Monthly Archives: August 2016

I recently gave a keynote presentation at the University of Notre Dame’s “Play Like A Champion Today” annual conference. This program is exactly what athletics needs today as its mission is to utilize athletics to foster character.

The Play Like A Champion Today program states the following on its website:

“In 2006 F. Clark Power, a Notre Dame professor of Psychology and Education, founded Play Like A Champion Today. He was concerned about what he felt was a crisis in youth sport, including win-at-all-costs mentality, misguided pressure on young athletes, cheating and bullying, and ‘sports rage,’ to name a few.”

Power and Kristin Sheehan, director of the program, worked with Notre Dame faculty, coaches, and administrators to develop a “character-focused curricula” that they shared at coach and parent workshops around the country. To date, they have educated 75,000 coaches and parents, who have worked with more than a million young people.

I believe this program emphasizes what sport should be all about – teaching character.

Mike Ditka once said about the 1985 Bears that they did have a lot of characters, but then followed that by saying they also had a lot of character. At the University of St. Francis, alum Bill Bellah enabled us to have a fundraising golf outing at the prestigious Rich Harvest Golf Course for our athletic program. Bill then invited and brought a number of the ‘85 Bears to the outing.

The very first impression that all of us at St. Francis had of these Bears was the quality of men they were. Obviously, they were outstanding athletes but it was their character that stood out. To a man, they were genuine, cordial, articulate, and humble. Despite all their accomplishments and accolades, they could not have been more accommodating.

After the outing, you realized how fortunate Mike Ditka was. He was privileged to coach a superb group of athletes who had character and when you get that combination, you can produce great teams.

        Joliet’s Tom Thayer

We have a man in Joliet who started on those Bears teams, Tom Thayer. Tom is a graduate of Joliet Catholic High School and Notre Dame and he is definitely a man of character who never has forgotten where he came from. He has helped numerous organizations in Joliet in their endeavors to help our community. I know he would be very proud of his alma mater for sponsoring a program that emphasizes the integration of sport and character.

What Notre Dame is doing for young athletes with this program will help them for the rest of their lives. I know in our basketball program at the University of St. Francis we made a conscious effort to recruit young men of character. Most seasons have rough spots where you lose games and I always believed that players of character stay with you during those down times, but players without character go south. Therefore, if an athlete has the ability to get an athletic scholarship, his character will definitely play a factor in the offer.

After college, the athlete will enter the work-force. There are a lot of companies that utilize the concept of hiring character, then teaching skills. Skills can be taught but character has to be acquired.

Congratulations to Clark, Kristin, and Notre Dame for teaching young athletes the importance of character and values in their lives’ journeys.

As I reflect back on the San Antonio’s Tim Duncan’s career, I see six lessons that he has taught leaders.

I don’t believe he ever put these lessons into words. Instead he lived St. Francis of Assisi’s profound saying, “Preach the gospel; if necessary, use words.” His teaching legacy was his example.

RESULTS: Leaders often are judged by the results they attain for their organization. Over his 19-year career, the Spurs won 155 more games than any other NBA team. They won an amazing 71.9% of their regular season games during this time period and they never missed the playoffs. They were the winners of 5 NBA titles and he was the Most Valuable Player of the season and the Finals numerous times.

Individually, he is only the 3rd player in NBA history to score 25,000 points and grab 15,000 rebounds. He was at his best when his best was needed most. During the playoffs, he was 1st in the number of double doubles; 2nd in most playoff wins; and 3rd in most rebounds. Many consider him to be the best power forward in NBA history, as well as one of the top 5 players ever to play. Minimally, he is in everyone’s top 10.

Duncan achieved results for his individual body of work, but more importantly, he brought his small-market team to an elite status in the NBA.

Great leaders get results.

THINKER: Bruce Bowen, a Duncan teammate and current ESPN analyst, calls Duncan a “Thinker.” The position that usually knows the responsibilities of every player on the floor is the point guard. However, Bowen says that it was Duncan, a big man, who constantly was teaching his teammates their roles.

I believe great leaders are thinkers. They know the nuances of their organization and have the ability to teach their colleagues their roles.

CONSTANT IMPROVEMENT: Duncan did something that no 1st picks in the NBA draft ever do. He played in the NBA Summer League prior to his rookie season.

This is usually below the status of the first pick in the draft, but Duncan wanted to be as prepared as possible for his first NBA season. Despite a great college career, he knew he had to improve his game to be a factor in the NBA.

His desire to improve stayed with him throughout his career. After winning the NBA title and being named the MVP of the Finals, he contacted a coach who was considered to be the best teacher of big men in the country, the late Pete Newell.

The best big men to play in the NBA over the past thirty years had one thing in common – they all attended Newell’s Big Man Camp. Duncan, the Finals MVP, contacted Newell to help him with footwork in the post and passing out of the post.

Duncan was known as “The Big Fundamental.” Despite being the best player in the Finals, he wanted to improve his footwork and his passing, two rather elementary fundamentals in the mind of those who do not know the game.

