Foundation: June 2024

A friend of mine recently sent me an e-mail with an excerpt from a poem called "Alumnus

Football" by the great sports writer Grantland Rice. It was written in 1941. It tells of a college

football hero who goes into the world and finds a lot of difficulties. Remember, this was written

at the end of the Great Depression and at the Beginning of WW II. The theme is to keep

fighting, to keep on doing your best no matter how hard it gets. It asks us to have an “Uphill

Heart”.

Since starting the James and Genevieve Wilson Foundation my family and I have been blessed

to interact with several organizations and individuals who are tirelessly working to lift up those

with ASD. Most of them are organizations we didn’t know existed before we started our journey.

They are doing God’s work.

More importantly, we have met individuals with ASD who are trying with all their might to

improve their lot in life by expanding their education and engaging with the world in new ways.

Our admiration for their efforts is profound and we are joyful that we can play a small role in

helping them along the way. They exhibit that Uphill Heart daily.

Here’s the excerpt:

...And, kid, cut out this fancy stuff – go in there, low and hard;

Just keep your eye upon the ball and plug on, yard by yard,

And more than all, when you are thrown or tumbled with a crack,

Don’t sit there whining - hustle up and keep on coming back;

Keep coming back with all you’ve got, without an alibi,

If Competition trips you up or lands upon your eye,

Until at last above the din you hear this sentence spilled:

‘We might as well let this bird through before we all get killed.’

You’ll find the road is long and rough, with soft spots far apart,

Where only those can make the grade who have the Uphill Heart.

And when they stop you with a thud or halt you with a crack,

Let Courage call the signals as you keep on coming back.

Keep coming back, and though the world may romp across your spine,

Let every game’s end find you still upon the battling line;

For when the One Great Scorer comes to mark against your name,

He writes-not that you won or lost-but how you played the game.

 The "Uphill Heart."  A very good thing to have, no matter what you do, or how old you are.

Best,

Michael Wilson

President

The James and Genevieve Wilson Foundation