The account is told by a coach in a junior high school. He states: “Today was test day in climbing the rope. We climb from a standing start to a point 15 feet high. … “The school record for the event is 2.1 seconds. It has stood for three years. Today this record was broken. … “For three years Bobby Polacio, a 14 1/2-year-old ninth grade … boy, [trained and worked, consumed by his dream] of breaking this record. “In his first of three attempts, Bobby climbed the rope in 2.1 seconds, tying the record. On the second try the watch stopped at 2.0 seconds flat, a record! But as he descended the rope and the entire class gathered around to check the watch, I knew I must ask Bobby a question. There was a slight doubt in my mind whether or not the board at the 15 foot height had been touched. If he missed, it was so very, very close—not more than a fraction of an inch—and only Bobby knew this answer.

“As he walked toward me, expressionless, I said, ‘Bobby, did you touch?’ If he had said, ‘Yes,’ the record he had dreamed of since he was a skinny seventh-grader and had worked for almost daily would be his, and he knew I would trust his word. “With the class already cheering him for his performance, the slim, brown-skinned boy shook his head negatively. And in this simple gesture, I witnessed a moment of greatness. … “… And it was with effort through a tight throat that I told the class: ‘This boy has not set a record in the rope climb. No, he has set a much finer record for you and everyone to strive for. He has told the truth.’ “I turned to Bobby and said, ‘Bobby, I’m proud of you. You’ve just set a record many athletes never attain.

Now, in your last try I want you to jump a few inches higher on the takeoff.’ … “After the other boys had finished their next turns, and Bobby came up … for his try, a strange stillness came over the gymnasium. Fifty boys and one coach [watched] breathlessly [as] Bobby Polacio … climbed the rope in 1.9 seconds! A school record, a city record, and perhaps close to a national record for a junior high school boy. “When the bell rang and I walked away, I was thinking: ‘Bobby, … at 14 you are a better man than I. Thank you for climbing so very, very high today.’ ” All of us can climb high when we honor every form of truth.