May
31- "Leadership is a potent
combination of strategy and character. But if you must be
without one, be without the strategy." General Norman
Schwartzkopf
SCENES FROM 2002 CLINICS- ATLANTA - CHICAGO - SOUTHERN CALIF - BALTIMORE - DURHAM - TWIN CITIES - PROVIDENCE - DETROIT - DENVER - SACRAMENTOCLINIC
LOCATION 2-16 HOUSTON
CYPRESS COMMUNITY CHRISTIAN SCHOOL
3-2 ATLANTA
CROWN PLAZA ATLANTA AIRPORT - 1325 Virginia Ave - 404-768-6660
3-9 CHICAGO
RICH CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL - OLYMPIA FIELDS, IL
3-23 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
ORANGE HIGH SCHOOL - 525 S. Schaffer St.., Orange
3-30 BALTIMORE
ARCHBISHOP CURLEY HS - Erdman Ave. & Sinclair Lane
4-6 RALEIGH-DURHAM
MILLENNIUM HOTEL - 2800 Campus Walk Ave., Durham 919-383-8575
4-13 TWIN CITIES
BENILDE-ST MARGARET'S HS - ST LOUIS PARK, MN
4-20 PROVIDENCE
COMFORT INN AIRPORT - 1940 Post Rd, Warwick RI 877-805-8997
4-27 DETROIT
DETROIT MARRIOTT ROMULUS- 30559 Flynn Rd., Romulus 734-729-7555
5-11 DENVER
QUALITY INN SOUTH - Hampden Ave @ I-25 Exit 201 - 303-758-2211
5-18 SACRAMENTO
HIGHLANDS HS -NORTH HIGHLANDS, CA
6-1 PORTLAND/VANCOUVER
PHOENIX INN - 12712 2nd Circle, Vancouver WA 360-891-9777
6-15 BUFFALO
FOUR POINTS BY SHERATON- BUFFALO AIRPORT - 2040 Walden Ave., Cheektowaga, NY (716) 681-2400
-
Big
Jim Tatum was head coach at Oklahoma, Maryland and North
Carolina. He won a national championship and was named
Coach of the Year. - A native of McColl, South Carolina, he played college football at North Carolina under the legendary Carl Snavely.
- After graduation from UNC, he went with Snavely as an assistant on his staff at Cornell, then returned to North Carolina as an assistant to Bear Wolf in 1939.
- When Wolf was called into the service in 1942, he succeeded Wolf as coach of the Tar Heels. His team went 5-2-2, but his brief tenure as head coach ended when he was called up, too.
- While serving in the Navy and helping to coach the Iowa pre-flight team, he worked on the staff of Don Faurot, head coach of Missouri in peacetime, and pioneer of what would be popularized as the split-T offense. At that time, it was called the "sliding T", after the QB's action of taking the snap and "sliding" his way along the the line of scrimmage, as opposed to the more common version, the "spinning T," in which the QB turned his back to the line of scrimmage for faking purposes.
- Another of Faurot's assistants was a young Minnesotan named Bud Wilkinson. Following the war, our man was named head coach at Oklahoma and took Wilkinson with him as an assistant; when he left Oklahoma for Maryland, Wilkinson succeeded him and built a program unmatched in the history of college football.
- Not that our guy did that badly. His 1951 team may be the best team in the history of college football not to win a national title. It averaged 325 yards per game rushing, and outscored opponents 39.6 points per game to 6.6 went 10-0. It went 10-0 and defeated number one-ranked Tennessee, 28-13 in the Sugar Bowl, holding star Tennessee single wing tailback Hank Lauricella to one yard rushing.
- Unfortunately, in those days, the national champion was determined by a poll taken before the bowl games, so the Terps had to be content with third place.
- The 1951 Maryland team had six All-Americans - Bob Ward, Jack Scarbath, brothers Ed (Big Mo) and Dick (Little Mo) Modzelewski, Stan Jones and Bernie Faloney. The coach and four of those players -- Scarbath, Ward, Dick Modzelewski and Jones -- are members of the College Football Hall of Fame. Five of the six players from Maryland in the Hall of Fame - Bob Pellegrini was the other - played for him. Other well-known players from that team were running back Chet "The Jet" Hanulak, who had a good NFL career with the Browns, and defensive back Dick Nolan, who would be a key member of the New York Giants' great defenses. In all, 31 players from that Maryland team were drafted by the NFL.
