Richard Ruffalo - Master Motivator, Author, Educator, and Internationally Recognized Athlete

	*Richard Ruffalo* "A Higher Prize"
	Left: Rich competes for, and wins, Paralympic medals in discus and javelin.
While Rich is enthusiastic and energetic when he discusses his love for teaching and coaching, he goes into overdrive when he talks about the importance of spiritual things. I first became serious about God in 1984 when I asked Him into my heart. He took me by the hand and He's walked with me up the path for the last 12 years. I quickly learned that all the things I thought were hokey as a kid aren't like the Holy Spirit living inside you and doing miraculous things. Let me tell you, God has done some unbelievable things for me. He's taught me that if I replace humanism and narcissism with giving, and if I replace me, myself and I with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, wonderful things happen." Rich is quick to supply examples of the Lord at work. "God melted all my anger," he said, referring to his original response to blindness. "When I went blind, I asked why, and now I know. My blindness is my blessing and allows me to give God the glory. At the Paralympics in Seoul in 1988, 1 tore the tendons and strained the ligaments in one ankle. My ankle was black and blue, and swollen twice the size of the other. I was taking painkillers, but they didn't do anything. I remembered Philippians 4:13, " I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength ". Okay, God, I thought. Let me do this for You and through You because I'm not able by myself. The pain left," Rich grins, "and on my next try, I won the gold medal in the discus and broke the world record." God has fulfilled Rich's prayers in other ways. "Since I met Dianne after I went blind, I prayed that God would let me 'see' her and Sara. God has answered this prayer, and I know what my wife and daughter look like." Besides teaching, coaching and competing, Rich is a motivational speaker. His conversation is peppered with aphorisms and slogans such as, "There are no overachievers, only underestimators." He addresses groups as diverse as Belleville athletes and Amway conventions. I may do many public things, and I may have won numerous honors," Rich said, "but I don't want to call attention to myself I like to live by Matthew 23:12, 'He who humbles himself shall be exalted.' I want God to get the glory for all I've accomplished since I lost my sight." Rich strides around his classroom, using humor (what he calls "the music of the soul") and illustrations to bring biology alive. He draws on the blackboard and shakes the hands of those who have done well on their tests. He has an assistant who grades tests and does paperwork and a talking clock that keeps everyone on schedule, but Rich is clearly in charge. He is moved by being chosen as the "head of the class" by the Disney and McDonald's corporations. "I'm very humbled and honored to be chosen as spokesperson for a profession loaded with talented people," he said. "I love a quote of Thomas Jefferson's: A candle loses nothing of itself when lighting another.' As teachers and educators, we are the candles that light up the hearts of our future, embodied in our children. Could we ask to do anything better?".