TERRE HAUTE —
By Howard Greninger
Tribune-Star
Always strive for possibilities, Olympic gold medalist Dr. Gregory C. Bell told an Ivy Tech audience Monday, referring to Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
“Who would have thought in 1865, when the Emancipation Proclamation was published, or even as late as 2005, that we could see a man of color sitting in the Oval Office without a broom and dust cloth,” Bell said Monday as keynote speaker at the 11th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast and Celebration at Ivy Tech Community College, south of Terre Haute.
“Ladies and gentlemen, dreams can come true,” he said.
Bell, 80, formerly of Terre Haute, said he “suffered the indignities that King suffered, probably not in the same concentrations,” as a black man from the 1940s to 1960s.
“I had to sit in the back of a bus. I was refused service in motels, hotels and restaurants. Even wearing the uniform of the United States Army … I had to sit in a group of five seats, relegated to us in what we referred to as a crow’s nest” at a movie theater,” Bell said.
“When I first heard the work that Dr. King was doing, I must confess that, in my inexperience and youth and my penchant for impatience, I wondered how could a man subject himself to such ridicule … and abuse,” Bell said.
He said he later realized that King was seeking change through passive resistance.
Bell read a few poems he had written about King, with one including a verse that states, “I wonder how a lowly man could ever think of such a plan to fight and win with passive force, against those who would change his course.”
Bell said people should dare to dream.
“Never believe that the limits of your present views are the limits of your possibilities. King didn’t think so. I didn’t think so and you shouldn’t,” he said.
Bell’s life is an example of turning obstacles into opportunities, winning the European Armed Forces championship in the long jump. That opened opportunities as he later won a gold medal in the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia.
He also won the 1956 and 1957 NCAA long jump championships and the Big Ten championship three times while at Indiana University, where he never lost a long jump event in three years of varsity competition.
Bell received his doctorate in dental surgery in 1961 from the Indiana University School of Dentistry and was a clinical instructor in the Crown and Bridge department of Howard University in Washington, D.C. for one year before returning to Terre Haute to operate a private dental practice for several years.
Currently, he is director of dental services at Logansport State Hospital, where he has worked for more than 40 years.
After his speech, Bell said he did not get any contact from King after taking the gold in the Olympic games in 1956.
“He (King) was far too busy with the fractions he was dealing with and I don’t know that contact with me would have been noteworthy enough in his grand scheme of things,” Bell said.
“I did what I did on a local level. My primary motivation was on the athletic field, which is fine as far as it goes. This man [King] completed high school at the age of 15 and got his bachelor’s in 1948, the same time I graduated from high school, and there is just a little less than two years difference in our age,” Bell said.
“The man was brilliant,” Bell said. “I simply take my hat off to him.”
“I give the credit to my success to athletics because it gave me the confidence to do what I needed to,” Bell said.
Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com.
Local & Bistate
Related Photos
-
Sing it: The Bethlehem Temple Church Choir performs at Ivy Tech Monday during the MLK event.
-
Keynote: Dr. Gregory C. Bell gives the keynote speech during Monday's MLK Day events at Ivy Tech.
Discussion
'Dreams can come true': Terre Haute Olympian shares his life in parallel to King’s
- Local & Bistate
-
-
‘Play the Game'
The secret to Bocce is to “bend your knees and throw,” said 82-year-old Eldon Watts as he rolled a ball across the grass Saturday morning during the 43rd annual Special Olympics Summer Games on the campus of Indiana State University.
-
Anti-Obama display draws attention of Secret Service
A Terre Haute truck driver is attracting attention with a controversial yard display he built depicting a smiling President Obama being crucified.
-
Venus taking trip across the sun
Talk about once in a lifetime! A transit of the planet Venus across the sun happens only four times every 243 years.
-
Help needed for Day of Action 2012
Volunteers are being sought to help the United Way complete community service projects at non-profit organizations throughout the Wabash Valley.
-
BJ RILEY: Making changes to better serve our readers
As you read through your newspaper this morning, I wanted to point out a few changes (some you may have already noticed) and to let you know about what we are doing here at the Tribune-Star to better serve you.
-
STATE OF THE STATEHOUSE: Voter turnout shows significant overs, unders
Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson released the final vote numbers for the May primary late last week and here’s one conclusion you could draw:
-
Vigo firefighters train for extrications
In a matter of minutes, as Rachel Cary, a volunteer firefighter for the Sugar Creek Fire Department, held the jaws of life, the hydraulic device easily pried open the front door on a crashed vehicle.
-
Missing IU student case hits 1-year mark
Today marks one year since Lauren Spierer, a student at Indiana University, was reported missing to the Bloomington Police Department.
-
Saturday afternoon crash kills Brazil teen, leaves another injured
A 17-year-old driver died Saturday afternoon and a 16-year-old passenger suffered severe head trauma in a one vehicle accident in Brazil.
-
Flags, prayers, salutes for fallen soldier
A white jet landed at 10:55 a.m. Thursday at the Terre Haute International Airport-Hulman Field bringing back to his home state the remains of fallen Indiana National Guard Spc. Arronn D. Fields.
-
Booker T. Washington High School Commencement
Every student at Booker T. Washington High School has faced, and overcome, obstacles.
On Friday, they celebrated a major achievement — graduation. -
McLean High School Commencement
Amber Quintane admits she didn’t have the greatest motivation or attitude when she began attending McLean High School her freshman year.