- In order to accept the Sugar Bowl berth against Tennessee, the Terps had defied a Southern Conference ban on bowl games, and when the conference put them on probation for 1952, Maryland's president Curly Byrd (former Maryland football coach from 1911-1934 and the man for whom Maryland's stadium is now named) got together with six other members of the Southern Conference and formed the Atlantic Coast Conference.
- Nonetheless, he was named AFCA National Coach of the Year in 1953.
- In his nine years at Maryland, his was 63-15-4, but following the 1955 season, in which the Terps finished 10-1, their undefeated record once again spoiled by a loss to Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, he resigned to take over at North Carolina.
- It was a disappointing way to end a distinguished career. In three years at North Carolina, he was 12-15-1, and he was gone.
- Correctly identifying Jim Tatum: Mike Framke- Green Bay, Wisconsin... Greg Stout- Thompson's Station, Tennessee... Tom Hinger- Auburndale, Florida... Joe Daniels- Sacramento... David Crump- Owensboro, Kentucky... Dave Potter- Durham, North Carolina... John Reardon- Peru, Illinois... Adam Wesoloski- Pulaski, Wisconsin... Kevin McCullough- Culver, Indiana... Mike O'Donnell- Pine City, Minnesota... John Bothe- Oregon, Illinois...
Ironically, two years later, the Terps would go 10-0 in 1953 and win the national championship, then lose in the Orange Bowl to Oklahoma.
*********** Ossie Osmundson update: Coach Osmundson, the Ridgefield, Washington High School coach whose head was delivered to parents by a cowardly superintendent, may have the last laugh yet.
Read a great article by The Vancouver Columbian's Nick Daschel (in which he used some of the e-mails you all were gracious enough to share with me) and see what a fool the Ridgefield principal makes of himself.
http://www.columbian.com/sports/coachossie.html
As you read the article, bear this in mind:
Nick Daschel, the reporter, trusted the quarterback's mother and really believed she was telling the truth, but I think she gave herself away right at the end when she said the superintendent wanted to let the parents know they were being heard.
Parents? Heard? Check this out: I taught at Ridgefield for seven-and-a-half years, and during that time practically every kid in the school passed through my freshman geography classes, and I think I have a pretty good idea of who can be trusted and who can't, so when a very trustworthy former student called me and volunteered the information that his parents had been asked to sign a petition to remove Ossie, I know he's telling the truth.
Which means that the quarterback's mother is either out of the loop or...
It's possible, of course, that she's not aware of the petition that has been circulating, but I sorta doubt it, since she herself told Nick Daschel, "It's such a small town, you hear everything."
Meanwhile, Ossie's Ridgefield baseball team won the state class 2A championship last Saturday, scoring 13 runs in the last two innings to hand perennial power Ephrata (26-0 going in) its first loss, 15-10. So now he is the only coach in Southwest Washington to win a state football championship, and the only one to win state championships in two different sports.
But not a single Ridgefield administrator was at the game, and as of Monday, Ossie had yet to hear so much as a "nice going" from any of them.
Worms.
*********** Coach, What a great Web site. Your Memorial Day salute was wonderful. I am 55 years old, spent 22 years in the Air Force, 1 year in Vietnam, and thought I was tough enough that I could read all the things about our heroes. But the article by Biff Messinger brought tears to my eyes, as he told of his boyhood idol and learning of his death. I will certainly think of Major Holleder and all the other brave souls when I attend Memorial Day festivities on Monday. Keep up the great work, and you don't know what a wonderful thing you are doing through the Black Lions. Tom Hinger continues to write and stay in touch with me and I cherish his friendship. I only hope that we will continue this dialog, and I am so proud that we have a member of last year's team going to the US Military Academy Prep School. I would rather send one good football player there, than a dozen to a top 20 school.
