Don Beebe Intro

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today on the servant leadership podcast we have Super Bowl winner Don BB Don is A True Underdog turned NFL legend Don's

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Journey to the NFL is one of incredible perseverance faith and humility from his small town routes and unexpected path to

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professional football DA's story defies the odds over the course of his career he played in six Super Bowls became a

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Super Bowl champion with the Green Bay Packers and delivered one of the most iconic plays in Super Bowl history when

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he chased down Leon Le refusing to give up even in the face of defeat in this episode Don shares his unique

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perspective on character faith and Leadership both on and off the field

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from his incredible NFL career to his work mentoring young athletes and coaching Don exemplifies the power of

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never giving up and leading with humility join us for an inspiring conversation with a true servant leader

Welcome Don Beebe

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thanks Don for being here today yeah it's good to be here Chris thank you your journey is absolutely incredible uh

Don's NFL Journey

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when people talk about it they talk about it as an underdog Journey um talk about your journey to the NFL and what

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that look like well I'm going to give her kind of a Reader's Digest because it's a long one but um let's just start

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off by saying I should have never played in the NFL uh you know my my life is um

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it was very chaotic I didn't take the normal four-year College deal and then get drafted um I actually went to

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college in the early 80s left after the twoe camp went back 3 years later and uh

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there's some really compelling parts of the whole story in the sense of you know

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now that I'm a college recruiter starting a program and then leaving a program I'm probably not going to know

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that kid's especially if it only came for two weeks I would probably not know that kid's name a month later well the

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Western ELO was a school that I left and they called me back 3 years later you know why not the first first year why

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not the second year right uh well God's timing is always perfect and I've lived by that and I wasn't ready for those

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first two years uh and I went back three years didn't know my eligibility clock was being used up so I only had really

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one year left and I played one year at Western then I played at a school called Chadron State a really small ni School

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totally separate from the NCAA back in the late 80s and the reason I went there was the head coach recruited me 5 years

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previous when he was at Western Illinois so I had a relationship with him and I landed up out there it was literally I

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love shattering but it was the end of the Earth I mean it was so far from home and it there you know you look at it

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it's a little small dot about 2 hours south of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota

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so I landed up there and had a good year but you know I mean NFL standard Who would know right so I get drafted by the

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bills that year their first pick so it it's just a it's a god story um there's

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so many elements to that story that I haven't even shared with you of going to the combine how I got invited in the first place is

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a miracle what I did at the combine was a miracle um and but those things had to

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happen to be a first pick of the you know the bills in the 9 draft cuz they didn't have a first or second round that

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year because I I think it was a cornelus Bennett trade or the Thurman Thomas trade one of them and uh and then I was

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their first pick in the third round so kind of a crazy story wow I I'm sure people along the way just said there's

Overcoming Negative Opinions

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no way you're going to get to the NFL or just give up along the way or just the odds are so slim uh how how'd you deal

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with that well ironically Chris I never had to deal with it because nobody even said that because nobody even thought

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that thought nobody nobody had the nobody knew anything that about the NFL

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until I went to the combine when I went to the combine my world changed uh let me just tell you two

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quick stories first of all how I got invited the combine think about this for a second how in a how in the world is a

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kid from shadron State looking like me playing like me going to get invited to

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the Big Show where the only 300 guys can go right how is that guy going to get invited well I had a personal workout

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for a guy by the name of Bill Giles who's a combine Scout at that time um God Rest his soul he's not here anymore

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but he had been doing it for roughly 30 years he he sat me down at the end of the workout and he said that's the greatest workout i' ever put a kid

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through he says I don't know how I'm going to do this but I got to get you in the combine you have to be seen that's what he told me never to his dying day

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he never told me what I ran but his wife gave me the stopwatch at the funeral so pretty cool story um and then I go so

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naive no expectations I didn't have an agent uh so I didn't get to have running

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shoes sent to me like everybody else I had to run my 40 yard dash and my flopping fishing shoes from high school

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and my dilemma was Chris my right soul was half unglued so when I walked it

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flopped when I ran it really flopped and so here we are I run the 40 and didn't

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know this until years later later and and Tony dunie and Bill pum were the two that told me and this was like oh gosh 3

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years after I was retired so this happens in in February of ' 89 I find

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out I broke the alltime record in 200 2001 maybe

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2000 um but that had to happen I ran a 425 in a flopping fishing shoe and that

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tied it with Dion that same year he ran a 425 as well that record stood for 17 years I don't say that to brag I say

