TupaTalk: Eric Liddell's life was no little matter

While working on the paper overnight on Tuesday night, I watched “Chariots of Fire.” Again.

Once again my mind absorbed the sports classic, based on a true story, a little closer than many that out there.

“Hoosiers,” which I mostly appreciate, is pretty far afield from the incident it depicts — an Indiana state championship season by a tiny high school back when all school sizes competed in the same tourney.

Among the anomalies from real life — in real life the coach was only 26 years old and of a calm demeanor, the high school was already a state power, and a returning state semifinalist, going into the magic season, the town drunk was not the assistant coach, the coach was married with two children, and so on.

But, the thrill of winning the championship seemed to reflect real life.

Interestingly, Bobby Plump — the real life star of the Milan Miracle, on which "Hoosiers” character Jimmy Chitwood was based — moved after college to Bartlesville and played multiple seasons with the Bartlesville Phillips 66ers.

There are some major discrepancies in other sports movies with what really happened.

But, “Chariots” is one of more valid.

The plot’s period of time covers from about 1920 through the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris.

Two Olympic hopefuls take center stage — an English Jewish student named Harold Abrahams and a Scottish preacher named Eric Liddell.

Each of them are sprinters training for the ’24 Olympics.

Abrahams is motivated to bring honor to the English Jewish population and to tear down barriers he believes exists. Liddell believes God gave him his speed potential in order to bring glory to Christianity by providing their is such a thing as a “muscular Christian.”

The story parallels their preparation for the Olympics and parallels the challenges and motivations that drive them.

They run head-to-head one time during that period.

Finally, the United Kingdom names both of them, and some of their friends in the story, to the Olympics.

But, there’s real angst when Liddell refuses to run the 100m in the Olympics because the first heat is held on a Sunday.

So, he refuses on moral principles to run in that heat, despite pressure from English Olympic officials.

His stance became known publicly, but Liddell refused to yield.

Remember, this was a true story and stuff of high drama in real life.

But, a solution is found when he is moved to a different event.

Even though the movie didn’t show it, he and Abrahams would race in the same field in the 200-meter finals.

Liddell would win two Olympic medals.

At the end of the movie, there’s a note that Liddell, known as the Flying Scotsman, spent the rest of his life as a missionary in China, although he returned home for a few visits.

After the Japanese had invaded China, Liddell eventually was sent to an internment camp.

It was said of him he served his fellow prisoners to exhaustion and did everything he could to ease their sufferings.

One of his former fellow camp companions, Norman Cliff, wrote late that Liddell was “the finest Christian gentleman it has been my pleasure to meet. … I never heard him say a bad word about anybody.”

Liddell died in 1945 of a brain tumor, likely hastened by the living conditions he experienced, including overwork in helping his fellow camp mates.

I appreciate some of the quotes he left behind:

“In the dust of defeat as well as the laurels of victory there is a glory to be found if one has done his best.”

“God made me fast. And when I run, I feel his pleasure.”

“The secret of my success over the 400m is that I run the first 200m as fast as I can. Then, for the second 200m, with God’s help I run faster.”

“And where does the power come from to see the race to its end? From within.”

“It has been a wonderful experience to compete in the Olympic Games and to bring home a gold medal. But since I have been a young lad, I have had my eyes on a different prize. You see, each one of us is in a greater race than any I have run in Paris, and this race ends when God gives out the medals.”

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Tupa: 'Chariots of Fire' subject Liddell's life was no little matter