Jackie Joyner-Kersee was a dominant athlete who still holds many records in Track & Field.

Jackie wasn’t only dominant in Track but also a star basketball player in college at UCLA. Jackie started at forward all four years of eligibility on the hardwood and scored 1,167 points during her collegiate career, placing her 19th all-time for the Lady Bruins.

Track, however, was where she dominated. So much so that the annual award for the best American T&F female athlete is named for Jackie.

Jackie tells the fun story of falling in love with the long jump at an early age, yet struggling to find the right venue where she could practice. She and her sisters deviously filled empty potato chip bags with the sand they "borrowed" from a nearby park in East St. Louis. To maintain a promise to their mother to play in their front yard, Jackie and her sisters built a makeshift pit out of her dirty sand and began jumping.

“We didn’t have a track or have the best equipment. We ran on dirt in the park. But when you’re young, you don’t know any better,” she explains. “We focused on what we had. It’s not until you get exposed to things that you realize you need every fancy shoe. Whatever shoe I put on was the best for me.”

Jackie’s drive, determination and passion for her talent are wonderful inspirations that all sellers can use: the tools in your brain are what will get you where you want to be.