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that because that had to happen God knew that had to happen you go in from shattering unknown completely no

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expectations nobody knows my name to have no agent probably the only player there that had no agent and running a

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flopping fishing shoe and then breaking the alltime record your life is going to change okay and no sooner did I get back

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to shed and I had to do 20 there were 28 teams in the NFL in 1989 I had to do 21 personal workouts think about that I

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mean guys now they'll do one and everybody's there no I had to do 21 and I had to be there okay

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um and and then landed up being the Bill's first pick just crazy story wow

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yeah I mean even even going through all that process you never probably dreamed of what your career would look like cuz

NFL Career Thoughts

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you you had a great career I did yeah you you your average or the average NFL

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player's career is much shorter than yours was uh you got to play with two amazing teams you went to the Super Bowl

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six times I think six Super Bowl teams yeah you won the Super Bowl uh that's

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just crazy what what did it feel like as you were actually living in all of that well again when you have no expectations

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you're kind of there's there's not really I wasn't really nervous or anything going to the combine and then

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when I got drafted by Buffalo I really didn't know what to expect they flew me out the next day and I was like wow that's kind of weird so I go in and then

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have to do a press conference and Coach Levy's there and Bill poing the general manager and you know the whole audience

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and the media of all of Western New York and my wife and I we just we're just

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hanging out you know I'm a very uh I hope I'm a quiet unassuming person I

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don't like the stage I don't like the spotlight um much I just like family I

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like being at home I like doing what I do um I'm a very simple man um and

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living in a very complex world uh the NFL um but I I was very fortunate you

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said it right man I couldn't have picked two better teams man going to Buffalo oh man in the early 90s well who could have

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who could have thought that but God right and I go there and just an amazing guys amazing organization and absolutely

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the most incredible fans Western New York people are so genuine so blue collar they love their team win or lose

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and then I go to Green Bay so it's like you can't pick two better teams to play

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for as a player I mean from a fan base and an organization and just what it should be

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all about in sports I was fortunate to play the two best wow I mean when not

Super Bowl Experience

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many people can say they've been to the Super Bowl six times you know uh even getting there one time is the majority

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of players from from pee on up uh their dream yeah what did it feel like being

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there um in all those games yeah so I'm going to set the record straight CU this gets confused quite often I'm the first

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player to be on six Super Bowl rosters I was hurt Mike Lish was the first player

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to actually play in six Super Bowls he played before Buffalo and then he went to two with Denver back toback which was a year after me so I was the first to be

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on six rosters teams but didn't play because it was hurt Mike was the first to play in and then there's a guy by the

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name of Tom Brady that came along and shattered all those records so um and

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that's you know that's the thing but for me it was gosh it was just in Buffalo

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I'll be honest with this sounds weird and then go to Green Bay in Buffalo felt like it was part of the season I mean going to the Super Bowl was kind of like

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make your reservations in August right it it was crazy but we talked about it as players we're going to go and we were

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just dominant in the AFC uh during the early 90s so you know do you think about

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it we played Five Seasons in four we played Five Seasons in four that's how many playoff games we played and uh it

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was just it was kind of a way of life in Western New York at that time our expectations were we're going even

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though on the third and fourth one nobody in the country wanted us to go we were going anyway um but we just had

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those kind of and then we had the perfect coach I mean coach leevy was so resilient and so whatever we're going to

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do this and and he didn't worry about the past and he didn't worry he just always had us in the right frame of mind

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he was the perfect coach for the big um uh Aura guys that we had you know I

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wouldn't say attitudes but just the big presence of a Thurman Thomas and a Bruce Smith and Jim and you know we I think

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all the Hall of Fame guys are on that team there's a lot okay on that team so

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we had some big personalities but Marv had a great way of wrapping them all into one and that was one unit going so

Servant Leadership In The Sports World

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so on this podcast we talk a ton about servant leadership how do you see that play out in the sport

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World well it can it can be hard in the World of Sports because there's so much

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um attention that you get when you're the leader um some do some undo uh I I look

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at at leadership as as this and I've been very fortunate um to have some great coaches and a phenomenal father

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who's still alive at 87 and then the ultimate leader that I

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you know growing up in a faith base and that's who I am and it's all Who I Am To be honest with you is my faith is Christ

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himself I mean he's the perfect example of a leader I think the number one quality of all the great leaders I've

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been around and I hope I exemplify this is humility no nobody wants to lose listen to a person that has all the

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answers or they think they do they want to listen to somebody that's willing to listen to them uh and he's a great

