$1 million award presented to 4 'free spirits'
By Dana G. Williams
freedomforum.org
11.12.01
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| From left: Chuck Yeager, Erik Weihenmayer, Al Neuharth, Alice Randall, Wendy Woods at Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. |
WASHINGTON — The Freedom Forum presented four individuals with Al Neuharth Free Spirit Awards — totaling $1 million — for inspiring others with their free spirits.
The recipients:
- Donald Woods, a South African journalist who fought to end apartheid and died last August.
- Alice Randall, author of the novel, The Wind Done Gone.
- Erik Weihenmayer, the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, last May.
- Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager, the first human to fly faster than the speed of sound and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
"Free spirit is what makes all of our other freedoms work,” Neuharth, founder of The Freedom Forum and USA TODAY, said Nov. 9 at the Mayflower Hotel ceremony. “Your free spirit is the greatest insurance policy for the future of the United States and the world.”
Wendy Woods accepted the award on her husband’s behalf. She said that Donald Woods exhibited the characteristics of free spirit through his anti-apartheid crusade, even after he was banned his own country.
When the Nationalist government of South Africa told him he couldn’t do something, “he’d go do it,” Wendy Woods said.
Randall challenged the literary community with her book, The Wind Done Gone.
She said she wrote the book because she believed author Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind was a racist portrayal of African-Americans. She wrote a parody of the novel to speak out against stereotypes, she said.
"I wrote this book because it was the right thing to do,” Randall said. “Being a free spirit is having a vision that makes sense to you and [going] for it regardless of what other people think.”
Erik Weihenmayer started working on his vision when he was a teen-ager. At age 13, he went blind and couldn’t play basketball or baseball anymore, but still loved sports. He fueled his athletic passions through rock climbing, he said.
Besides his climb to the summit of Mount Everest, Weihenmayer also climbed Mount McKinley and Mount Kilimanjaro, often leading segments of the ascents.
Weihenmayer’s accomplishments have “opened the eyes of so many people to the fact that (physical) obstacles can be overcome” even for those living with disabilities, Neuharth said.
In order to achieve his goals and live up to his vision of success, Weihenmayer said he had to learn to cling to his vision despite “naysayers.”
“The world’s expectations often turn into its boundaries,” Weihenmayer said. “Take those expectations, throw them in the garbage and rise to your own potential.”
The fourth winner, Chuck Yeager, is a long-time free spirit, said Neuharth. He’s also the “fastest and feistiest guy on Earth.”
Yeager’s accomplishments as a combat pilot date back to World War II. His work as a test pilot of experimental aircraft helped the Americans break the sound barrier and trained military astronauts during the launch of the space program.
“Those that are successful do it on their own,” Yeager said.
The audience included participants in the Al Neuharth Student Journalism conference. About 80 student journalists from high schools in each state and 40 journalism advisers attended the four-day event. Participants were nominated by their local newspapers and attended seminars and classes on journalism ethics, war reporting and the First Amendment.
The awards and student journalism conference are supported by a $25 million endowment set up by The Freedom Forum to honor Neuharth after his retirement as a Freedom Forum trustee in 1999.
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