You are doing a tremendous service to football coaches, but most of all you are doing a great service to all Americans with your web site. Ron Timson, Capt, USAF, Retired - Umatilla, Florida
- *********** Coach Wyatt, When I read who authored your quote today (the 28th), it made me laugh. The last place I thought I would see a quote by "Terrible Ted the Motor City Madman," was here. He is probably the most brutally honest celebrity there is. I was watching a documentary about him and I liked another one of his quotes. He said, "If you don't have a sense of humor, you will hurt yourself hating me." Hope you had an enjoyable Memorial Day Holiday. Greg Stout Thompson's Station, Tennessee ("I was listening to him on a local radio station and I heard him say that ("If idiots hate you, you know you're on course") and I almost went off the road fumbling for a pen to write it down with. HW)
*********** Damn shame they chose to call themselves the Colorado Avalanche. After watching Wednesday night's loss to the Detroit Red Wings, I would have suggested Colorado Rockheads. Think of the head gear their fans could wear to the games.
First, it was goalie Patrick Roy, pulling the hockey equivalent of spiking the ball before crossing the goal line. He made a great save, and raised his glove high to show off - except, uh-oh, the puck wasn't in there. Instead, it lay on the ice, and the Wing's Brendan Shanahan alertly flicked it into the net.
Next, Avs coach Bob Hartley, who must have the vision to spot fleas on a mouse's rear end at 100 yards, claimed that the blade of Red Wings' goalie Dominick Hasek's stick was too wide. They stopped the game and measured, and when deadeye Hartley was proven wrong, his false charge cost his team a penalty. Since Detroit had a man in the penalty box when Hartley made his claim, sending a Colorado player off the ice effectively killed the Colorado power play.
Finally, in desperation, with Detroit up 2-0 and 3 minutes to play, Colorado pulled its goalie, leaving its goal empty in order to get another skater onto the ice. But for some reason, despite the one-skater advantage, Colorado had difficulty getting the puck out of its own end. Some reason? Good reason - they only had five men on the ice. It took the Avs the better part of a minute to realize they hadn't substituted for the goalie.
*********** Paul, Giel died Wednesday at the age of 70. He suffered a fatal heart attack while on his way to watch his 12-year-old grandson, Paul III, play a Little League baseball game.
You almost certainly don't know that he was one of the great all-round athletes of an era that produced many of them. In fact, unless you're from Minnesota, you may not have heard of him at all.
You might remember him as the athletic director at the University of Minnesota, from 1972 to 1988. He's the guy who hired Herb Brooks to coach the Minnesota hockey team. He's also the guy who enticed Lou Holtz to leave Arkansas and come coach the Gophers. ("What are you going to do in the winters up there, when it gets below zero?" Holtz was asked when he was hired. "Stay indoors," he replied.)
But you'd have to go back a ways to remember Paul Giel as I did. I was a football junkie, and I remember him well, as an outstanding single-wing tailback at Minnesota, from 1951 to 1953. He played on some bad teams - the Gophers won only ten games in his three varsity seasons, but although "the only time we ever got the ball was when we received kickoffs after the other team scored," according to the coach, Wes Fesler, he managed to rack up 35 touchdowns and over 4,000 yards total offense in his career at Minnesota.
He saved his finest game for his senior year. Get this - he rushed 35 times for 112 yards, completed 13 of 18 passes (including his first 11 in a row) for 169 yards, returned four punts for 49 yards and a kickoff for 24, intercepted two passes, ran for two touchdowns and threw for a third, as underdog Minnesota beat Michigan for the first time in 10 years, 22-0.
He was twice voted Big Ten Player of the Year, in 1952 and 1953, and in 1953, despite playing for a losing team, he finished a close second to Notre Dame's Johnny Lattner in the Heisman Trophy voting.
He was also an All-American baseball player as a pitcher, and after graduation, at a time when the Canadian Football League and the NFL were caught in a bidding war for college players, he passed up lucrative football offers and signed to play baseball with the New York Giants.
Not that his decision was financially unsound - he signed for a $60,000 signing bonus, the highest the Giants had paid anyone up to that time. But because of the so-called "Bonus baby" rule of the time, designed to discourage teams from paying that kind of money to unproven players, the Giants were not permitted to send him to the minor leagues to develop.
Instead, they were required to keep him on the major league roster for two years, so there he stayed, and sat on the bench. In those two seasons, he appeared in only 30 games.
His major league career was undistinguished. Over eight years - including two years' active duty as an officer in the Army - he pitched for the Giants, moving with them to San Francisco, the Pirates, the Twins, and the Kansas City Athletics.
