at attack. She lost an eye to some flying glass and was in the hospital for months. She never really recovered, as she is still traumatized by the events of that day, but she is the only victim still alive 51 years later.
3 Donald “Nick” Clifford
The Last Living Sculptor Of Mount Rushmore
Drilling rock hundreds of feet up on the side of a cliff face is exciting work, especially when it’s a historic monument like the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in Keystone, South Dakota. It is also exceedingly dangerous work. Amazingly, no workers were killed during the years of drilling and blasting needed to create the monument. That fact is not lost on the last living man to drill and chisel the faces of four great American presidents into a mountain. Donald “Nick” Clifford has the distinction of being the last surviving person who actually worked on the sculpture. The story of how he got the job is almost as fascinating as the work he and the others did to create such a magnificent work of art.
Clifford had been hassling the sculptor of the monument, Gutzon Borglum, for a job since he was 15 years old. He finally got his chance at the age of 17 because of baseball. In 1938, Borglum’s son decided he wanted to form a baseball team for his workers. Knowing that Clifford was an excellent pitcher and infielder, he got added as a ringer to the team, which was called the Mount Rushmore Memorial Drillers. He then badgered his teammates until they finally got him a job.
At first, Clifford worked cutting logs and cranking winches to raise and lower cables at the rate of $0.50 per hour. He was eventually promoted to driller and given a raise of $1 per day. He worked three years on the project. Now, he autographs his own book, Mount Rushmore Q&A, at the Mount Rushmore gift shop and answers any and all questions about the making of the memorial. After all, he is the last one who can.
2 Alcides Ghiggia
The Last Living Winner Of The 1950 World Cup
In the world of professional football, Pele is probably the most well-known South American football player of all time. But there is one lesser known football legend from South America who is also the sole living member of his team—a team that pulled off one of the greatest upsets in football history.
It was the 1950 World Cup, played in host country Brazil. In the final game the home team faced an opponent from next door, the small country of Uruguay. There were 200,000 fans inside the world’s largest football stadium that was built just for the World Cup, rooting for Brazil. It seemed impossible for Uruguay to upset the home team.
Brazil only needed a tie against Uruguay to win the Cup and only an upset win could give it to Uruguay. Everyone was so sure of a Brazilian victory that local newspapers had already printed an announcement of the win the morning before the match. Uruguay’s coach bought every copy in their hotel’s newsstand and brought it back to the room for his team to pee on.
Brazil led much of the game 1–0 until Uruguay’s Juan Schiaffino scored to tie it at 1–1. Still, a tie was all Brazil needed—they just had to hang on. With only 11 minutes remaining, Uruguayan Alcides Ghiggia scored, winning the game at 2–1.
The massive crowd was stunned into silenced. Uruguay won the game and the Cup. The loss became not only part of Brazilian history, but also of the Brazilian psyche. It was and still remains known to this day as the Maracanaco, meaning “shock.” A noted Brazilian commented that every country has its own national catastrophe, and for Brazil, it was the loss to Uruguay in 1950.
The hero of that game, a legend in world soccer and especially in his home country of Uruguay, is the only survivor of that historic team. In 2013, still very much part of world soccer, Ghiggia was honored to be one of those at the final selection process of the 2014 World Cup match, which will also be played in Brazil. Ghiggia plans on being there—to root for Uruguay, of course. In 2014, Ghiggia will be one of only two people (the other being the president of Uruguay) who will be allowed to touch the coveted 