The older I get, the more I appreciate the people I’ve been fortunate enough to cross along life’s journey.
There have been so many — too many to mention them all.
And so many have been through sports, either sportswriting, coaching, officiating or sitting alongside a them as a spectator.
One of the those guys always responded to a greeting of “Nice to see you” with “Nice to be seen.” He’s not with us anymore.
It means so much more to me now than it used to. So I try to respond that way nowadays when I am greeted with a “Nice to see to you.”
When I was coaching, they use to say the student-athletes might not remember what you say, but they’ll remember how you made them feel. Reading how you made them feel are most treasured thank you notes I ever received from kids or parents.
Those are the ones I kept.
Nowadays, I run into a lot of people from the current and the old days of sports. It’s been wonderful connecting and reconnecting.
Many times, old friends report seeing something that I recently wrote. And they often can’t remember what they read, but they remember I wrote it.
And I don’t necessarily remember what they say about the stories, but I do remember how it made me feel they saw it and said something about it.
I’ve met a lot of celebrities, great coaches, great referees and superstar amateur and professional athletes in my lifetime. I’ve been privileged to write about them.
I am going to show my age, but here are some names among the most memorable: Charlie Sanders, Johnny Orr and George Bush, Sr.
Most recently I was privileged to interview one of the greatest running backs in Michigan State history, Tico Duckett.
The story was about one his coaches that passed away, former Kalamazoo Loy Norris and Traverse City Central track and cross country coach Don Luken. Tico remembers all the life lessons he learned from Coach Luken, and he remembers how Luken made him — and the rest of the teamm — feel.
But it’s others I recently interviewed that have touched me. People like Dominic Wing, Lawson Westinghouse, Nick Winkler, Thomas Hursey and Leighton Smith. I was able to get to know them a little and tell their stories.
Dominic is a freshman quarterback at Cadillac High School. Lawson is his best friend. Nick is his football coach and a special education teacher. Lawson spends three hours a day in Nick’s classroom. He is battling cancer and had a goal of being in school everyday this year and reading a whole book. Dominic sits in Nick’s room most every day and helps Lawson read. He has a very special bond with Lawson, considered the most popular kid in school by Nick.
Earlier this year, Lawson received a cancer-free report and Dominic was the first one he told. Unfortunately, Lawson has recently returned to chemotherapy treatment. Complications of the treatment caused him to miss last week’s trip to Marquette. It was the only away game he missed. Dominic had always sat right next Lawson on the bus trips.
Incredible story, and it continues today. He was back on the sidelines for Cadillac’s final regular season game Friday at home against Freeland.
Hursey is someone I’ve known a long time. He was in middle school when we first met. His parents are retired teachers and coaches. His dad is back in coaching today. They taught him some great life lessons.
It’s a long story, but I will make it short. Thomas graduated from Suttons Bay High School and went on to play college golf for both Ferris State (undergrad) and Indiana (graduate school). He went from a small school and became a Big Ten golfer.
Many onlookers, especially his IU coach, wanted him to turn pro. But he choose not to join the PGA and move on with his degrees into a working career. Why? The reason to me is amazing.
Hursey doesn’t like individual sports as much as being part of a team like he was at Ferris, IU and Suttons Bay. Being on a team was always more important to him than his individual accomplishments. He wouldn’t have teammates on the tour.
That’s a team player!
And then there is Leighton, a sophomore at Elk Rapids. She too comes from what seems like a great family. She nearly lost her life from complications resulting from a horse riding accident.
After setting a school record in track as a freshman, she battled though an unbelievable summer fighting for her life and then rehab. She endured five surgeries in six days. She’s back to sports already. She is on the Elks’ golf team, and her dad is one of the coaches. No teammates had a better score the day she returned to the links.
She can’t wait to get back to her favorite high school sport, track and field, this spring. She really only plays golf because her dad is the coach.
Dominic, Lawson, Nick, Thomas and Leighton really make sportswriting rewarding. Much more rewarding than celebrities. I was honored to write their stories. And I will be honored to tell more stories like theirs in the future.
I will always remember the way they made me feel. And I will treasure the next time an acquaintance says I enjoyed reading your piece the other day — even though they often don’t recall the topic.