A couple of weeks ago I had the great fortune to spend the evening with a group of former players from my University of Central Missouri coaching days.
It was not a formal gathering, but rather a somewhat spur of the moment get-together organized by one of the players, essentially texting… “hey it has been a while… lets get together some evening this week”… and we did!
I cannot express how proud I am of this group of men. They were great players for us back in the day, and each one very successful in their chosen fields today. Most have families, and many have sons or daughters that are now participating in sports.
The thing that really struck me, and filled me with tearful, emotional pride later when I thought about it was this one thing…
They all still call me “Coach”
They have not played for me in 20 years.
For them, and for me, the title “Coach” is an honorific… a title showing respect.
I was proud to be their coach 20 years ago, and am proud that they still think of me as “Coach”
Then I started thinking about the people who I still bestow the honorific title “Coach” on…. some who I played for 40 years ago…. some who I never played for…
- Coach Merrell… Fred Merrell at Blue Springs High School
- Coach Noland… Terry Noland at the University of Central Missouri
- Coach Temples… Amy Jackson Broughton… at Truman High School
- Coach Hamilton… Larry Hamilton at William Jewell College
Respect…
Coach….
Who will still call you “Coach” twenty years from now?
Who do you still bestow that honorific on today?
Ours is an awesome job, with awesome responsibility.
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Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com