{"id":5727,"date":"2015-11-23T14:12:00","date_gmt":"2015-11-23T22:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/here-are-the-2015-medal-of-freedom-winners-in-their-own-voices\/"},"modified":"2015-11-23T14:12:00","modified_gmt":"2015-11-23T22:12:00","slug":"here-are-the-2015-medal-of-freedom-winners-in-their-own-voices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/here-are-the-2015-medal-of-freedom-winners-in-their-own-voices\/","title":{"rendered":"Here Are The 2015 Medal Of Freedom Winners, In Their Own Voices"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Colin Dwyer<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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Jed Jacobsohn\/Kevin Winter\/Hulton Archive\/Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

On Tuesday, President Obama will be handing out the Presidential Medal of Freedom<\/a>, the highest civilian honor in the U.S. The list of winners this year brims with both household names and virtual unknowns \u2014 artists, athletes and activists of just about every stripe.<\/p>\n

With 17 winners, there are 17 personal histories, 17 highlight reels of accomplishments \u2014 and 17 stories of service worth recognizing. Inspiring, sure, but also quite a bit of homework for the average American looking to learn more about the honorees.<\/p>\n

So, NPR’s here to help. Click a name on the list below to find a brief introduction to the life and works that helped define a legacy \u2014 and more often than not, a conversation with the actual person. Because who better to tell you who these people are than the folks themselves?<\/p>\n

Medal Of Freedom Winners<\/h3>\n

Yogi Berra<\/a>
Bonnie Carroll<\/a>
Shirley Chisholm<\/a>
Emilio Estefan<\/a>
Gloria Estefan<\/a>
Billy Frank Jr.<\/a>
Lee Hamilton<\/a>
Katherine G. Johnson<\/a>
Willie Mays<\/a>
Barbara Mikulski<\/a>
Itzhak Perlman<\/a>
William Ruckelshaus<\/a>
Stephen Sondheim<\/a>
Steven Spielberg<\/a>
Barbra Streisand<\/a>
James Taylor<\/a>
Minoru Yasui<\/a><\/p>\n

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Yogi Berra<\/h3>\n
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Berra, that master of the bat and malapropisms, won 10 World Series championships \u2014 more than any other major league player \u2014 and spent four decades as a professional catcher, manager and coach. Born Lawrence Peter Berra, Yogi was also named league MVP three times in the course of his career. He died earlier this year<\/a> at the age of 90.<\/p>\n

He also was widely known for his twisty turns of phrase<\/a>, which managed to mine wisdom from apparent nonsense \u2014 stuff like “it ain’t over till it’s over,” and “when you come to a fork in the road, take it.” He was also quite the conversationalist on the diamond, apparently, which wasn’t always appreciated by batters such as Ted Williams.<\/p>\n

“Oh, he would get mad,” Berra told NPR’s Robert Siegel in 2003. “You know, I used to say, ‘Where you going tonight, Ted? What are you doing? When you going fishing?’ And he’d say, ‘Shut up … I’m up here to hit, not to talk about fishing or hunting.’ “<\/p>\n

Back to the list.<\/a><\/p>\n

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Yogi Berra On ‘All Things Considered’ (2003)<\/a><\/h3>\n

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