WARSAW. John Williams, ninety-two-year-old laureate conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, has composed some of the most memorable pop-orchestral music of our time, including the themes for
Star Wars
,
Superman,
E.T., Jaws, Jurassic Park,
and
Indiana Jones.
In 1996, when NBC commissioned Williams to write a one-movement piece for the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, held in Atlanta, Williams called it “
Summon the Heroes
.” Listening to it today brings to my mind Olympic heroes from over half a century: multitalented Rafer Johnson, elegant Peggy Fleming, Billy Mills of the Oglala Sioux, the “Miracle on Ice” U.S. hockey team of 1980, Kobe Bryant and the 2008 “Redeem Team” of NBA stars putting their egos aside for coach Mike Krzyzewski, the incomparable Katie Ledecky.