I recently ran into a young man that I hadn’t seen in a very
long time. He came up to me at an event at The Clayton Center and for a moment,
I didn’t know who he was. When he spoke
his name, I knew immediately who he was.
He really hadn’t changed that much in the 20 or so years since I had
last seen him.
He was an outstanding athlete growing up, eventually being
on the track team in college. He has a
family, a career, and is a contributing member of society.
Way back then, he played on a travel basketball team that I
coached. He actually played on that team for several years.
When my kids were growing up, I coached pretty much
everything they played. I’ve written about that here before. Basketball, football, baseball, soccer,
softball.
I mentioned before that I had restarted the Blount Stars
travel basketball program that Charlie Finley and Tom Ware had operated many
years before. It was on one of those teams that this young man played.
But here’s the point of all this—he called his wife and son
over and introduced me. He said “this was my Coach growing up.” I’m not sure I deserved the title “Coach,”
but for a moment, I was proud that he saw me that way. It is an admirable profession.
I also recently received a letter from another young man
from that era. He had played both
basketball and football for teams that I coached or helped coach. He had
recently received his Ph.D. and wrote a meaningful (to me) letter about those
days.
Quoting from that letter:
“I wanted to write to you and let you know of the massive and positive
effect you had on my life and my career….in addition to learning how to compete
and win, you helped your players learn how to be young men.”
Wow! I had no idea.
That means more to me than any award I have ever received.
Most people don’t think of me as Coach, and my coaching
career was short, basically only while my own kids were growing up. I’m always Joe, or to a few, Dr. Black, but
those two episodes made some things very clear to me.
One, we have no idea what kind of impact that we are having
on others. You never know who is watching you, learning how to behave, how to
act, how to treat people.
Two, coaches (and teachers—more on that next week) have a
profound influence on our young people.
Coaches change lives. I’ve told the story here many times about Coach
Ratledge, my high school coach, and the influence he had on me.
Three, we have a responsibility to be good people, to be
good role models, to live a life of integrity, empathy, authenticity, and
accountability. Regardless of how
insignificant you might think your life is, somebody is watching and learning.
All they want is to grow up to be like you.
Behave accordingly, please. The world needs that.
