Decades before Tiger Woods made an epic return to golfing prominence in 2019, Ben Hogan, another maestro of the game, launched an improbable comeback. Just 16 months after he was nearly killed in a head-on collision with a Greyhound bus that shattered both of his legs, Hogan returned to win the 1950 U.S. Open and five more majors over the next few years.

Boxer George Foreman left the sport in 1977 at the age of 28, having won the heavyweight title as a young fighter in his epic defeat of Joe Frazier. Ten years later, after becoming ordained as a minister, the chunkier 38-year-old Foreman returned to the ring, becoming the oldest heavyweight champion of all time at the age of 45 and more than two decades after his first title.

Tennis player Monica Seles, who won the French Open in 1990 at the age of 16 and eight Grand Slam singles titles before the age of 20, was at the peak of her game when a deranged fan stabbed her in the back with a 9-inch knife at a match in 1993. Seles spent nearly two years off the courts before returning courageously to win the Canadian Open in 1995 and the Australian Open in 1996.

Who is your favorite sports figure to enjoy a second act to their career?

Nelson Mandela spent nearly 27 years in prison, from 1963 until his release in 1989, much of that time in a 56-square-foot cell on Robben Island. Just a few years after his release, Mandela led his African National Party (ANC) to victory in South Africa’s first fully democratic elections, becoming the nation’s first Black president and ushering in the end of apartheid.

Winston Churchill was a master of the witty retort, but he also excelled at the art of political rebound. After resigning in disgrace as First Lord of the Admiralty for Great Britain during World War I, Churchill returned to the post — and government — in 1939, becoming a wartime prime minister in 1940 and enjoying an 83% approval rating after Germany’s defeat. But Churchill unexpectedly lost the election of 1945 and again in 1950, only to regain the PM’s office in 1951. “To improve is to change,” he observed. “To be perfect is to have changed often.”

The year 1969 was a tumultuous one for American society and culture. And it marked a huge turning point for the country’s “King.” That year, in a televised “Comeback Special,” Elvis Presley launched perhaps the biggest rebound in rock history — an effort to break with the hokey movie soundtrack singles that had characterized his music for years and make a new start by redefining himself as an artist and performing unforgettable new songs like “Suspicious Minds.”

After bravely coming out as gay in 1997, comedian Ellen DeGeneres lost her hit television show and had trouble getting work. But she rebounded in style in 2003 with her own hit talk show that would launch her to a new level of stardom and play a key role in advancing LGBTQ rights. Can Ellen mount another comeback after controversy surrounding her treatment of employees derailed the star a second time?

Sometimes you have to call your own shots. After being pigeonholed as a romantic comedy star, actor Matthew McConaughey stopped accepting such roles, launching a comeback in 2011 that would culminate in an Oscar for best actor for Dallas Buyers Club and his evolution into a prestige A-list star. Recently, the actor admitted that the catchy term the media came to attach to his resurgence —the McConaissance — was his idea.

Which celebrity would you like to see make a comeback in 2022?

Corporate turnarounds are often linked to personal ones. Take Steve Jobs. After being fired in 1985 by the company he founded, Jobs returned a decade later to help the beleaguered tech company launch its own comeback with new and revolutionary products like the iMac, iPod and eventually the iPhone. Apple recently became the first company to hit a $3 trillion valuation.

In 2011, when Netflix decided to separate its DVD and streaming subscriptions and raise its prices, the company’s stock tanked and it lost 800,000 subscribers. But after reversing course, starting with the hit original show House of Cards in 2013, Netflix became a content giant, totally transforming the entertainment industry and winning Emmys, Golden Globes and Oscars along the way.

Today the growing number of films and TV shows forming the Marvel Cinematic Universe has smashed box office records and changed the motion picture business. But not so long ago, in the 1990s, the comic book publisher was struggling, selling the rights to some of its biggest characters, like Spider-Man, to make money. But the company took a gamble to start its own movie studio, and in 2008 landed its first hit with Iron Man, starring Robert Downey Jr.

What business most surprised you by their reinvention or comeback?

While we can be inspired by the stories of great political, business and sports leaders or celebrities, it’s the everyday stories of heroes and sheroes that move us most. Do you have your own comeback story? Share it with us. We’ll be creating a newsletter dedicated to your experiences of overcoming and creating a second act to be proud of. And maybe you have some advice to accompany others on their journey. Ideas for staging comebacks and reinventions. Ideas for instilling hope wherever we may be on our journey. We can’t wait to hear more and be inspired by our OZY Community.

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We want to hear from you! What epic comeback most inspired you? We’d love to hear your thoughts on your own story of reinvention, second acts or comebacks. Write to us at: [email protected] and Take our Poll.