The Boy Who Had Real Courage

This is a true story about a boy who had real courage. His name is Glenn Cunningham. He was a well-known runner.

At seven Glenn was a healthy boy living in Kansas. His older brother, Floyd, wanted to be a great runner. Glenn wanted to be as good or better than Floyd.

Every morning, the two boys ran about three miles to school where they worked to earn a little money. Their job was to build the fires in the schoolhouse.

But one day, a terrible thing happened. The two boys were building the fire in the schoolhouse when suddenly the stove blew up. The next thing Glenn knew was that flames were licking all about him. He ran out of the building. Then he remembered that Floyd was inside. Back he ran into the fire. He must save his brother.

Glenn fought his way as far as he could. The flames raced across the floor. The smoke began to choke him. He shouted: "Floyd! Floyd! Floyd!" There was no answer. Glenn tried to cover his face with his coat. Suddenly he fainted.

He woke up in bed in his own home. His legs were in bandages. He tried to move. And the terrible pain made him cry out. Then he remembered Floyd and tried to get up. "Where is Floyd?" He asked in a weak voice. Then the doctor told him that people had come too late to save his brother. Floyd had died in the fire.

For weeks Glenn lay helpless. His legs were badly burnt. The doctors said that he might never walk again. As for running, there was no hope. He lay in his bed and cried.

At last the doctors took the bandages off. Glenn's parents helped him out of bed and gave him crutches. He put his left foot on the floor. Then he tried to put his right foot down. But it wouldn't reach the floor. To keep from falling, he had to use his crutches. In this way he learned to walk again.

When he went outside, the children gathered around him. Glenn bit his lips and fought back the tears. Then he said, "I could run before, and I shall still be able to run." "You fellows just wait and see if I can’t."

Glenn couldn't keep his promise for a long time. He was almost eleven before he could walk without crutches. To make his legs stronger, Glenn rubbed them every night and morning. His father and mother rubbed them first. When they got tired, he did it. How it hurt to walk at first. But Glenn believed that he would be able to run. He tried to run and tried to forget the pain.

Time passed. The hard work that Glenn did on his father’s farm helped to make his legs strong. At fourteen, he could run from one part of the farm to another.

When he was a high school student, he tried to become a sprinter. A sprinter is one who runs at top speed for a short distance. After a time, he found that he could beat most of the runners in the races.

At last he ran in the mile race. To everybody's surprise and his own, he set a record. He ran a mile in 4 minutes and 30 seconds. At that time, he was still in high school.

Several years later, in college, he set a world record for the mile — 4 minutes, 6 seconds. True courage had made him a great runner.