Dr. Melvin Pender Jr. is a bona fide American hero: An Olympic gold medalist (4x100 relay in the 1968 Mexico City Games at 31 years of age); a Bronze Star recipient with two tours of duty in Vietnam, retiring as a captain after having joined the Army at 17; a college graduate; a member of 11 halls of fame; a coach; an author and motivational speaker; a cancer survivor and a devout Christian. A list of remarkable achievements to which many of us would aspire but which few, if any of us, could ever equal, he has. But what makes Pender a real hero is the obstacles he had to overcome to attain that success.