Monthly Archives: February 2015

We lost a sports icon earlier this year in Ernie Banks.

As I listened to the speakers at his funeral service, I reflected on an evening where I sat next to him at a banquet. Four things stood out in our conversation that night.

Optimism

Ernie was known for his perpetual optimism, both in baseball and in life. He was certainly well known for his “Let’s play two” quote in baseball and despite all the racism he endured early in his baseball travels, especially in hotels and restaurants, he never lost his optimism for people. He refused to let bitterness, hatred, and negativism in his life.

A number of people approached our table that night and Ernie received each of them with a smile and a kind word. He made them feel like he, Ernie Banks, was genuinely happy to meet them. Later in my life I saw another man meet my children in this very same manner. After a Bulls practice, Michael Jordan signed my children’s t-shirts and kidded with them as if he had known them all his life. Michael may have learned a great deal from observing Ernie and his optimism for his fellow man.

Graciousness

As a steady line of people came to meet him, Ernie never once lost his graciousness. He made time for everyone, answered all their questions, and was glad to do so. He not only did the above, but he was constantly handing out compliments to each person even though he did not know them! He made each person to whom he was talking feel as though he was the only person in the room.

Ernie’s graciousness was so great to see because I had just attended a basketball clinic and observed a nationally known coach who had no time for any of the coaches in attendance. He was both demeaning and obnoxious to his fellow coaches. I wish he had been sitting at our table that night and saw how a Hall of Famer treated people. It would have been a class he missed in college and one he badly needed!

Gratefulness

Ernie spoke only in glowing terms when he began talking about baseball. It was easy to tell how much he loved the game and how genuinely grateful he was for all the game brought to him and his family. It was very refreshing to listen to one of the greats of the game be so grateful.

Too often we hear today’s professional athletes, many of whom because of athletes like Ernie are now earning millions of dollars, complain about playing time, money, lack of respect, and the list goes on. Ernie would have none of that. He was too grateful for the life baseball gave him.

Humility

The primary trait that was so evident in Ernie was his humility. At his funeral service one of Ernie’s former Cub roommates said he was like a radio, i.e. he never stopped talking. He then added that although he was a non-stop talker, he never heard Ernie talk about himself. I would guess he simply let his body of work speak for itself.

I have always liked the maxim, “Don’t tell me; show me.” That is precisely what I have seen in the leaders whom I have respected the most. They roll up their sleeves and get the job done. They don’t talk about what they’re going to do. They simply do it. Then, when it’s accomplished, they don’t talk about their success because it’s never what “they” did. It is what “we” did. Truly great leaders develop the humility of Ernie Banks.

Optimism, graciousness, gratefulness, and humility were the four characteristics I observed in Ernie Banks that evening. Four qualities leaders may want to reflect on.

You know you have achieved when you are known only by your first name. In basketball circles, if you say “Dean,” everyone knows you are talking about Dean Smith, the Hall of Fame North Carolina coach, who passed away on February 7th, 2015.

He was a basketball coaching giant whom I had the pleasure of working with in Overland Park, Kansas while directing a Medalist One-Man Clinic. The only coach presenting for two days was Coach Smith. He gave the best clinic I have ever attended. He first taught a principle, for example the end of the Carolina fast break, on the overhead. He then had the players demonstrating for the clinic run the end of the break on the floor. Finally, he showed game film of that phase of the break. He followed this same format for every phase of the game that he taught. It was superb teaching.

John Wooden once said of Coach Smith, “He was the best teacher of basketball I have ever seen.” He may have been the most prolific innovator ever in the game. He was the first I knew of to have the scorer acknowledge the passer; the first to have all teammates help pick up the man who took the charge; and his end-of- game clock usage was legendary. He created the Run and Jump, the T-game, and Four Corners. I am sure I have forgotten more of his innovations.

When he retired, he was the winningest coach in Division I basketball with his 879 wins.

But his coaching basketball was a far second to what he meant to those who played for him. Many of them referred to him as a second father. They knew he was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement. Education took priority to basketball as his players graduated. He was in the life of his players and managers long after they graduated. He remembered all of them and knew most of their wives and children. He was truly a life-coach.

Most of us involved in basketball know the above about Coach Smith’s commitment to the teaching of the game and, more importantly, his life-long commitment to his players and their families. Some may not know during his fourth season as coach of North Carolina, his team returned from an away game only to find him hung in effigy as they entered the campus.

What a journey! From hung in effigy to being the recipient of the highest honor a civilian can receive in our country, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and, although he resisted, to having the North Carolina arena named in his honor.

The weekend I worked with him I experienced first-hand what a great teacher of basketball he was. I certainly brought a great deal of his knowledge to our team. But one thing impressed me even more – his genuine humility. You never would have known that he was one of the best ever in his chosen profession.

His greatest legacy has little to do with his basketball. It has everything to do with the loyalty his players have for him because he was truly a life-coach.

If leaders take anything from this great coach and even greater man’s legacy, let it be his humility. He treated everyone with respect, kindness, and dignity and never wore his many successes on his sleeve. It was never about him but always about you.