Celebrities are no stranger to adversity. Illness, prejudice and poverty are a few of the adversities people may face. Stories of triumph over adversity exist in all fields and walks of life from business leaders to athletes and average people who are not famous or wealthy.Michael Jordan is considered to be one of the greatest basketball players in history. However, this soon-to-be icon was cut
. from his high school team for someone taller. When he did find a spot on the team, he became a star. However, after a stellar senior season, he lost the North Carolina High School Player of the Year award to Buzz Peterson, a future teammate at the University of North Carolina. At UNC, Peterson was immediately inserted into the starting rotation, but Jordan was not. Coaches began to notice that whatever team Jordan played on in scrimmages, that team won every time. They made Jordan a starter, and he went on to hit the game-winning shot in the 1982 NCAA Tournament championship against Georgetown. Even in a legendary professional career that included six NBA titles, Jordan may be best remember for overcoming a case of the flu to score 38 points and lead his team to victory in Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals against Utah.Other famous athletes who suffered major setbacks include Jackie Robinson, who endured unrelenting racism as the first black player to play major league baseball, and cyclist Lance Armstrong, who battled testicular cancer while winning seven Tour de France titles. Major league pitcher Jim Abbott was born without a right hand and played in the majors for ten years.Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder both went blind at a young age before building legendary careers in the music industry. Famous violinist Itzhak Perlman is crippled after suffering from polio as a child. A severe auto accident left R&B singer Teddy Pendergrass paralyzed from the waist down for the final 28 years of his life.All of these celebrities and others exhibited perseverance and pride to overcome the setbacks that could have derailed their quest for success. More reference links: http://www.streetsmartdirect.com/overachievers.html http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_n4_v90/ai_18385456/