He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, but he didn't seem to regret his decision not to play professional football. At 5-11, 185, he would have been at somewhat of a disadvantage. Besides, at that time, major league baseball was still the unchallenged king of professional sports, and the Giants were good. Among his teammates was the great Willie Mays.
Shortly after he arrived in New York, Giel told Arthur Daley, of the New York Times, "This is wonderful. Every game's a Rose Bowl game. I still can't believe that Willie Mays is real. He just has to be a figment of someone's imagination."
*********** And now Miller Brewing Company is about to be purchased from Philip Morris by South African Breweries. The addition of MIller will make South African Breweries the world's second largest brewing company, behind only Anheuser-Busch (Bud, Bud Light and Michelob), and ahead of Belgium's Interbrew and Holland's Heineken.
This is somewhat sad to me, since Miller Brewing was one of the many breweries that once gave Milwaukee its reputation as the Beer City, and since the late Fred Miller, a onetime Notre Dame football player, was once a major benefactor of the University and its athletic program. Now, the once-great Miller Brewing Company is just another corporate dog, dumped by Philip Morris as a money-loser and acquired by a London-based brewing giant.
As for the folks at South African Breweries, who paid roughly $5 billion in stock and debt assumption for the chance to do what Philip Morris, one of the world's great marketers couldn't - give a goose to sales of Miller, Miller Lite and MGD - I have two words: Good luck.
*********** Oh, yes - and the check's in the mail...
"Let me take a moment to thank Ms. Rowley for her letter. It is critically important that I hear criticisms of the organization, including criticisms of me, in order to improve the organization."
So said FBI Director Robert S, Mueller, III, speaking about Colleen Rowley, Minneapolis-based agent who wrote to him complaining that efforts to look more closely into Zacarias Moussaoui had been stifled by people at FBI headquarters in Washington.
*********** "World Cup starts tomorrow...I am helping some friends out with a radio gig - 10 minutes every other day on Radio Australia's Pacific Island coverage. So I'll be big in Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands!" Ed Wyatt, Melbourne, Australia
*********** Just my luck. Ireland's playing Cameroon in World Cup Soccer Saturday, and I'll be stuck at a Double-Wing clinic.
*********** I thoroughly enjoyed your special on Memorial Day. Dassel and Cokato each have wonderful programs. My grandfather Allen Yanke was in the USN Pac Sub Fleet from 1939 until 1959. He passed away this past September, shortly after the 9/11 attacks. When the poem "Come Visit My Grave" was read, it was especially meaningful this year.
I also watched the Bravest vs. Finest football game. It was probably too much to expect that NBC ( who gave us the XFL ) could just show us the game, without the attempts at tear jerking. They must think we can't realize the emotional significance of the moment, however, I did enjoy the vignette about the Fire Department's "Wild Rover" song. I believe Jon Tesch was the commentator, I don't ever want to see Jon Tesch associated with another football game again. And, I agree, FDNY needs some help on offense. Mick Yanke - Dassel-Cokato, Minnesota
- *********** Coach, I happened on your website today... saw your thoughts on the NYFD... I was thinking the SAME THING!!!!! When I saw the "headline" you could've knocked me over with a feather.. pretty funny stuff. Lou Orlando, Sudbury, Massachusetts (I sent an e-mail to the Commissioner, FDNY, asking for advice on where to send the videotape and playbook, and offering the services of a volunteer offensive staff. Unsolicited, I have already had three offers from other coaches to help the FDNY next year. Boy, couldn't we put together a kick-ass staff? HW)
*********** Coach, Just a few comments on Monday's NEWS. As you I hope those women get another shot at Everest. I'm glad they had the guts and brains to turn back when they did. I just finished "Into Thin Air" which is about the 1996 assault that cost the lives of eight climbers. Sometimes it takes more courage to turn back. As for Pat Tillman... A real man steps out from a bunch of spoiled rich boys. Bert Ford, Los Angeles
*********** I was there at ASU as a Graduate Assistant during Pat Tillman's time in the Pac-10, I gave him his campus tour when he came on his recruiting visit... when I heard the news my reply was "that's Pat"... I was not shocked or surprised by his decision. Here is a guy who rode his bike everywhere (a beach cruiser, true to his surfer way) and when he does need to drive he owns a "plain Jane" Jeep Cherokee... no the Escalade or Navigator type! Max Ragsdale, Apache Junction, Arizona
*********** Don't you just LOVE the Tillman story!!! I emailed the coach and told they should reserve a spot WHENEVER that guy wants to come back.. That's a role model!
