Cannonball
Ex "Expert"
- Feb 25, 2009
- 4,881
- 113
I posted this on another site but wanted to share it here as well. I hope that you don't mind that it is about one of the baseball teams I was blessed to be able to coach. (I was the assistant coach and hitting coach.)
On Saturday night, I was honored to be inducted into the Edwardsville High School Hall of Fame with the 1998 State Championship team. That team went 40-0 and was also ranked as the #1 high school team in America. I am so honored to be associated with such an outstanding team. After high school, those players have achieved so much. All have families and the majority of them have athletic children. I would have guessed that. Some of these players played professionally and a couple made it to MLB. The former players are teachers/coaches, lawyers, financial consultants who own their own companies, ... One is a judge. Two farm huge pieces of land. One is a police detective. They live all over the country but came back for this special occasion. I believe the entire team made it to the ceremony.
The stories that they shared were often funny. It is odd the things that they remember. I laughed so hard at some of the stories. However, a majority of the time, they talked about dedication and hard work. They talked about life lessons and the coaching staff not being willing to accept second best. A lot of the stories that they told about me would not be acceptable in today's coaching climate. When one of the players walked past me as we were greeting each other, he turned around, apologized for walking past me, and then said he didn't recognize me without my crusty hat, a fungo and/or a glove in my hand.
When they talked about going 40-0, one common theme was that they never thought about being undefeated. Instead, they thought about winning the next game that they were to play. As one said, if you respect all of your opponents, you can't get caught off guard. A major point of discussion was that the news media out of Chicago was somewhat disrespectful to them since they didn't have the big names and were not physically a big team. One pointed out that one reported wanted to know how the team was going to respond to playing teams from the Chicago area that played a much tougher schedule. I can't type what that player said he thought about that question. We not only played a tough schedule, but we also took on the best from St. Louis and beat them. The closest game we had at state was a 4-1 victory. We won the other games, including the championship game by a good margin. Ironically, when it came down to the all-state team, we only got one or two players on that team and the teams we beat were well represented. When asked for my comments on this team and the award, I repeated what I have so often posted here. "I am the most blessed person you will ever meet."
On Saturday night, I was honored to be inducted into the Edwardsville High School Hall of Fame with the 1998 State Championship team. That team went 40-0 and was also ranked as the #1 high school team in America. I am so honored to be associated with such an outstanding team. After high school, those players have achieved so much. All have families and the majority of them have athletic children. I would have guessed that. Some of these players played professionally and a couple made it to MLB. The former players are teachers/coaches, lawyers, financial consultants who own their own companies, ... One is a judge. Two farm huge pieces of land. One is a police detective. They live all over the country but came back for this special occasion. I believe the entire team made it to the ceremony.
The stories that they shared were often funny. It is odd the things that they remember. I laughed so hard at some of the stories. However, a majority of the time, they talked about dedication and hard work. They talked about life lessons and the coaching staff not being willing to accept second best. A lot of the stories that they told about me would not be acceptable in today's coaching climate. When one of the players walked past me as we were greeting each other, he turned around, apologized for walking past me, and then said he didn't recognize me without my crusty hat, a fungo and/or a glove in my hand.
When they talked about going 40-0, one common theme was that they never thought about being undefeated. Instead, they thought about winning the next game that they were to play. As one said, if you respect all of your opponents, you can't get caught off guard. A major point of discussion was that the news media out of Chicago was somewhat disrespectful to them since they didn't have the big names and were not physically a big team. One pointed out that one reported wanted to know how the team was going to respond to playing teams from the Chicago area that played a much tougher schedule. I can't type what that player said he thought about that question. We not only played a tough schedule, but we also took on the best from St. Louis and beat them. The closest game we had at state was a 4-1 victory. We won the other games, including the championship game by a good margin. Ironically, when it came down to the all-state team, we only got one or two players on that team and the teams we beat were well represented. When asked for my comments on this team and the award, I repeated what I have so often posted here. "I am the most blessed person you will ever meet."
