Winners and losers

Hollie Dunaway greeted me with a big hug.
Hollie is all of five feet tall and 120 pounds.
Beside me she is petite - and beautiful.
My mug makes most women look beautiful.

Hollie may be tiny but she is fierce.
Hollie is a four-time world champion boxer.
She has won more than 30 boxing matches.
She was at Billy Stanick's gym helping him.
One of his boxers is preparing for a big bout.
We sat down to talk about her life story.

Hollie grew up on a farm in Arkansas.
No sports. Farm chores came first.
Few boys. First date when she was 18.
Then she met trainer Brian Jones.
He convinced her to enter the ring.
Two weeks later she lost her first boxing match.
“No one taught me to block punches,” she said.

Did that first loss discourage her? No way.
“It just made me hate losing,” she said.
Do you hate losing? Do you love winning?
They’re two sides of the same coin.
My questions for you this morning are:
• What did you do the last time you lost?
• Did you want to quit? To just give up?
• Did you decide you would do what it takes to win?

Life is a constant and unending struggle.
What’s important is how we handle it.
It’s a privilege to interview winners like Hollie Dunaway.
She so inspired me I drove 20 miles to our newspaper.
I sat down in an empty office and wrote about our interview.
I wanted to get it down while it was fresh in my mind.
If you want to read it, it will be on our web site Thursday.
Just go to www.LexingtonChronicle.com
Click on “Rockin’ on the Front Porch”