The legendary evangelist was number seven on the Gallup Poll's list of admired people of the 20th century. He is a recipient of both the Congressional Gold Medal as well as the Presidential Medal of Freedom.........Back in 1978, I was in school and this kid next to me was reading Star Magazine. A substitute teacher came up and asked him what was doing in the paper, and the student replied: "Well, Billy Graham predicts that he will die within 10 years and go up to Heaven and be with God" [True]. To which the sub replied, shocked. "Superstar Billy Graham says he's going to die in 10 years?" Well, 20 years past that deadline, both the good reverend (who has suffered from Parkinson's Disease, fluid on the brain, pneumonia, broken hips, prostate cancer, and intestinal bleeding) and the "Superstar" (now 64, and who's body has been ravaged by years of steroid abuse, has been through two hip replacements, bowel obstruction and a liver transplant) are both still with us.
Speaking of Superstar Billy Graham, the similarities in name is no coincidence.Born Eldridge Wayne Colman, he entered the wrestling business as the "brother" of Dr. Jerry Graham. So the last name was set. As for the first name, it is indeed an homage to the preacher, who was a hero to the young man. The nickname, following along those same religious tones, was from "Jesus Christ Superstar".
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Oral Roberts
Besides his above-mentioned colleague, the faith healing Oral Roberts may be the best known evangelist in the second half of the 20th century. However, his and Rev. Graham's style and reputation could not be any more different, stemming from the fact that Graham is a Southern Baptist and Roberts Pentecostal.
In 1977 he claimed to have a vision from a 900-foot-tall Jesus who told him to build City of Faith Medical and Research Center and the hospital would be a success. The City of Faith was in operation for only eight years before closing in late 1989.
In 1983 Roberts said Jesus had appeared to him in person and commissioned him to find a cure for cancer.
Like Billy Graham, Rev. Roberts also his impending demise, albeit in a slightly more dramatic fashion. 1987, during a fundraising drive, he announced to a television audience that unless he raised $8 million by that March, God would "call him home". He raised $9.1 million. Vice President George HW Bush announced the formation of a new group called "LORD": Let Oral Roberts Die.
Later that year, he announced that God had raised the dead through his ministry.
Roberts' daughter, Rebecca Nash, died in a plane crash on February 11, 1977, with her husband, businessman Marshall Nash. Roberts' eldest son, Ronald, committed suicide in June 1982 at the age of 37 five months after receiving a court order to get counseling at a drug treatment center.
But here's my favorite Oral Roberts story: From the late 1980's to 1992, he maintained a residence in the exclusive St. Andrews Country Club in Boca Raton, Florida. He would commute via private jet from his base in Oklahoma to Boca Raton airport for weekend visits to his golf club retreat. Most of the other residents of St. Andrews were Jewish, and since Roberts was identified by his first name of Granville when he was visiting Florida his presence went mostly unrecognized.
In 1977 he claimed to have a vision from a 900-foot-tall Jesus who told him to build City of Faith Medical and Research Center and the hospital would be a success. The City of Faith was in operation for only eight years before closing in late 1989.
In 1983 Roberts said Jesus had appeared to him in person and commissioned him to find a cure for cancer.
Like Billy Graham, Rev. Roberts also his impending demise, albeit in a slightly more dramatic fashion. 1987, during a fundraising drive, he announced to a television audience that unless he raised $8 million by that March, God would "call him home". He raised $9.1 million. Vice President George HW Bush announced the formation of a new group called "LORD": Let Oral Roberts Die.
Later that year, he announced that God had raised the dead through his ministry.
Roberts' daughter, Rebecca Nash, died in a plane crash on February 11, 1977, with her husband, businessman Marshall Nash. Roberts' eldest son, Ronald, committed suicide in June 1982 at the age of 37 five months after receiving a court order to get counseling at a drug treatment center.
But here's my favorite Oral Roberts story: From the late 1980's to 1992, he maintained a residence in the exclusive St. Andrews Country Club in Boca Raton, Florida. He would commute via private jet from his base in Oklahoma to Boca Raton airport for weekend visits to his golf club retreat. Most of the other residents of St. Andrews were Jewish, and since Roberts was identified by his first name of Granville when he was visiting Florida his presence went mostly unrecognized.
Friday, February 15, 2008
John Forsythe
Born John Lincoln Freund in Penns Grove, New Jersey to a factory worker, he was raised in Brooklyn. In 1936 at age 18, he became the announcer at the Dodgers' Ebbets Field. Best known as Blake Carrington on "Dynasty". And of course as the voice of the unseen Charlie Townsend on "Charlie's Angels" TV series, he also revived the role in the two more recent movies.
Betty Ford
Founder of the legendary eponymous Center for substance abuse in Rancho Mirage, California. Her openness in discussing her breast cancer and subsequent mastectomy greatly raised the visibility of a disease that Americans had previously been reluctant to talk about.
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