A Role Model – What Is It?

Role Models - So Many For The Wrong Reasons!

According to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, a role model is: "A person whose behavior, example, or success is or can be emulated by others, especially by younger people." They credit this definition to the Random House dictionary.

Over the years I have seen so many people put forward as role models. It seems this is solely because they have found some sort of success in sports or business or some celebrity in film or music. Most of these people have toppled when their career or celebrity has come crashing down due to one scandal or another. Their role model status crumbled right along with their reputation. And it served to show us their role model status was simply undeserved all along.

Every now and then a true and significant role model stands out from the crowd. In the following video, Keith Olbermann shares his take on one of the all time greats:

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Jerry Coleman: September 14, 1924 – January 5, 2014

Gerald Francis "Jerry" Coleman (September 14, 1924 – January 5, 2014). Jerry was a Major League Baseball (MLB) second baseman for the New York Yankees. He was manager of the San Diego Padres for one year. Jerry Coleman was the rookie of the year named by Associated Press in 1949. He was a 1950 All-Star Later that same year Coleman was named the World Series most valuable player. The Yankees teams on which he was a player appeared in six World Series during his career. Coleman was on a winning team four times. Coleman was a Marine Corps pilot serving in both WW II and the Korean War. He flew combat missions with the VMA-323 Death Rattlers in WWII and the VMSB-341 Torrid Turtles in Korea. Coleman later became a sports broadcaster. He was honored in 2005 with the Ford C. Frick Award presented by the National Baseball Hall of Fame for his contributions to sports broadcasting.