Opinion: Beamon's message more powerful with photo

Thank goodness for pictures, not the digital kind, but the hard copy, the kind you can hold onto, the kind you can put in front of your face or hold at arms length � if only for effect. The picture in this case was one of a 22-year-old Bob Beamon defying gravity longer than a human should be allowed to. It was the 1968 Olympics in the rarified Mexico City air. Beamon, the world�s best long jumper, cemented that fact and earned a gold medal by jumping 29 feet, 2� inches. Football fans, that Olympic record is about a banana shy of jumping a first down. And it has stood for 40 years. Mike Powell owns the world record of 29-4�, jumped at the 1991 World Championships � pressure packed, but not as much as the Olympics. Beamon stood in front of about 30 Sierra High School track and field athletes Thursday, telling his story. Beamon was giving back to his community, the track community. He was talking to youth the way somebody once talked with him. But today�s youth have heard the speech a thousand times. Eyes gloss over when some man old enough to be their grandfather is talking life lessons, about the bad choices and the right choices. �Should I stay in track and field?� Beamon said, explaining to young athletes the questions he�d ask. �Or should I go hang out in the streets where I used to hang out? �I had to make a very interesting move in life. When I talk about hanging out, I�m talking about I was hanging out in New York all day and all night.� Visiting friends who were the guests of honor at funerals helped Beamon change his outlook. �... I knew they were never going to be there again,� Beamon said. The athletes� eyes were respectful but their body language was saying, �All right, whatever.� To them Beamon was just some 61-year-old man telling them the same thing that every parent, teacher and coach has told them for years. They stood and listened because they were supposed to. This guy was an Olympic champion. He supposedly had a long jump or something. And Coach wanted them the listen, the principal did, too. So they did. Then came the picture. One of the track coaches showed a picture where Beamon looked like he was gliding, flying and wouldn�t come down. The loosely packed group came together like moths to a flame. �Oh my God!� was said several times. �Jesus! Look at that!� followed several times. No, a church service didn�t break out. But at that moment, the instant the young athletes saw that picture, Beamon may as well have been a track deity. That picture legitimized everything Beamon said. His talk about choices appeared to have new meaning. It was as if the athletes were hearing it for the first time. Body language changed. No more slouching. Heads were held high. Eyes were aimed at Beamon�s every lip movement. �He was 6 feet up,� Sierra junior Kelby Dias said. �That�s jumping over me. I was thinking about how hard he must�ve worked to jump that far. �He said many times that he had failed and lost many races but he just kept working on it. And now he�s had the Olympic record for 40 years.� To further drive in the point about how far Beamon�s jump was, the athletes lined up, shoulder to shoulder, from the long-jump board to end of the pit. It took 22 students � of all sizes � to equal Beamon�s distance. Athletes, standing along the fence watching, shook their heads. �Look at that,� came one voice. �He�s almost jumping out of the pit.� Beamon�s chat was over by that point. The athletes began walking off, getting ready for warm-ups. Some walked off holding up their hands, signifying 6 feet. Others walked to the football field and looked at 10 yards. At some point, many of those athletes will think seriously about Beamon�s words. But they�ll remember that picture, and it will carry something that means more than a thousand words. Inspiration.