December 6, 1979
There are two things I could never be! Somethings I might THINK I could never be and somethings I might not WANT to ever be but there are two things I KNOW I could never be and a grade school coach is both of them!
My son, along with umpteen other boys, played football, starting when it was hot enough to fry eggs on their little helmets. And every afternoon after school there was the coach out there in that miserable heat that would make the devil himself turn up the air conditioner.
Can you imagine what would’ve happened if one of those boys would’ve stopped right in the middle of a play to ask ME if they could go to the bathroom!
After I stopped screaming, after I’d thrown the football at the nearest fence post and after I’d BANISHED them from the team, they would’ve either forgotten all about the bathroom or else lost the need to go.
Patience is not one of my better qualities.
Here it is past football season and just exactly how the coach lived through it is beyond me.
He didn’t even have time to draw a deep breath until basketball season landed in the middle of his schedule.
I’m sure I’d be just great at handling irate mothers who scream from the stands—ME!
? Now would I do a foolish thing like that!
?!?—to put HER son in so WE can win!!! That mother would receive a coach’s jacket, a little silver whistle to hang around her neck, and the job of trying to teach ALL those wiry boys, to play the sport as well as she KNOWS her son can!
Tact is something I didn’t get much of either!
They tell me when basketball is finished that track follows! Whew! If I were in HIS shoes they’d have to send the boys in the white jackets to load me in the truck bound for other worlds by that time or else the aspirin company would be behind on their production line.
Through the sweltering heat he was there with the football pads, jerseys, and patience.
Through the icy snow and sleet, he’ll be there with basketball suits and patience.
And in the mud, slush, and rain of spring he’ll teach team to run the 80-yard dash and all that other track stuff.
Besides all that he’s on TIME for all these games and meets. I’d NEVER make it.
Maybe there are three things I could never be—you guessed it!! A coach is all three.