Witness: Let me be brave in the attempt

By Brian Peterson, Star Tribune

Last update: August 17, 2004 - 11:00 PM

Brian Peterson
Star Tribune
Published August 18, 2004

Slide show: Brave attempt

On a cool summer evening in August, a group of special athletes took the field at Aronson Park in Lakeville to defend their title as champions of the Dakota County Softball League. The RAVE (Rosemount, Apple Valley, Eagan) Ravens stood at attention for the national anthem. Across the field they could see that their opponents -- the Twins, a team from the Opal Group Homes -- were a much bigger and older team.

Twelve-year-old Joel Jacobson got the Ravens pumped up with cheers from the bench, but the Twins were too much for the Ravens, and by the fourth inning they were down 12-2. Joel stepped up to the plate in the fifth, and, true to the Special Olympics oath --"Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt" -- Joel smiled bravely. After a groundout, he walked back to the bench with his arm covering his face. After the last out and traditional shaking of hands, Joel's smile returned as he left with a silver medal.

More Witness photographs

Learning a life-long craft

Youth farm

Goodnight ritual

Finding peace in piercing

Taking a Hummer to the prom

Farm life is work the hard work

Saying goodbye tugs at the heart

Making time, becoming friends

Swimming Lake Superior

Neither sleet nor snow stops him on his bike

Five guys in a basement studio hang on to their musical dreams

Hockey's Holy Grail travels across the Iron Range

Margaret Smith works to preserve native health and culture

Alice Mae Thompson shares her life via e-mail

Nicholas Thomas Zwiener's baptism

More about Brian Peterson and his projects

Brian Peterson's biography page

Gallery: The work of Brian Peterson

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