"My kids still say you are the coolest old white guy they have ever met...and want to know why you are not coaching anywhere. Hope that makes your day." Joe Daniels, Sacramento. Joe Daniels, Sacramento (It sure does! There are lots of cool old white guys out there - the kids just haven't had a chance to meet them yet. I hope they do. I gratefully accept on behalf of cool old white guys everywhere. HW)
*********** Coach Wyatt, I read that you will have a coaching offensive line video available. I was wondering if I could pre-pay so that you can mail it to me as soon as it is ready. Your videos are simply the best around. I really eat 'em up. They have taught me a lot.
Our senior division team (13 yr olds) 49er team last year went undefeated. We even beat teams that had 14 and 15 year olds on them. We mostly ran from the spread and in the 3rd quarter we busted out the Rambo. Very effective. Our best passer was our B-back and for the first time in my coaching career, we passed for more than 2 td's. Fifteen to be exact. Our qb just tossed it back to the B-back and we had max protect while we threw to our streaking wide outs over a cheating defense.
- There are some teams that dabble with the DW but none have the patience nor the "reps" put into it. I am a true believer. Thanks again, Coach Rory Niere, Juneau, Alaska
I am now taking orders for "PRACTICE WITHOUT
PADS," my latest video production. It is geared
primarily to the youth coach, but it will be useful
to high school coaches as well. It deals with
subjects ranging from the organizational details
that you must cover before you even start to
practice, to pre-season workouts, and takes you all
the way through a practice to the sort of things
you might want to cover when you're wrapping things
up at the end. In between are drills dealing with
flexibility, strength, form-running and agility, as
well as the basics of proper blocking, tackling and
ball-handling. It ends with numerous fun-type
drills that you can use to build competitiveness
and morale among your kids, and send them home
wanting more. And the best part of it is, although
you might see players on the tape performing some
of the drills while wearing helmets and pads,
and
although these drills are still plenty useful once
you're allowed to hit, they are drills that you can
do in the off-season, or in pre-season before
you're allowed to have any contact! The
tape runs approximately 1-1/2 hours in length and
sells for $49.95 - mail check or money order to
Coach Hugh Wyatt - 1503 NE 6th Avenue - Camas, WA
98607 WHAT THEY'RE SAYING ABOUT
"PRACTICE WITHOUT PADS" - Coach, I
viewed your tape last night and I want to commend
you on another fine production. It was great from
the onset and got better as it went along. There is
a ton of great information on the tape for youth
coaches such as myself who are always looking to
improve. My wife caught the tail-end of it, and
commented a number of times on how much fun the
drills looked (in the fun-time section). I'm always
looking for new ideas to add fun (with
conditioning) to the practices, and the tape has
loads of ideas. Plus, although you don't coach to
make the moms happy, it was nice that my wife could
look at it and recognize that the kids were having
fun (and that our kids will have fun with these
competitive drills this coming season). It never
hurts to keep the moms happy, since they are often
the ones who are unsure about whether their boys
should play or not, and are often the ones who have
to schlep the kids to/from practice, so I think
that it's great for them the see that the kids are
having fun (as well as learning and getting
fitter). If we get enough of a sign-up, I'll be
coaching a 7th grade team, and will finally get to
run the double-wing as it should be run. If I'm
fortunate enough to be able to be a head coach, I'm
determined to make the season a hugely successful
one for the kids in terms of learning the game,
gaining some skills, and having some fun. I'm
hoping that it will have a positive effect on the
program as well. Your tape will go a long way in
helping me achieve these goals. Thanks again for
your efforts, and I'll see you in Providence. Rick
Davis, Duxbury, Mass *********** Coach, Great job
on the "Practice Without Pads" video. I would
recommend it for any youth coach. It doesn't matter
if you are just beginning or have been around for
awhile, you can learn something from it. There are
several things that I will be implementing this
year. Thanks. L. E. "Stew" Stewart, Yuma,
Arizona *********** Coach Wyatt, I
received your videos today on "Safer & Surer
Tackling" & "Practice without
Pads". They complement each other. I
heartily recommend them both to any coach on any
level. The practice video explained the how and why
of drills that teach fundamental football. It
explained how they related to situations players
would see in competition. It expanded one drill to
the next, to the next, until a compete base of
knowledge was taught to players! I laughed watching the
pulling drill with the tubes!!!! I think I would
have LOVED to have been able to participate in that
drill during my youth. What a fun
workout!!!! The tackling video taught me
some tackling teaching skills that I am ashamed to
admit that I had not learned in 8 years of coaching
football. I think I taught tackling "ok" before.
