What do William H. Gates III (Former Chairman, Microsoft Corporation), Mae Carol Jemison (former NASA astronaut, and first African-American Woman in space), and Peter P. Buttigieg (United States Secretary of Transportation and former Mayor of South Bend, Indiana) all have in common? They were all named National Merit Scholars back in high school. In retrospect, one wonders if this award may have been "the thing" that set them each on a course for their future accomplishments - but was it THE THING to put them in the "gold zone?" for life, as offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett of the...