When some leaders in their profession achieve the heights that Duncan achieved in his profession, they would never consider looking to improve their fundamentals. That would be beneath them. But Duncan sought improvement when he was at the top of his game.

HUMILITY: It was never about him; it was about the organization. When he entered the League, the Spurs were David Robinson’s team and Duncan embraced that fact. Then when it became his team, he shared the leadership with Tony Parker and Manu Ginoble. In fact, it was his team, but he believed in shared leadership. In his later years, he accepted the leadership of a player who was in 6th grade when Duncan entered the NBA – Kawhi Leonard. It was now Leonard’s team and Duncan won an NBA title as part of Leonard’s team.

Duncan won three NBA titles in three different decades because he never let the team be “his” team. He was the leader but it was all about the team, not him. Too often leaders think it is, in fact, about them. They believe the organization would not achieve without their leadership. They are indispensable!

Duncan led with humility for 19 seasons. And his retirement confirmed his humility. It had no fanfare, no hoopla; it was simply a press release from the Spurs saying Tim Duncan retired.

PREPARATION: David Robinson said Duncan was prepared for every practice. Unlike the famous Allen Iverson quote disparaging the importance of practice, when he sarcastically said, “Practice, it’s only practice,” Duncan was ready everyday for practice. Robinson said he was “reliable everyday and intense and focused.”

Michael Jordan was the same way. He worked harder in practice than all of his teammates. When a new player came to the Bulls, Jordan would actually get all over him in his first Bulls practice to let him know that when you are a part of the Bulls, you work hard every practice.

Duncan believed in the 5P’s – “Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance.” Great leaders lead with the 5P’s.

THE QUIET MAN WHO SAID SO MUCH: We had a great doctor in Joliet who lived his life like Duncan. In the eulogy for Dr. Gene Curran, the priest called him “The quiet man who said so much.” That was Tim Duncan. And that is Greg Popovich. He, too, never has sought the spotlight and maybe that is the reason why David Robinson says the two of them had “synergy. They always stayed on the same page.”

We actually know very little about Duncan because he shunned the spotlight. He never let it be about him. It was always about the Spurs.

This quiet, humble super star taught us a great deal about leadership without words!

“Tradition Never Graduates.” I recently saw this platitude for the first time and thought about two traditions that I watched develop. Underscoring both of these traditions was leadership characterized by men of principle and incredible work ethics.

Tom Dedin began the athletic program at Providence Catholic High School. Tom was as hard a worker as anyone I have ever worked with. One of the principles he believed in was that academics and athletics go hand-in-hand.  He did not have to preach it because he lived it.

Top, from left: Tom Dedin and Fr. Roger Kaffer; Bottom: Gordie Gillespie and Dr. Jack Orr

He was an outstanding baseball coach at four schools: Providence Catholic High School, Lewis University, the University of Illinois, and Regis University in Denver. While coaching and teaching at Providence, I believed he was the best classroom teacher in the building. As the Athletic Director, Tom expected that his coaches follow his example. They had to work at their coaching, but they had better be the best classroom teachers that their abilities would allow.

I spent ten years at Providence with Tom and the tradition that he established of hard work and the integration of athletics and academics still exists at the school. In my years there I can never remember a coach in our program who did not work hard at his coaching and his subject matter.

When the Christian Brothers decided to leave Providence, the Bishop brought in Father, later Bishop, Roger Kaffer to be our principal. He had the same work ethic as Tom, appreciated the values Tom had installed in his athletic program, and really enhanced the spiritual dimension of the school.

It was not unusual for Father Kaffer to be at his desk after the midnight hour working on various projects, but he was always up and saying 7 a.m. mass to begin each school day. The work that he did in building a gymnasium at Providence was incredible. He got the local unions – iron workers, plumbers, electricians — to donate their time… and he worked right alongside them!

Spirituality, hard-working coaches, and coaches who excel in the classroom are traditions that have not graduated at Providence due to the foundations that Tom and Father established.

I came to work for Gordie Gillespie, the Athletic Director, and Dr. Jack Orr, the president, at the University, then the College, of St. Francis in 1976. Jack asked three things of Gordie: use athletics to increase enrollment by adding sports; run the athletic program with integrity; and create the opportunity for an activity for every student through a strong intramural program. He followed those statements by saying winning would be a bonus.

I watched Gordie accomplish each goal. There were only 45 student-athletes in 3 programs when Gord arrived. At its zenith, he built the program to 377 student-athletes in 14 programs. Integrity was never an issue and a comprehensive intramural program was established that first year. Because of the principles of hard working coaches, the integration of athletics and academics, and uncompromising integrity the bonus was accomplished. When our Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference had appeared in 90 NAIA national championships, St. Francis participated in 60 of the 90.

Gordie and Jack set a tradition that exists today at the University of St. Francis because the tradition was built on sound principles.

I believe when leaders strive to build traditions in their organizations, the key ingredient is to build on sound principles like hard work, the integration of hard work and care and concern for the people doing that work, and integrity. If this is done, then like Tom, Bishop, Gordie, and Jack, the tradition built will not graduate.