Speaker 1: Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Megan Nolette.
Speaker 2: And I'm Patrick Woodwood. Spotlight uses a special English method
Speaker 2: of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no
Speaker 2: matter where in the world they live.
Speaker 1: Famous author f Scott Fitzgerald believed someone could only become
Speaker 1: successful in one area of their life. If the person
Speaker 1: was lucky enough to find success, nothing could ever compare
Speaker 1: to it. It would be their life's work. But Fitzgerald
Speaker 1: never met Mike Reid.
Speaker 2: On today's Spotlight, we look at a few people. They
Speaker 2: all achieved amazing success in two different areas of their lives.
Speaker 2: We also examine someone who overcame terrible pain to become
Speaker 2: the best at what he did.
Speaker 1: Mike Reid played American football in college for Penn State University.
Speaker 1: He played on the defensive line. His job was to
Speaker 1: stop the other team from moving the ball forward. He
Speaker 1: was very good at it. During his last year, the
Speaker 1: National Collegiate Athletic Association voted for him as the best
Speaker 1: defensive player in America. The National Football League's Cincinnati Bengals
Speaker 1: picked Reed to be a player. He was one of
Speaker 1: the best defensive players in the league for five years,
Speaker 1: but suddenly he quit.
Speaker 2: Reid was one of the best football players in the world,
Speaker 2: yet he stopped playing. His teammates and fans were shocked,
Speaker 2: but Reid wanted to do something else. He wanted to
Speaker 2: become a musician. He studied music in college. He played
Speaker 2: the piano, a large key instrument. It made a sound
Speaker 2: when the keys were pressed. He wanted to write songs.
Speaker 1: Many of his co which's friends and teammates thought Reid
Speaker 1: was making a mistake. It was very difficult to get
Speaker 1: into the National Football League. The chances of a person
Speaker 1: becoming successful in the music business were also low. But
Speaker 1: for the same person to do both, no one thought
Speaker 1: Reed could do it. However, Reid's father was supportive of
Speaker 1: his career change. Reid later said about his father.
Speaker 3: He was probably the most supportive person in my decision
Speaker 3: to leave football. He hated his job as a railroad worker.
Speaker 3: He could see that music was what I loved.
Speaker 2: Reid struggled at first. It took him years to meet
Speaker 2: the right people in the music business. He moved to Nashville, Tennessee,
Speaker 2: an important city for American music. He played small shows
Speaker 2: by himself to gain attention. He joined several songwriting groups. Finally,
Speaker 2: he became a songwriter for country music singer Ronnie Millsap.
Speaker 2: Millsap gained great success with some of Reed's songs. This
Speaker 2: led to more work for Reed. He would go on
Speaker 2: to write popular songs for other well known singers.
Speaker 1: Reid won a Grammy Award, the highest award in music.
Speaker 1: Performed as a pianist in many music groups. The Nashville
Speaker 1: Songwriters Hall of Fame gave him an award.
Speaker 2: But his greatest accomplishment was writing the music for the
Speaker 2: song I Can't Make You Love Me. Bonnie Rait sang
Speaker 2: the song. It became her most famous work. Alan Chamblin
Speaker 2: wrote the words for the song.
Speaker 4: Chamblin said, one day Reid said, come upstairs where his
Speaker 4: piano was. He sat down and started playing. It was
Speaker 4: some of the best music I had heard. I knew
Speaker 4: it was the best thing I had ever been a
Speaker 4: part of.
Speaker 1: Rolling Stone magazine picked the song I Can't Make You
Speaker 1: Love Me as one of the five hundred greatest songs
Speaker 1: ever written. Bonnie Rait recorded the song in just one try.
Speaker 1: Her singing was soft and sad, yet also strong and powerful.
Speaker 1: Many other singers have recorded the song since Rate made
Speaker 1: it famous. Critics called it one of the finest songs
Speaker 1: written during the second half of the twentieth century, and
Speaker 1: the music was beautifully written by Mike Reid, an X
Speaker 1: and fl Lineman.
Speaker 2: Second acts are not just for famous people. Steve Cobb
Speaker 2: was born and raised in the United States. He joined
Speaker 2: the US Army after he finished high school. After the Army,
Speaker 2: he went to college at George Mason University in Virginia.
