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Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Thinking About Where You Have BeenI worked my way through college as the football manager
at LSU serving under Coach McClendon. This is a letter I wrote to his daughter about how much her dad, Coach Mac (LSU
Football 1962-1979, 13 bowl games) positively influenced my life. Enjoy!
At our age, there are nights
that you begin to think about where you have been. The last couple of years I have worked at finding some of those people
who meant so much to me in my life. We grew up in the same neighborhood and went to U-High together. My house
was a block away from Lloyd’s and Del’s, you might remember my jeep that I drove all through high school, back
then I was Billy.
I mowed your lawn for at least
three or four years, and your mother always paid me the $5, which was one of my bigger lawn jobs. I don’t think
I ever meet your dad in high school. You might remember that if you had any athletic bone in your body, you played sports
at U-High. Doug Moreau was several years ahead of me, but I did join the JV team as he was leaving and he tagged me
as the “Fly.” I was small, but my dad, like many lived and died LSU football, so I played my heart out in
high school, like many others dreaming of a scholarship. My hard work and coaches help landed me a partial scholarship
to Southern Mississippi, but I never got there. I had my trunk all packed and ready to go, but three days before I was
to leave, your dad called me and asked if I would be interested in being an equipment manager.
This was not an easy time for my family. My mother was dying of cancer and my dad
was bankrupt. I’d known since the eleventh grade that the only way I would attend college was to get a scholarship.
After talking to my dad I called your dad back and told him that I could only come to LSU as an equipment manager if I received
a full scholarship. He told me, “We have never given a full scholarship to a manager, but I’ll tell you
what, you come and we will try you out and you can try us out.” Coach Smith was the coach in charge of the equipment
those days and John Rainy had been the head manager, but was heading for medical school. I loved it! At some point
in those first few weeks, Coach Smith came up to me and said, “Billy, what are you doing? You have failed to apply
for entry into LSU, get over right now and get yourself into school!” I was having so much fun as the manager,
I’d forgotten all about school.
Why am I writing? Last night
I read many stories about what your dad meant to so many of the players. I realized I needed to tell you how much he
meant to me. I will never know who suggested me as an equipment manager to your dad, but I do know that it changed my
life and who I would become. As the head manager, even as a freshman, I was in charge of the other managers, so it immediately
put me in a leadership position, and I learned fast for I had a good role model: your dad. In those days the managers
did wash, cleaned the player’s shoes, laid out all the uniforms for practice and of course packed all the necessary
equipment for the away games. My main job during the practice week was to prepare the field for practice, ensuring that
balls and all practice equipment needs were where they were supposed to be at the time your dad had outlined. Every
day before practice your dad would give me the schedule that was typed and had a list of times to the minute; an outline of
what would happen when. And I mean to the minute, 7 minutes of this and 9 minutes 30 seconds of that, along with the
exact time that it would occur. Your dad was a master scheduler and you are going to find this hard to believe, but
since those days, I have never needed to ever set an alarm clock. I seem to have a natural clock inside, and I am very
punctual, always on time, and I have had the opportunity to travel all over the world, and it still works.
More importantly, I gained a pride in the part I played on the team, and your dad always
made me feel like I was an important part of the team. Many of the players have written and talked about
how your dad taught us how to win and lose, but always get back to being our best! My game job was to ensure
that the players equipment worked and that when it broke down I fixed it or replaced it fast. I went from LSU into the
Army and became an Airborne Ranger. The manager job gave me a “MacGyver like” personality, and I became
very good in a crisis. It served me well in the Army, and has throughout my life; I’ve done CPR five times over
the last 30 years without hesitation when others got lost in the moment.
In 1976 I broke my back in a car accident and spent six months in the hospital without moving, and then another six months
in a full body cast. But, like my mom, I never lost hope. I needed some of your dad’s before game, half
time, and Monday film day talks – your dad was a master at motivating a team and individuals to reach deep, stand up
and get on to being their best. Count me as one of the boys, working to turn into a man, on whom your dad had a significant
effect. There were few times that I got to spend time with your dad alone, but some
of my favorite times were the Friday night home games when he and I, and of course the team captains, would take the team
on a bus for milk shakes. I can’t remember the name of the Dairy Queen-like place on Daylrimple where we would
stop, but he would give me the cash, and I would order 50-60 vanilla, strawberry and chocolate milk shakes. As an ROTC
cadet I was focused on becoming a helicopter pilot. My dad had flown B52’s, but it was not till an away game that
I really got the bug to be a pilot. I remember getting on the plane and sitting with Lloyd Frye, Andy Hamilton, or Allen
Shorey, who were all my closest friends. But, Coach Smith came back and got me, and said, “Billy, Coach Mac needs
you up front.” Your dad did as he did with all of us and grabbed my elbow and said, “Billy we need your
seat, so you are going to fly with the pilots, in the jump seat.” I was thrilled and will never forget the pilot
pulling the seat out, strapping me in, and then seeing for the first time a takeoff from cockpit. I was hooked.
Unfortunately, my eyesight didn’t let me become a pilot, and that is when I chose to become an Airborne Ranger, but
that night was one I will never forget.
In the service I was based in Europe,
but traveled all over the world, serving in a company that provided the protection for nuclear weapons. At some
point during my tour, I saw your dad for the last time when he was giving a football clinic somewhere in Germany. He
was with Lou Holtz’s and I remember finding him and Coach Holtz just finishing I believe a golf game. We talked
for a few minutes, I tried to thank him for what he had given me, but as your dad always did, he thanked me for my service
to my country and made me feel like a part of his team again. After my broken back, I went back to graduate school and
completed a master’s degree in Exercise Science. Got married while in school and had two kids. I started
a doctoral program in physiology, but after two years and not enough money or time to spend with my kids, left the program
and went to work for Tenneco in Houston as their exercise physiologist. I’ve been in worksite health promotion
or wellness now for over 32 years. I now run the wellness program at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and have been at Anderson
for 10 years. I remember the surprise on your dad’s face one trip when he was introducing me to some VIP’s
and he mentioned that I was studying physical education, and I told him I was in business. I actually had never really
taken the time to think about what I would do in college, and business was my sister’s boyfriend’s major, so it
was an easy choice. I’d like to believe that the career I ended up in has your dad smiling. He was all about
people, attitude, and giving people the motivation to be the best they could be. In a way, I am now in the same business.
Employee wellness is all about working with people to help them be as healthy as they can be. My career path has allowed
me to travel all over the world in speaking engagements, and I have co-authored six textbooks about worksite wellness, and
serve on four boards that are dedicated to improving worksite or community wellness.
Three years ago I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. My dad had died of prostate cancer, so I knew my chance of it
turning up at some point in my life was good, it just came earlier than I thought it would. I am at stage-three prostate
cancer, so attitude is very important. When I pull out of my garage in the morning on my little scooter to ride to work,
which is only 1.5 miles away, I always see the my 4-year LSU Letterman, Orange Bowl, Peach Bowl, and some of the Army plaques
I’ve hung on the garage side wall. They remind me of where I’ve been and who I am, and who has walked along
my side through my life journey. Your dad, his spirit, I realize is still a big part of who I am in the way I organize
my day, treat and mentor my staff and students, and enjoy every second of life. Thanks for all you do to keep your dad
/ Coach Mac, spirit alive and passed on!
Wed, February 17, 2010 | link
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