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communicator or she is a great communicator I think those two things stand out in the leaders that I've had I

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I try to do those as much as I can I pray every day for con discernment humility and wisdom those are the three

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words that I pray literally every morning for myself and I think if I can have those three then maybe I can be the

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half the leader that my father was or you know my high school coach coach thorensen who's on my RO my my um as a

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coach for me he's my running back coach and then Coach leby I mean those are the three that stand out for me so I just

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want to be humble in my Approach with people I I've heard you talk about character over talent in this uh this

"Character" Characteristics

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Dynamic of character and and I think sometimes people get character confused what is it from a sport world and from

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your stand Point as a leader how does character play into all this well let's it's it's easy to say what character is

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it's hard to uh harder to show you what character is it's easy to sit here

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behind a mic and tell you what character is and and you know because I've firmly believe that you are what you are at

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home I can sit you in front of this mic and tell you I'm all this and that and well just ask my players ask my wife you

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know if I am those things at home or on the field because when you're the caught up in the in the emot of things your

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true character is going to come out when things are tough and aren't going so well your true character is going to be revealed it is so that means in every

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game your character is going to be revealed good or bad so how do I find character well the first thing I want to do is I want to sit down I want to talk

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to them face to face I don't want no Zoom call um I don't want to do even a phone call uh because I can pick up on a

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lot of things just how they sit in that chair you know they sit up straight do they make eye contact are they

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constantly you know busy with other things that are going on in their head uh that's character how they shake my

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hand tells me a lot about character um I'm hoping that their parents come with them on a recruiting

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shet how they treat their mother and how they r Treat their father when their dad's talking in that interview tells me

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a lot about their character if they can't respect their father and the mother they're never going to respect me as a coach no way um and then and then a

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lot of things can be revealed on film meaning if I'm watching the film of a player um and if I'm watching the film

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of a player I'm really interested in the guy I let the the coaches kind of you

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know throw out things and they know what to look for uh cuz we talk about this quite often cuz it is the absolute

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number one character we recruit character if they don't pass the character test we move on before we even get to the talent and what they do

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statistically and all that doesn't matter they got to pass a character test first now can you bet a thousand of course not okay but we try hard and we

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bet a pretty high percentage um so film I want to see how they react to their

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success tells me a lot about their character they draw attention to themselves probably not my guy okay

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unless it's just an excitement thing you can tell the difference um and what you see on Sunday afternoons it's gotten

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more and more over the years it's just all about themselves I don't I would never uh draft or trade for that guy I

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can give you a lot of names that fit in that category I think people know people aren't stupid people know they're not coming here okay and certainly if I was

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at an NFL team I wouldn't draft them uh and then more importantly and this is where we really get kind of deep

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is if I'm really serious with this guy and I'm about to offer him and I want him to come to Au a lot I'm going to

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watch somebody else's film at the same position instead of recruiting that guy

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because I know I'm going to see that guy at his best but I want to see the guy I'm recruiting when I know he's not going to possibly be at his best meaning

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when things don't go well and the other guy's get in the sack is he upset does he hang his head or does he go over and

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congratulate them he really get excited for somebody else's success boy I want I want a roster full of guys that really

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enjoy somebody else's success but we live in such a me culture I don't want a me culture guy I want a guy that really

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genuinely is excited about somebody else when they have success so and you can find that it's not hard you got to dig

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into somebody else's film and watch that guy if I don't see that sometimes at the

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red flag but I'm going to ask him about it and interview with him and I'm going to say and I'll point out sometimes the

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film I'm say so why would you act that way when that guy had the sack why would you go over there and slap him on a can or something his answer is going to be

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very very revealing whether we take him or not so that's a that's kind of where we start wow yeah that's that's really

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inspirational I mean when when people think of you and I know you're way more than this but they they often probably

Never Give Up - Memorable Super Bowl Play

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think back to one of the greatest Super Bowl plays of all time of you chasing

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down Leon and uh and stopping what was going to be a touchdown right and that perseverance

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that character um when most guys probably wouldn't have cared frankly um

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what how did that get ingrained in you maybe sure about that play just so the audience understands it in case they

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haven't seen it but also talk about how that got ingrained in you yeah sure um

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well let's talk about the play first so with Buffalo this is our third Super Bowl now um and we're we're in La okay

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uh Pasadena and playing the Super Bowl and it's late in the game four or

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five minutes left of the game there's the score is 52 to 17 we're losing game's over there's no way you're going

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to come back in this one okay even though a few weeks earlier we came back from 35 down okay this it's not going to