Speaker 2: He worked for twelve years, mostly as a computer programmer,
Speaker 2: but it did not satisfy him. He spoke to Spotlight
Speaker 2: about his need to change.
Speaker 5: When I was almost forty years old, I decided I.
Speaker 1: Did not want to work every day on a computer.
Speaker 1: Cobb thought about his earlier jobs. The one he liked
Speaker 1: most was the military, but he was past the age
Speaker 1: limit for the military in America, so Cobb decided to
Speaker 1: become a police officer. He was by far the oldest
Speaker 1: in his class. However, Cob had no trouble keeping up.
Speaker 1: He finished first in his class in the physical fitness category.
Speaker 2: Steve Cobb worked for over twenty three years as a
Speaker 2: police officer. He investigated several different areas of crime, including
Speaker 2: stealing and murder. He finally stopped working as a police
Speaker 2: officer at the age of sixty three.
Speaker 1: Cobb was twice the age of his classmates in police school,
Speaker 1: but he did not let it stop him. Some people
Speaker 1: told him he was too old to be a police officer.
Speaker 1: They said he could not keep up with criminals half
Speaker 1: his age, but Cobb worked his way to being an
Speaker 1: important member of the force. Cob proved that middle age
Speaker 1: was not too late to change careers. He showed that
Speaker 1: experience and strength of character were important in achieving success.
Speaker 2: Of course, Forja Singh made Steve Cobb look like a
Speaker 2: young man. Singh was born in bios pinned in Julundu, Punjab,
Speaker 2: in nineteen eleven. He was more than twice Cobb's age
Speaker 2: when he decided to take up running. When Singh was
Speaker 2: eighty three, his fifth son, Cool Deep died. Sing was
Speaker 2: overcome with grief. He started to jog as a way
Speaker 2: of dealing with this loss.
Speaker 1: Six years later he became serious about long distance running.
Speaker 1: At the age of eighty nine, Singh completed the London Marathon.
Speaker 1: This race of forty two kilometers took him six hours
Speaker 1: and fifty four minutes to finish. It was a world
Speaker 1: record for his age.
Speaker 2: He has since run marathons in Toronto, New York and Mumbai.
Speaker 2: He became famous for his races at his age. Singh
Speaker 2: used his fame to raise money for several charities whenever
Speaker 2: he ran marathons. When he turned one hundred, he competed
Speaker 2: in the Ontario Masters Association for Just Singh Invitational Meat.
Speaker 2: This was a competition held in Toronto. He set eight
Speaker 2: world age group records in one day at the meet.
Speaker 2: No one of his age has even tried to beat
Speaker 2: three of these records.
Speaker 1: Sim run Jeet Singh wrote a biography called Foja Sing
Speaker 1: Keeps Going. Sing was a torch bearer at the London
Speaker 1: twenty twelve Olympics. He finally retired from running at one
Speaker 1: hundred and one years old.
Speaker 2: But he's still alive and well. He is an inspiration
Speaker 2: to everyone. He said.
Speaker 5: The secret to a long and healthy life is to
Speaker 5: be stress free, be grateful for everything you have, stay
Speaker 5: away from people who are negative, stay smiling, and keep running.
Speaker 1: What does success mean to you? Can a person start
Speaker 1: again after a failure. You can leave a comment on
Speaker 1: our website at www dot Spotlight English dot com. You
Speaker 1: can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and x.
Speaker 1: You can also get Spotlight episodes delivered directly to your
Speaker 1: Android or Apple device through our free official Spotlight English app.
Speaker 2: The writer of this episode was Peter Anderson. The producer
Speaker 2: was Mitcheo Osarki. The voices you heard were from the
Speaker 2: United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes were adapted
Speaker 2: for this episode and voiced by Spotlight. No AI or
Speaker 2: artificial intelligence was used in this episode. Spotlight episodes are written, voiced,
Speaker 2: and produced by real people for real people, no matter
Speaker 2: where in the world they live. This episode is called
Speaker 2: a Second Beginning.
Speaker 1: We hope you can join us again for the next
Speaker 1: Spotlight episode. Goodbye,