Partnership Educators,
Lawerance was a gunner's mate assigned to the attack transport USS Bayfield. As a gunner's mate, Lawerance was responsible for the operation and maintenance of weapons and other ordnance equipment, as well as small arms and magazines. The ship's destination: Utah Beach, France, on D-Day, June 6, 1944. During the invasion, Lawerance manned a landing craft support vessel. He was wounded in the hand by incoming enemy fire and he was later awarded the Purple Heart Medal.
Before this event in his life, Lawerance was an 18-year-old baseball player who was signed to play for the New York Yankees in 1943. But he put all of that on hold to join the Navy and become a decorated war hero in his own right. But many of you will remember him for his play on the field during the forties, fifties, and sixties and then as a manager into the nineties. But most of you will remember him as a lovable person whose quotes are infamous. "When you come to a fork in the road, take it," or "It ain't over 'till it's over," or "You can observe a lot just by watching," or "90% of the game is half mental."
Here are a few stats to give you an idea of his baseball career. He played or coached in 22 World Series, 13 of which he was on the winning side. He holds the all-time record for shutouts caught - 172 and caught a perfect game in the 1956 World Series. He had a .285 lifetime batting average with 358 home runs and 1,430 runs batted in. Was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972 while still coaching.
While his accomplishments in baseball and the military during World War II were striking, it was his integrity and long-held principles that are well remembered. Of course, we are talking about Lawerance Peter "Yogi" Berra. President Obama posthumously awarded Yogi Berra the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his military service to our country and for his personal integrity on and off the field of play. This son of Italian immigrants reflected and espoused respect, wisdom, service, generosity, selflessness, and citizenship. While Yogi's role in the history of baseball is immeasurable, his ongoing legacy rests on his enormous contributions to us as a people. His integrity and personal Yogi-isms became a major contributor to the national wisdom and are cited more often than other more famous authors.
Your contributions to our district's wisdom and integrity are what make this place special for us all and for our families. Continue to live your ideals and character every day within the work that you do to honor our kid's future selves. I know there are young people out there using your isms as an example for life. You may never know it but it's true. To put it in the words of Yogi, you might feel like "We were overwhelming underdogs," but maybe "It's deja vu all over again."
Have a great weekend,
Rob