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happen with 4 minutes left and it was a I was doing a fly padn a go route down the left side of the field and I turned

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and look I probably 30 some yards down the field not nobody really knows cuz I wasn't even the camera the Buffalo Bills

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camera but it was at least 30 some yards I turn around back and I look and Frank

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Reich who's a backup quarterback at that time fumbled the football got knocked out of his hands and Leon let the defensive lineman of the Dallas Cowboys

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picked it up really quickly it was like with M him within a second or so and he starts running for an apparent touchdown

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and I all I did was saw him pick it up and I just start running as fast as I could one of the morals of the stories

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of of this is is how you react to something is really your true character

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and you think about that for a second if you have a minute or an hour or a day to think about it most people with good

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character they're going to ultimately make the right decision because they're going to think about it right but really

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how you think about it you could be in a in a argument at home okay or with your

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team as a coach or during the the heat of the battle of competition your

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character is going to be reveil a matter good or bad uh I hope for the good most

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of the time um but you know hey I'm human just like everybody else but I try hard to to to make the right call and

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this is an instant where it happened as an athlete in a game and I just reacted Leon let would

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have scored but he slowed down to celebrate at the 5 yd line and when he

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did Don BBE hustling stripped it away now why I reacted that way is is the

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question I get a lot and I always say two words my dad um and my mom too but

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my dad was the one that set the tone in the family just little things like you

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know whatever you put on your plate for dinner oh you're finishing it it's not like you go over there scrape this in the thing cuz you don't want it or you

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give it to the dog under the table no you're you're going to eat that son um you start a you start a team in the

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season and now you're in the middle of season and things aren't going well Co you think coach doesn't like you or you're not getting enough playing time

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you're not quitting the team that's not an option okay you're going to quit on your team and the halfway through the season who does that no that's not who

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you are son so it just started off with little things like that that just became my character and I tell people these things

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because you can't change your character overnight you are who you are it takes a

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process of going through these things that's why it's so vital that parents raise their kids up in this type of

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atmosphere that hopefully when they get to a situation in life that they're going to make the right decision there's

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no guarantees on that but if you raise your kids up right you're giving them a far greater chance to making that right

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decision and it could be a life or death situation we're just talking football here in sports um that's huge okay now let me

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give you the Inside Story on this and this is how God works and I love how God works sometimes man I get frustrated how

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God works sometimes okay but I love how he works when it's all revealed here I am I'm living my dream I

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mean when I'm 10 years old I'm in the backyard I'm Fred bnov for the Oakland Raiders playing in Pasadena you know the

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oak Kenny Stabler and oh my gosh I'm I'm living my dream I mean can you imagine this and and my dream was Pasadena that

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Super Bowl so playing a Super Bowl Pasadena was everything I dreamed of when I was a 10-year-old boy and growing

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up so here I am I'll never forget it I'm an hour before the game I'm just walking

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the grounds of a mid 70s day in Pasadena oh my gosh it was just I was

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just taking in all the sights and the sounds and just knowing that GAR Brooks was going to sing the national anthem

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and oh by the way Michael Jackson's going to do the halftime show I'm living it and I I'll never forget this prayer

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there's certain prayers that we never forget this was one of them in my life I went to the 50 yard line I was in my

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half my gear my pants and shoes and had you know my shirt that I went underneath um my pads his gain um his paying my

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gain shirt and I said this prayer simple prayer I said God let me let me reveal

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you today more than me this isn't about me God this has to be all about you this is the biggest stage and sports and I

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get to do this I don't want it to be about me let it be about you well I got

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out and I walked Chris I'm not going to lie I felt so good I mean there's times

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when when the spirit comes on you you just feel great that was me in that moment and I just felt like when I was walking off I was like oh my gosh I'm

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going to score the touchdown to win a Super Bowl in Buffalo I'm going to be iconic in Buffalo I'm going to make this one-handed JJ Jefferson stab in the back

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of the end zone get my tiptoes in the end zone and at the at the end of the game right

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no God gave me lot because how many people in the audiences that I speak to today are listening today how many people can

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relate to a one-handed stab in a back in the end zone probably nobody how many can relate to never giving up probably

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everybody cuz everybody nobody's immune to trials and tribulations we're all going to go through it how you handle it

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through the trials and tribulations is how the outcome's going to be my advice be obedient to God do God's Will and he

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will bless you if you try to do it on your own it's going to fail okay so

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that's how I've looked at life and and then I see the result I see the result