-
New city park, trailhead open Monday
Terre Haute will open its new Maple Avenue Nature Park and Historic Collett Park Pathway Trailhead at 500 Maple Ave. at 9:30 a.m. Monday.
-
No results turn positive from TB testing at school
No positive results came from 760 tuberculosis tests administered this week at Woodrow Wilson Middle School after a suspect case of TB was reported at the school, the Vigo County Health Department announced Friday.
-
2,600 ready to compete in Special Olympics
Athletes from all across the state gathered in Terre Haute Friday for the opening day of the 2012 Summer Games of the Indiana Special Olympics.
-
Taghleef Industries completes AET acquisition
Taghleef Industries, headquartered in Dubai, announced Friday it has closed on a transaction to acquire Applied Extrusion Technologies, which has a manufacturing plant in Vigo County.
-
Ministry offers free turkey today
Covenant Cooperative Ministry is holding a free food distribution to low-income families in Vigo County beginning at noon today at the ministry at 122 S. 10 1⁄2 St.
-
Maple Avenue Nature Park, Historic Collett Park Pathway Trailhead open Monday
The city of Terre Haute will open the Maple Avenue Nature Park and the Historic Collett Park Pathway Trailhead at 500 Maple Ave. at 9:30 a.m. Monday, June 4.
- Forecast for Vigo County: A little warmer this weekend
-
Covington mourning Marine’s Afghanistan death
Family friends say a 23-year-old Marine from western Indiana has been killed during military action in Afghanistan.
-
Out-of-state officer fatally hurt in Indianapolis
Police say a man believed to be an out-of-state law enforcement officer has died after being found injured near the downtown Indianapolis library.
-
Vigo County Jail Log: June 1, 2012
The following individuals were booked into the Vigo County Jail by area law enforcement on Thursday and Friday, based on jail records.
- Economy added 69K jobs in May, fewest in a year
-
The closing of Chauncey Rose
As she parks her car at Chauncey Rose Middle School, sixth-grade teacher Julia Foltz-Pelham asks two students to carry boxes to her classroom.
-
For long-time staff, school became part of their family
Custodian Ray Barrett knows every corner of Chauncey Rose Middle School.
He’s been on the roof, on ladders throughout the building, up and down the hallways for the past 30 years -- more than half of his life — working at the innercity school. It has become like his second home, and the staff and students like a second family.
-
City plans for soldier’s funeral route
Volunteers are needed Sunday to place U.S. flags along the funeral route for fallen Indiana National Guard Spc. Arronn Fields, killed May 21 while on patrol in Afghanistan.
-
Volunteers turn out to spruce up Y
A dozen volunteers wearing blue latex gloves were using lots of elbow grease Thursday night as they scrubbed the sides of the 25-foot swimming pool inside the new Vigo County YMCA.
-
Three peregrine chicks hatch on ISU highrise
Three peregrine falcon chicks were successfully banded Thursday atop a 15-story building that is part of Indiana State University’s Statesman Towers complex.
-
Vermillion County man arrested in domestic battery investigation
A Vermillion County man who police say attempted to force his way into a Terre Haute business Thursday morning has been arrested on a warrant stemming from an earlier Vigo County domestic battery investigation.
-
Volunteers needed for flag-planting to honor fallen soldier
Volunteers are needed Sunday to place American flags along the funeral route for Spc. Arronn Fields, a Knightsville native who was killed May 21 while on patrol in Afghanistan.
- More Local & Bistate Headlines
-
10 Killed in Cargo Plane Crash in Ghana's Capita
90 Guns Seized, Dozens Arrested in Oakland
Raw Video: Jubilee Crowds Cheer Royal Guardsmen
911 Callers Report Fight in Face-chewing Attack
After Stop at NYC Airport, Shuttle Goes to Sea
Today in History for June 2nd
Raw Video: Queen's Diamond Jubilee Celebration
What Now for John Edwards and Campaign Finance?
Police: Shots Fired at Toronto Mall, 1 Dead
Egypt's Mubarak Sentenced to Life in Prison
Raw Video: Mubarak's Sentence Triggers Protests
Authorities: Md. Man Says He Ate Heart of Victim
FEMA on Start of Hurricane Season: 'Get a Plan'
Fan: 'Embracing' Openly Gay Comic Hero
Witness Describes Fla. Face-chewing Attack
Leaders 'Impatient and Frustrated' Over Syria
Judge Revokes Zimmerman's Bond in Martin Killing
Obama: Economy Will Come Back Stronger
Anchorage Rated Least Stylish U.S. City
Ky. Man Catches Snapping Turtles, TV Audience
Mother Drives with Baby Strapped to Car Roof
Andy Samberg is Leaving SNL
Obama Pardons Fifth Grader Playing Hookie
Robin Thicke & Paula Patton's Seductive Chase
Stroke Video Helps Doctors Act Quickly
Kathryn Joosten Dies At 72
Wild Weekend Weather
George Zimmerman Ordered Back to Jail
Drew Barrymore Ties the Knot?
Runaway Stroller Caught By Hero Bystander
Russell Brand to Host MTV Awards
Olsen Twins Up for Designer Award
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 E3 Debut Trailer
Why haven\'t Ashton and Demi divorced? Were they ever married?
'My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding' Smackdown
Boxing Champ Mayweather Reports to Jail
