Ed Beckcom Talks about Mark O. Haroldsen
Ed came from Fort Worth Texas to celebrate my birthday and our friendship. You’ll see a picture of Ed as a youth on page 15 of How to Ignite your Passion for Living. We were both in Ankara, Turkey. As teammates on their high school basketball game, won the 1961 High School Mediterranean Championship game in Rome, Italy.
Ed told me about his memories of those times – including that I never told him about the inspiration behind wanting to win a championship game. That inspiration of course was when my brother died instantly on the basketball court, leaving me as the oldest child at age 15.
The championship game was my way to honor my brother and the way his death forever changed my sense of life. I realized then the value that life holds and the limited time we each have to live it. I talk about this in my book.
“Mark is a man of character – a really nice guy with a big heart. He would never intentionally mess anyone over and he’s helped a lot of people out.â€
But for 50 years Ed said he’s had a recurring dream of a moment on the court that has haunted him ever since. They were practicing and they didn’t have a track so they ran around the gym. “Mark told me and Richard not to cut the corners. But I caught Mark cutting the corner one time – and that traumatized me ever since (he said, laughing).”
In the championship game they were down by one point with just seconds left in the game. They stole the ball and Richard ran down the court. He passed it to Richard, he trips and while he is falling he throws the ball to the basket. The ball went in. They won the game!
We eventually went their separate ways and lost contact with each other. How did Ed find me after all of this time? It was about 20 years ago – and all of us had lost contact with each other. Then one day Ed opened a magazine in a doctor’s office and he saw me in an advertisement.
There I was sitting in a nice car and the ad talked about one of my seminars. Ed decided to go to one of the seminars. I looked up Richard and the three of us met at a restaurant in Fort Worth. This reignited a friendship that continues today.
– Mark O. Haroldsen
I have to admit that I have not read your book I came to this website as a suggestion but I was happy to see this posting in as I looked around because I do know Ed Beckcom, he was my commander at Western Hills High School in the Air Force JROTC. I learned alot from him.