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yeah it would have been great to win a Super Bowl and I know a lot of fans in Western New York are not going to like what I'm going to say right now but if I

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was to do it all over again and have whatever happened happened I would take

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the Leon L play over a Super Bowl championship of the one-handed stab

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because I have seen for 30 some years now lives radically change because of

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Leon Le play I Stand On stages and I see people and I see them just they can't

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get over whatever situation they're going then they hear me talk about it some Plain Jane guy coming out of

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nowhere getting drafted by the bills and then making this plane the Super Bowl and oh by the way it changed Leon's life

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and mine as well and so we all need to just be ready for that moment and the

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only way in my mind that you can be ready is spiritually ready because we're all selfish we are we all want what we

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want okay that's our human nature that's how we were made that's okay okay but

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it's got to be centered towards who gets the glory and I don't want the glory I don't

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um I want to give it all to him and through this Leon La play it has given me so many times to help people in their

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daily walks that my friend is the big picture not the small one I love that

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and recently you just came out with the never give up devotional share a little bit about that in and then also the the

Never Give Up Devotional

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other thing you're working on yeah so I I've got two devotionals I I never thought I would be a writer I mean I

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never thought I would have a book so I had a a book called six rings from nowhere that came out years ago 2012 I

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think it was you know Rewritten and and um in Jim Gibson the publish and of did a great job with that

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but um just recently in the last 6 months I kind of felt led to do a

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devotional now a devotional this is not a normal devotional devotional you pick it up off your you know your you know

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bedside table and you read that devotional in the morning it's scripture and it's great those are great uh and then you'll have athlete that will write

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a devotional but again it's all about scripture and stuff like that the this one is very unique in a sense these are

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instances that happened to me directly God allowed these things to happen to me

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directly I didn't in correct make sure that you remember what I just said there God allowed it God didn't do it God

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doesn't do those things Satan does those things God disallows it and then his glory Romans 8:28 is reveal because for

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all that love him those things work out right and but it's frustrating and so I

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wanted one right one and God gave me the never give up play so let's use it right and so that is the title of the

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devotional but it talks about things that happened in my life that were just devastating um my financial guy taking

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my money um you know just this certain things were you like the Carolina store when I went to Carolina for ' 95 it was

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this awful experience athletically but it was a great time to grow spiritually that who is my identity in was it in the

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coach's opinion of me oh my how empty is that no my my opinion and my identity is

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in Christ and Christ alone so when I realized that which I did but I lived it here I mean until you live something

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you're not really quite sure how you're going to react right um cuz initially I was like I was upset and I I wanted out

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and I was going to retire from after Carolina season I wasn't going to quit cuz my dad taught me I wasn't going to quit I was going to finish it out even

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though the horrible experience that it was uh um but I stuck it out and I kept

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playing because God revealed to me no this isn't about you Don and this isn't about really football this is about your

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platform and I've given you one and keep keep going so I didn't quit and where' God take me oh by the way Green Bay

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Packers which statistically I had the most catches most touchdowns and most yardage of my of any other year that I

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had in Buffalo right oh and then we won the Super Bowl that year oh and we beat the Carolina Panthers in the NFC

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championship game go to Super Bowl cuz I got you know God has a sense of humor right so but the again I would have quit

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I would have missed out on all that God had for me and I think that happened so many times in people's lives that we

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just get caught up in our selfish thoughts and our our self-pity and we we're pointing fingers at everybody said

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a looking in the mirror and I didn't want to be that guy I didn't want to live the rest of my life and boy I would

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have had regrets if I would have looking back on it now and I just want to be an encouragement so I wrote the never give

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up devotional that was came out six months ago and I just finished new one it's called In His

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Image a father's devotional I had a great father okay I try to be a

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resemblance of that uh and then I have the greatest father in Christ that I read daily and I want to write a

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devotional of how I got through these tough times scripturally and how I got

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on my knees and it was not easy oh believe me it was not easy I had to really really dig deep okay in some of

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these moments in my life which everybody that's listening to this this show right now can relate to that everybody

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nobody's immune to those tough times even thinking through obviously you're a dad uh now and your son

A Father's Perspective on Servant Leadership

27:13
obviously um followed some in your footsteps obviously doing his own thing but uh how did you think through servant

27:20
leadership being a dad and uh obviously I know you're so proud of your son being

27:26
in the NFL and all of that but how did you think through that yeah well some of

27:31
these stories are in the devotional In His Image as a father and I'm proud of my three daughters too they are incredible women uh all four of them

27:38
love the Lord with all their heart uh Chad's story is probably more fascinating than mine really my story is

