Kamp Olympik
(Cherry Hill, NJ)––Olympic gold medalist and author, Don Bragg, has told a golden story of youth empowerment in his latest book, Kamp Olympik, a captivating and heartwarming memoir about his summer camp in the New Jersey Pinelands. With a lot of hard work and love, Bragg and his family changed the hopes, aspirations, and mind‐sets of a generation of inner-city boys whom society often counted out. Mainly from Newark and Jersey City, New Jersey, and some from Philadelphia, the campers learned to aim higher and study harder, not only by Bragg, but famous men of distinction who were frequent Kamp Olympik guests. Among the celebrities were Jersey Joe Walcott, Mike Douglas, Larry James, and the “Champion”
Bragg, who won Olympic gold for the pole vault at the Rome, Italy, games in 1960, bought property in the southern New Jersey Pinelands and founded Kamp Olympik in 1967. A featured highlight of the camp was Tarzanville, a place noted for swinging on ropes hung from trees that became the proving ground for children to learn to dare to do the improbable, impractical, and even impossible with grace and ease. Not only does this tale share the determination of one man and his family to empower a generation for ten years, it shares the stories and adventures of young campers, staff, parents, and other visitors.
To hear Don talk about founding Kamp Olympik, why he picked the name, and what happened when Muhammad Ali visited, go to Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/
Kamp Olympik by Don Bragg; with Theresa Bragg, as told to Patricia Doherty is published by AHLP Books, an imprint of Africana Homestead Legacy Publishers Inc. and is available in two editions: hardcover with dust jacket, ISBN 978‐0‐9799537‐
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