Now I know how to teach tackling in a safer, but
more fun, more physical and more exciting
manner. In 2 hours of watching video,
I feel I have increased my ability to coach WINNING
football by 300%. Wait until I can review it
several times again! I feel like I have received a
BF (Bachelor's of Football) from the U of W
(University of Wyatt). Sincerely, Marlowe Aldrich,
Youth Coach, Billings, Montana *********** Coach Wyatt,I
just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed your
video, "Practice Without Pads." It is informative,
extremely well-done and professionally made. I
received a great deal of useful information and
ideas from your tape and look forward to
implementing them into our upcoming season. Going
into my sixth season of coaching, watching
"Practice Without Pads" reminded me of how much I
still didn't know. Thank you.Sincerely,Dave Potter,
Head Coach, Durham Fighting Eagles, Durham, North
Carolina
*********** For those who assail the public schools for
not getting the job done (and I am often one of them)
consider this... in just one elementary school in just one
city - Vancouver, Washington - children from 34 different
countries speak 28 different languages. Of the 648 kids in
the school, 250 are from another country. It is not a
so-called magnet school. It serves a lower-income section of
town.
Talk about an unfunded mandate - you'd think the politicians who so magnanimously opened the immigration floodgates in return for votes might have given at least a moment's thought to who was going to have to educate these kids and who was going to pay for it.
*********** I am in McAllen, TX, on vacation this week. This afternoon I took my two sons (ages 12 and 15) to see WE WERE SOLDIERS. What an intense movie. I think my sons could begin to understand the whole Vietnam situation. At the end of the movie when the names of the soldiers who lost their lives in the battle were coming on the screen, several people in the audience got up and left. I was very proud of my boys as they sat still and read the names. When we got out of the theater, we had a chance to talk about why that was wrong of those people. I rarely go to the movies anymore since I feel that most of the movies today are trash, but this was a great experience and an opportunity to discuss something very important with my sons. I already have an arrangement with a friend to get my hands on his copy of WE WERE SOLDIERS ONCE...AND YOUNG as soon as I get home from vacation. I am really looking forward to reading the book, which I expect will be better than the movie. Anyway, although I missed it by a day, this was a good way to reflect on Memorial Day. Greg Koenig, Las Animas, Colorado
*********** Hi Coach. How are you? Hope all is well. I just received a photocopy from a friend of an article you may find interesting. In the June 2002 issue of Men's Health there is an article in the Ethics section written by David Brooks entitled "Where Pride Still Matters" with the subtitle, "Want to raise a kid who's polite, respectful, even neat? Forget school or church. Send him to a good coach." Interesting little read and has a little inset with quotes from the likes of John Chaney, Geno Auriemma, Scotty Bowman, Pete Carril, Dan Gable, Frosty Westering, Jay Martin and Wayne Graham. Check it out if you have the opportunity. I don't know if they have the article on the magazine website or not. Adam Wesoloski, Pulaski, Wisconsin
*********** For quite some time, I have thought of personal trainers the same way I think of agents. For the most part, they would be unnecessary, if it weren't for human laziness. I mean, what free agent football player really needs to pay somebody to make phone calls for him? What normal person needs to pay somebody to push him (or her) to do more pushups, squeeze out one more rep on the machine?
This is not to impugn the entire agent business or the entire personal trainer industry, but think about it - essentially, what are the qualifications for calling oneself an agent or personal trainer?
Glad you asked. For an agent, it helps to dress well, drive a slick car and have a good line of B-S. And talk a lot on a cell phone. (Or at least pretend to be talking.)