27:44
coming out of nowhere my son uh got kicked in the gut

27:50
more than any person I think I've ever seen in life um 11 of 12 Years going

27:55
back to a sophomore year in high school all the way through his fourth year with the Minnesota Vikings 11 of those 12 years he was reconstructive surgery

28:02
season ending injury how in the world does this guy go through High School breaking his arm uh broke his collarbone

28:08
twice broke his foot I mean I could just go down the list of these things doesn't play half of his games of his of his

28:16
high school career get eight division one offers that's insane and then cuz I

28:21
well how do I know that cuz I had I had a business called House of speed that trained a lot of athletes that go through this process every year um

28:28
then he goes to Northern has an average career really at Northern too okay cuz he was always hurt okay uh he would be

28:35
player of the week and then get hurt in that game okay against Bowling Green comes back player the game again gets

28:41
hurt again in that game um and his and his season's over and then gets an

28:47
opportunity to go to the Vikings off of the strength and conditioning coach uh Brad or at Northern Illinois he knew a

28:55
scout at Minnesota Vikings and he called him and said you need to take a look at this kid he gets hurt sure but this guy always bounces back he never gives up I

29:01
mean this guy guy you want in your program he goes up there and he makes makes the team as an invite gets that

29:08
he's the 12th guy going into camp and oh by the way who does he beat out think about this for a second now who does he

29:14
beat out to make the roster to so he can start playing on an active roster oh guy named lacoin Treadwell Lain Treadwell

29:22
You could argue is the greatest wide receiver in Illinois history leads his team to a state

29:27
champion ship in creep mon goes to Old Miss breaks all the records at SEC Old

29:33
Miss and then he's a first round pick of the Minnesota Vikings and now he's going in his fourth year and Chad beats that guy out I mean come on man that's just

29:39
crazy that doesn't happen um and then he lands up playing four years and three of them are on IR who keeps a guy around

29:46
that's on IR all the time God you know you just and I Tred my hardest to tell

29:53
kids that I want people to understand that I as the your coach here at a world

29:59
University I'm not in control whether you play or not if you're a Believer and you're really living that out they look

30:05
at me they like yeah you are I said no I'm not God if wanted if God wanted it how do I know that because he did it for

30:10
me and he did it for my son he's done it for a lot of other people that I've seen if God wants it done there are no odds

30:15
with God I'm a little an example of that there's no odds with God you can do it so um in my and my son's story is

30:23
incredible story he needs to write a book I told him that he really does because but he is you know doing he's

30:28
doing a company called Le a legacy and he's it's kind of like a big brother's big sisters program where he mentors

30:34
young boys in athletics trains them and then he mentors them and uh and it's

30:41
going really well for him down in Nashville Tennessee and I'm very proud of how he's just turned his whole story

30:46
he could have tanked it many of times but he always picked himself up off the mat the very next day and says yeah

30:53
God's got my back wow you mentioned House of speed and I know you you had an

House Of Speed

30:58
influence on thousands upon thousands and potentially Generations you know when you look at some of the stuff

31:03
you've done talk about why why did you start House of speed and what was that yeah well I knew when I retired from the

31:09
pack in '98 um that I wanted to be around Sports and I wanted to be around

31:15
mentoring through Sports so uh when I was training athletes in the late 90s I

31:22
started that company House of speed with Dr Jeff sh who's a good friend and and he's phenomenal he was actually trained

31:27
me at toward the end of my career and um and I found out that after 6 years of

31:34
doing House of speed that yes it was mentoring and it was a Go kids gains but it wasn't to the level that I wanted I

31:40
wanted to mentor and be at a more intimate level where I really got to know their families and the kid and

31:45
being more involved in that person and what better way to do that than coaching

31:51
and um and so after six years I said I got to I got to get involved in coaching I felt led to do that um and roor

31:59
Christian Job High School opened up I went over there to roor Christian and

32:04
just see God work at Ro Christian think about this Chris is they had no football

32:10
field they had no weight room they had a universal weight set in the middle of the band room they had 17 kids in the

32:17
whole program at the first meeting they had in two May of 2004 17 kids we land up Happ 24 cuz I was just pulling kids

32:23
out of the band room in the other rooms like hey you're a football player oh I'm not yeah you are so we had 24 that team

32:29
went 10-2 to the quarterfinals um with really a bunch of

32:34
kids that never played football much um and then to see it now and you know

32:40
being the only team in Aurora uh history in in sec in Aurora is the second

32:45
largest city in Illinois outside Chicago and I think there's eight high schools nobody in aora has ever won a state

