT STRONG PIONEERS use their gifts to move the human race forward, silencing the naysayers, overcoming challenges and digging deep to make their ideas a reality and our world benefits.
Gertrude Ederle
In 1926, American swimmer Gertrude Ederle did what many thought was impossible, she became the first woman to swim the 21 miles across the treacherous waters of the English Channel. Her hearing, impaired since childhood, had grown steadily worse since her Channel swim. By 1945 Miss Ederle was completely deaf, but she focused her talents on teaching deaf children how to swim. #misfitpioneer #misfitstrong
Paino Inventor,
Bartolomeo Cristofori
Bartolomeo Cristofori, who celebrates his 360th birthday in 2015, is generally credited with being the sole inventor of the piano. The fact that his name is largely forgotten is a reflection of his times, when a genius could be just another employee.
Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born in Cairo, Georgia in 1919 to a family of sharecroppers. His mother, Mallie Robinson, single-handedly raised Jackie and her four other children. They were the only black family on their block, and the prejudice they encountered only strengthened their bond. From this humble beginning would grow the first baseball player to break Major League Baseball's color barrier that segregated the sport for more than 50 years.
Chris Haas
In 1994 Chris Haas was just nine years old when he invented a basketball that could teach players where to put their hands when shooting. He came up with the idea for his invention after watching his friends miss easy shots. The basketball has hands painted on it to show the correct position for a player’s hands for the best chance at success. He developed his idea for an Invention Convention competition that was held at his school. Even though he didn’t win, his teachers encouraged him to get a patent. Today, his invention is sold around the world.
ARTS & SPORTS
Bethany Hamilton
Bethany Hamilton had her arm bitten off by a shark.
Hamilton started surfing when she was just a child. At age 13, an almost-deadly shark attack resulted in her losing her left arm. She was back on her surfboard one month later, and two years after that, she won first place in the Explorer Women’s Division of the NSSA National Championships. Talk about determination. #misfitstrong
When 12-year-old Jason Lester was hit by a car and suffered, among many things, a paralyzed arm, he could never have dreamed that decades later, he’d be a world-class endurance sports champion. Today, he can swim faster, ride further and run incredible distances as an Ironman and Ultraman, and he does it all without the full use of his right arm. In 2009, he was named the ESPY award winner for "Best Male Athlete with a Disability" and the first male triathlete to win such an honor. In addition to numerous championships, he’s also the author of Running on Faith, the autobiography that chronicles his rise to fame and how his belief in God got him there. His relentless message is summed up well when he wrote, “If you don’t stop, you can’t be stopped.”
Jason Lester
Melissa Stockwell
She is a war veteran with the U.S. Army, Purple Heart recipient, paralympian, paratriathlete and an above the knee amputee. In 2004, Melissa Stockwell lost her leg when a roadside bomb exploded during a convoy. A diver in high school, she began to swim at Walter Reed Hospital as part of her physical therapy. Eventually, she trained to compete in the 2008 Paralympic Games for the U.S. team in which she became the record holder for the 100 meter butterfly and the 100 meter freestyle. She gained national attention when she became the face of the Hartford U.S. Paralympics Partnership ad campaign. “I can really do anything I want to do, missing leg or not,” she says.