For a personal trainer, it helps to be young, with six-pack abs and buns o' steel.
But otherwise, for far too many of either, it's just a matter of printing up business cards and rustling up clients.
Don't believe me?
UCLA's Physiology Research Laboratory recently tested 115 personal trainers, some of whom charge as much as $70 an hour, on their knowledge of fitness.
Only 42 per cent of them passed.
*********** Think small details aren't important? A friend of mine told me about an applicant for an English teaching position at his school. He has a feeling the guy won't get the job - on his resume, he misspelled the name of their state.
*********** Roberto Yong is going to graduate. With honors.
His is a wonderful, if all too rare, success story, an example of the difference a stable home with a strong mother and father can make in a young person's life.
This time last year, Roberto didn't have much of a future. He was a heck of an athlete - everybody knew that - but he had nothing else going for him.
In 9th and 10th grade, he rarely went to class.
After transferring to another school his junior year, he showed some improvement, but he still had major attendance problems. His mother and father had divorced when he was young, and his mother had recently remarried, and he was living wherever he could, bouncing around from one friend's house to another.
That's when he came to Debbie Daniels' attention. Debbie was his math teacher at Grant High, in Sacramento. Her husband, Joe, is offensive coordinator at Highlands High, a rival school.
Roberto would sometimes make an effort in Debbie's class ("when he was there and awake", according to Joe) but often he would fall asleep in class.
Still, Debbie saw something in the young man, and she convinced Joe to join with her in becoming Roberto's legal guardian, taking full responsibility for his welfare. Roberto moved in with Debbie and Joe and their two other kids, and transferred to Highlands.
It hasn't been easy. There have been bumps. But gradually, thanks to the stability and structure provided by life with two schoolteachers, Roberto's life began to change.
To jump ahead from last year to now... Roberto was all-league in football and team MVP (I know what some of you are thinking, but there was no athletic hanky-panky here - this young man wasn't going anywhere, athletically or academically, when Debbie and Joe Daniels got involved); he was all-league in basketball, and MVP of the track team, qualifying for sectionals in the long jump and high jump (Joe is the track coach).
Writes Joe, "all of his teachers LOVE the kid."
But here's the best part: Roberto will graduate with honors, with a 3.0 average his senior year.
He will be receiving a department pin from the art department in recognition of his work, and - get this - The Army Scholar Athlete Award for all-around academic and athletic excellence:
Joe writes, "I suspect the Colonel that runs our ROTC is behind that one. He says he's never seen a kid that had a chance to be a jerk, be so polite and work so hard."
The difference, of course, is Debbie and Joe Daniels.
Joe dismisses any credit. He says, "I think Roberto did more for me than I did for him. Heck, I got a preview for when my 9 year old son Austin becomes a teen-ager. How did my parents do it?"
The same way Debbie and Joe did it. With lots of love, lots of patience, and a lot of backbone. They have a right to be proud, and they are. Writes Joe, "We are DAMN Proud!!!!"
*********** Help needed...
Thank you for your answers coach I have a couple of more questions:
1) do you know some team that maybe want to play a game with a mexican team? the idea is that the mexican team go to USA to play.
2) do you know some team that wants to donate some equipment (helmets, shoulders, etc)
Thanks for your help. Victor Clavel, Mexico
*********** My friend Tom Hinger, who won the Silver Star for gallantry in combat in Vietnam (he will ticked at me for writing that), recommended some time ago that I read "We Were Soldiers Once.. and Young", long before it was made into a movie. He said that it was the truest representation of combat he'd ever read. In the book, the author, Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore, mentioned a young Englishman - that's right, an Englishman serving in the United States Army - named Rick Rescorla. He is mentioned or quoted on 37 pages of the book.
- Call him a soldier of fortune if you wish. Rick Rescorla, a Cornishman (from Cornwall, in the farthest southeastern part of England) fought for the British in Cyprus and Rhodesia before joining the United States Army. As an American lieutenant in Vietnam, he is referred to in the book as a "battlefield legend." His platoon was known as the "Hard Corps."
- Once, as he prepared his men for an enemy assault, one of them remembered asking him, "What if they break through?"