32:51
championship until roor Christian came along they've won two um I take no credit all coaches can do do is create a

32:58
culture all coaches can do is teach kids how to get more out of themselves than

33:04
the normal way of thinking that's all coaches really can do I don't play anymore x's and no throw it out the window Talent let's really kind of throw

33:10
that out the window to a certain degree as well what wins is your heart your passion and your mind you think you can

33:17
you must get over those two hurdles if you don't think you can you got no choice or no chance if you think you can

33:23
you got an outside chance and then you throw that with passion and hard work and developing yourself in the off season yeah now you're going to be

33:28
pretty good and um and I think that's what I've learned from great teachers before me a lot of people I'm sure

How To Instill A Never Give Up Attitude

33:36
listening uh have either bumped into people or at times felt like there's this defe us mindset right um which goes

33:43
along with the never get up how do you instill that never give up mentality in your players now being a coach having

33:50
worked with so many players over the years yeah that ain't easy uh that's why

33:56
first I think you recruit recruit kids that think that way already doesn't mean they're all going to and even them uh

34:05
you know I don't allow a kid to hang his head uh if I see that a kid's struggling

34:10
let me give you an example um Gavin zimman our first quarterback here in 2019 our first spring practices was in

34:17
April of that year took the job in January that year our first practices in April first practice man of fact it was

34:24
within the first three practices I coached him on a certain

34:29
thing on timing of a throw and I need you to deliver it here and he kind of turned and kind of snapped at me not

34:35
disrespectfully was kind of like you know I could tell he's been verbalized

34:41
let's just put it that way right and I thought it was kind of odd and strange and so I pulled him in my office

34:46
afterwards I didn't say anything I didn't want to embarrass him in front of his teammates and say hey we don't act that way or anything of that nature

34:52
especially to your quarterback you know defensive linan you yeah I'm going you know but not your quarterback

34:58
um so I pulled him in my office and I said Gavin let me I'm I thought it was kind of strange the way you reacted to

35:03
me and I just want you to know something I love you I care a lot about you oh and

35:08
by the way you're my guy you're the quarterback okay I'm not going to Bent you or anything of that nature uh you I

35:17
need you to know I didn't say this but I needed him to know that I was in his Corner every player needs to know that

35:23
the coach is in this corner it's kind of like parenting okay you have to dis I him if you don't discipline him you get

35:29
total chaos guys come and goes they please I mean that doesn't work kids go Kims come your your your curfew is 11 he

35:34
showed up at midnight now there's consequences of that right that's biblical by the way so um I got to hold

35:42
the guys accountable when they when they cross that line but at the same time and this is where it gets confusing you know

35:47
with a lot of coaches they got to know that you love them cuz no players are going to ever listen to you what you got

35:54
to say until they know that you care what you say that that you know that they care about the individual no player

36:00
is going to ever say oh gosh coach I love you and I care about what you're saying unless they know I care about

36:06
them and I love them unconditionally so I tell my team every single day I love them every time we break a huddle I love

36:12
you they say it back every time a kid comes into my office in a one-on-one meeting when they leave they're going to

36:18
say I love you I usually say it first to get it out of them because they're really quiet and and and nervous a lot of times I don't want them to be um but

36:25
they they have to say I love you okay even if they don't want to cuz I just demoted them or something like that they

36:31
still have to say it um and it's become way of life okay uh so there's a lot

36:37
that goes into getting the kid but you have to start there you have to start by

36:42
the kid knows there you can't cross a line and the kid also knows I love you

36:48
unconditionally my dad used to spank me I know this is kind of a you know 70s thing okay but my dad used to spank me

36:54
and when he used to spank me after he would spank me he'd say It's kind son you know I had to do that cuz I love you right I never I never understood that

37:01
until I had my own kids and it's and it's so true because parents are

37:06
completely opposite nowadays right first of all they're scared to spank and two they don't think they should spank or

37:12
discipline their kids because they're what what they don't understand is a kid wants to be spanked he'll never tell you

37:19
that she'll never tell you that but they want to be because it shows that you actually care here's the problem with it

37:25
don't ever spank or discipline out of anger let me say that again don't ever

37:31
spank or discipline out of anger always do it out of love so if you're in an angry moment because your kid just smarted off to mom take a deep breath

37:39
son we don't do that I'm going to talk to you later about that because right now you're really mad and you got to go

37:44
and pray okay you got to get yourself calmed down um and once you do then you sit them down you say listen there's

