David Diaz Brings Underdog Story Home

My “Principal for a Day” experience held a very consistent theme. Olympic Boxer and former WBC Lightweight Champion David Diaz returned to his alma mater, Carl Von Linne School on Chicago’s north side, telling a Rocky like underdog story. During an assembly in his honor, a Chicago 2016 promotional video entitled “Surprises” was shown highlighting how Chicago as a city surpasses expectations. This video highlighted the many ways that this city has pleasantly surprised the world; just like Diaz has during his career. Listed very generously at 5’6” and 139 pounds, Diaz articulated in his speech how he’s been constantly told that he “was too small and too short to make it as a boxer.”

However, Diaz persevered, inspired by his favorite boxer Julio Cesar Chavez, and continued to defy the critics on his way up through the boxing circuit. A video displayed some of his career highlights before Diaz mentioned the fact that he lost his last bout decisively. His rousing words “It’s not about whether you get knocked down, it’s what you do when you get up off the matt,” struck a positive chord with the crowd in attendance. His morning at the same school from which he graduated in 1990 included signing autographs for students, catching up with some of his past teachers and taking questions from children that didn’t “pull any punches,” pun intended.

His day concluded with reading to a class of third-graders. The story was about Olympic Champion Billy Mills, the second Native American ever to win a gold medal. Mills won the 10,000 meter run in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics which made him the only American ever to win gold in this event. Most consider his victory in 1964 to be the greatest upset in Olympic history. Therefore, the story Diaz read reflected both his personal story and the message of the 2016 video shown during the assembly.

Do you have your own underdog story related to 2016 to tell? How about an uplifting, inspiring story about the city and its bid for the Olympics? If so, submit your video!