- Calmly, he replied, "If they break through and overrun us, put grenades around your hole. Lay them on the parapet and get your head below ground. Lie on your back in the hole. Spray bullets into their faces. If we do our job, they won't get that far."
- Guys, we are talking real-life John Wayne.
- Yet the movie, "We Were Soldiers," mentions Rick Rescorla not at all.
- Thirty-seven years later, Rick Rescorla had become an American citizen, had earned a law degree in Oklahoma, and was serving as Vice President for Corporate Security for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, whose corporate offices were in the south tower of the World Trade Center. When the first plane hit the north tower, official voices came over the loudspeaker system in his building telling people to stay put - don't leave the building - the area is secure, blah, blah, blah.
Rick Rescorla was on the phone at the time to his best friend. "You watching TV?" he asked. "The dumb sons of bitches told me not to evacuate," he said as he watched TV. "They said it's just Building One. I told them I'm getting my people the [expletive] out of here."
And so he did, and miraculously - on a day when miracles were few - he directed the evacuation to safety of 2700 of Morgan Stanley's employees. Only six of the company's employees perished. Rick Rescorla was one of them.
He is becoming famous, as well he should. NBC's "Dateline" devoted a major portion of a show a couple of weeks ago to Rick's story. Other than the fact that Jane Pauley kept lobbing "doesn't it just make you want to cry?" type questions at the people she interviewed, obviously pandering to that segment of the female audience that wouldn't sit still for a straight piece about (ugh!) a man's man, it was nicely done. Thanks to Cornwall native (and Double-Wing coach) Mike Kent, I even knew enough about Cornish tradition to recognize "Trelawny", the Cornish National Anthem, being sung in the background.
Now, many Americans who recognize the man's true bravery are calling on President Bush to award him the highest honor that can be bestowed on an American civilian.
HAVE YOU SIGNED THE PETITION ASKING THAT RICK RESCORLA BE AWARDED THE PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF HONOR? DO IT NOW, AND TELL YOUR FRIENDS TO DO IT, TOO! I was #3533. Bill Livingstone, of Troy, Michigan, wrote to tell me he was #4290. Mick Yanke, of Cokato, Minnesota was #4268; Greg Koenig, of Las Animas, Colorado, was #8192 - Doug Gibson, of Naperville, Illinois was #10,413 - as of April 28 the total was 10,430 - on May 30, it was 11,751. Come on, guys - how tough is it to go to a web site and do what little we can for a great American?
GO TO THE SITE AND READ WHAT SOME OF THE SIGNERS HAVE TO SAY, AND YOU'LL FEEL A GREAT SENSE OF PRIDE WHEN YOU JOIN THEM- http://www.petitiononline.com/pmfrick/petition.html
(LEFT)
Memorial Day, 2002, in Camas, Washington... Local Cub
Scouts join with veterans to plant American flags on
veterans' graves in Camas Cemetery, a Memorial Day
tradition
A
LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: I must declare my prejudice: I
consider Chuck Noll to be one of the greatest coaches in
the history of professional football.
***********
After my rant about feeling disrespected by Highlands
High's savage, skirt-wearing Scots Highlander mascot, I
heard back from Highlands head coach Dave Sachs. I
suspect he was concerned that I might picket outside the
school, or sue to have the mascot changed:
***********
A handbag depicting the September 11 World Trade Center
atrocity has become a big seller in many parts of the
so-called civilized world.
A
LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: I must declare my prejudice: I
consider him to be one of the greatest coaches in the
history of professional football.
***********
Maybe you saw players in the Army-Navy game
wearing patches in honor of various military
units. Winners of the Black Lion Award are
not only eligible to wear the Black Lions
emblem shown at left, they are all going to
receive one.
A
LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: In this 50-year-old photo of the 1952
Michigan State staff are one head coach and four future
head coaches.
A
LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: Shown here in his playing days, Jimmy
Conzelman played halfback for the 1920 Decatur Staleys,
the forerunners of the Chicago Bears. But he gained his
greatest fame years later as coach of the Bears'
crosstown rivals, the Chicago Cardinals.
A
LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: With the recent death of former
Supreme Court Justice Byron White, Justice Alan Page of
the Minnesota Supreme Court man becomes the
highest-ranking jurist among living NFL alumni.