37:50
consequences that here's the consequence okay you're grounded or whatever that is and then you got to uphold it because soon as you AOL as a

37:58
coach or a father yeah then the kid knows that the kids aren't stupid they know what they're going to get away with

38:03
so it shows that you care as long as you do it right yeah this is so good I I

Ten Rapid-Fire Questions

38:09
want to ask you 10 rapid fire questions oh boy where you just say the first thing that comes to your mind no these are always hard okay uh first one who's

38:17
the first person you think of when I say servant leadership well I mean most of these

38:23
questions are I would tell you a Biblical question would be Christ okay but I'm going to give you one here on on

38:28
earth a servant a servant I would probably say um my

38:34
son my son Chad five words that most describe yourself humble

38:40
hopefully um competitive

38:45
um caring myself boy it's always hard to explain

38:51
yourself um committed and I would say loyal in the world of today Sports the

38:58
loyalty and commitment has gone out the window with nil and transfer portal we don't actually I just had this

39:04
conversation with the team the other day about what what does loyalty look like and I use three examples on our football

39:10
team uh and they were star players and that could have left matter

39:15
of fact one of them had four division one offers FCS and chose to stay who does that unless they're loyal uh I'm

39:21
hoping that wow favorite author or book oh man

39:29
again the book is Bible but um dances with wolf is my favorite book I love the

39:34
movie I'm a I'm kind of an Indian Heritage guy I was never the cowboy I was always the Indian growing up um

39:40
probably because I have a little Indian on my dad's side so I was kind of grew up that I so dances W is my favorite

39:45
movie okay um the next question was going to be favorite movie too so that's my movie and book yeah okay favorite

39:52
food oh growing up Kentucky Fried Chicken baby man um

39:58
no longer can I eat that anymore by the buckets uh steak okay I love a good

40:04
ribey steak with good juicy fat on it favorite thing to do in your free time

40:09
fish with my family in the boat now it's grandkids was my my kids and my wife

40:17
um just quick here my dad started a fishing trip with the family when we he was five when I was five original five

40:24
kids mom and dad mom and dad are still alive 86 786 we still take that same family fishing trip to Northern

40:30
Minnesota and this is 62 family members going out and no nobody misses I think we've had a couple you know nieces and

40:36
nephew Miss over the years for whatever reason one was pregnant okay and had to have a child by the way uh but nobody

40:42
misses our family is very unique uh in the sense of and that's because of the leadership of the of my father W

40:49
favorite place you've been know I mean my my ashes one day will be buried in

40:54
the lake that we go to in Minnesota so uh and that is that's my favorite place

41:00
to go is the lake up there because I just love being on the water before the sun comes over the trees it's my favorite time of the day favorite place

41:06
in the in the world um outside of that because that has um you know family ties to it uh boy

41:14
I tell you what Glacier National Park and Yellowstone man doesn't get much better

41:19
in that place yeah where's somewhere you want to go that you have not been Alaska

41:25
okay yeah my my bucket list number one bucket list hands down is to hire a float a a bush

41:31
pilot um for three days four days maybe a week pending and fly over and say land

41:38
there well let's fish there today camp out there uh and you know if I can take

41:43
my son with me or or my wife cuz she loves the fish or something like that it would be it would be great to be able to do that uh but that hands down is would

41:50
be it wow all right finally best advice you've ever gotten uh again outside of Biblical

41:57
advice you know follow God's lead and and get on your knees and pray um Ian bounds has a great quote that I have in

42:04
my office that he who you know fritters away the freshness of the Morning by

42:10
putting other things first before Christ lands up putting Christ on the table and never pulls him off I don't want to be

42:16
that guy okay that that's probably the greatest advice biblically um is communicate treat people right and

42:25
I think that's the best thing you can actually do in your marriage communicate treat her right how do you treat her

42:30
well read the Bible he'll tell you how uh treat her with respect and love and just like God loved the church man

42:36
that's the way you got to love your wife and I try my hardest to do that as well I have an amazing relationship with my

42:41
wife we we've known each other since kindergarten we were born in the same Hospital eight months apart I think God

42:47
ordained this okay I've known her for 55 years yeah we've been married 37 of them

42:53
so we met in kindergarten so it's just an amazing uh thing with my wife and she's an incredible woman well thank you

43:01
yeah thank you for being on the podcast thanks for sharing so much and uh I know people will be inspired by listening to

43:06
your story yeah thank you I appreciate it thank you for listening to this episode of the servant leadership

Closing

43:12
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