First person i have chosen is my personal favourite. 'Made in America' is the book that inspired me and i decided to take a plunge in the world of retailing. But it is still a dream. I don't know when my tryst with retailing will start. BTW This man changed the way Retailing business was done. Read on:

Sam Walton

Samuel Moore Walton (March 29, 1918 – April 6, 1992) was the founder of the giant American retailers Wal-Mart and Sam's Club.

Sam Walton was born to Thomas Gibson Walton and Nancy Lee Walton near Kingfisher, Oklahoma on March 29, 1918. There, he lived with his parents on their farm until 1923. Sam's father decided farming did not generate enough income on which to raise a family, so he decided to go back to a previous profession of a mortgage man. So he and his family (now with another son, James, born in 1921) moved from Oklahoma to Missouri. There they moved from one small town to another for several years. While attending 8th grade in Shelbina, Sam became the youngest Eagle Scout in the state's history. In adult life, Walton became a recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America.

Walton excelled physically in high school, playing basketball and football as starting quarterback for Columbia's Hickman High School in 1935, when they won the state title. While at Hickman, he also served as vice president of the student body his junior year and as president his senior year. He performed well enough academically to become an honors student 

Biswa_Prakash_SamWalton.pdf

Next person whom i have chosen is a man who has defied all logic and limit. He is a perfect example for grit and determination. He is Lance Armstrong. Read on:

Lance Armstrong

Lance Armstrong (born Lance Edward Gunderson on September 18, 1971 in Plano, Texas) is a retired American professional road racing cyclist. He is most famous for winning the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005, several years after brain and testicular surgery and extensive chemotherapy in 1996 to treat testicular cancer that had metastasized to his brain and lungs.

In 2002, Sports Illustrated magazine named him their Sportsman of the Year. He was also named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year for 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005, received ESPN's ESPY Award for Best Male Athlete in 2003, 2004, and 2005, and won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Overseas Personality Award in 2003. Armstrong retired from racing at the end of the 2005 Tour de France, but his success prompted some to nickname the event the "Tour de Lance."

His athletic success and his dramatic recovery from cancer inspired Armstrong to commemorate his accomplishments in conjunction with Nike through the Lance Armstrong Foundation, a charity founded in 1997.

Together with Nike he launched the high-end cycling clothing collection 10/2 referring to the day he was diagnosed with cancer.

He began his sporting career as a triathlete, competing in adult competitions from the age of 16. It soon became clear that his greatest talent was as a bicycle racer. At 17, he received an invitation to train with the Junior National Cycling Team. Plano Independent School District's school board said that the six-week leave to train taken during the second semester of his senior year would bar him from graduating. Armstrong withdrew from Plano East Senior High School with his mother's blessing and went to train with the team. He graduated from Bending Oaks Private Academy in Dallas the following spring. Armstrong still harbors resentment toward Plano because of this and prefers his adopted home of Austin, Texas.

Biswa_Prakash_LanceArmstrong.pdf