As a college basketball junkie; allow me to rephrase. As a
basketball junkie in general (If you are keeping up with the Bulls vs. Celtics
series and saw the triple overtime game 6, you would understand), I was
thrilled to be able to work in a freelance role with my wife, Shay, at the Don Meyer - Evening of Excellence on
the campus of Lipscomb University
on Tuesday, April 28th.
Coach Meyer has been coaching college basketball since 1972, and he spent 24 years at Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN. Twice NAIA Coach of the Year during his tenure coaching the Bisons, he led them to the 1986 NAIA National Championship. Coach Meyer has been in the trenches on the hardwood, involved in many tough athletic battles. However, his most difficult battle began off the court on September 5, 2008, when a horrific car crash almost cost the famed coach his earthly life. Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated tells the story quite well; here's the link below:
Always the witty speaker, Coach
Meyer states the following 3 things as "what he learned from
his wreck most of all":
- You should wear a seatbelt.
- Don't fall asleep while driving.
- If you do fall asleep, don't run a Prius into
a semi.
Obviously, these statements drew a laugh.
Shay and I shot 2 hours of footage at the event which included the
following:
An excellent dinner; there were multiple eating sites. Each NCAA Atlantic Sun Team had a room set up where the athletes were in attendance, and a highlight DVD was playing honoring the ‘08- ’09 season (for each respective sport). The men's basketball team was in the old gym - McQuiddy - where many of the past and present Bisons were in attendance. There was also a main seating area in Allen Arena where Coach Meyer offered up a very entertaining Q & A session with former all-time leading scorer in college basketball and current Athletic Director at LU - Philip Hutcheson.
After
the dinners, the main address began at 7:30, and this event was introduced
by ESPN Senior Writer - Buster
Olney. Since we were both working the event (although in
obviously different capacities), and Buster is such a great baseball
writer/reporter, I took the opportunity to pick his brain on the Brian McCann eye infection
situation that is hurting the lineup of my beloved Braves. True to form, Buster was a super nice guy who loved
talking the National Pastime
with me. Olney has done an ESPN
E60 feature story on Coach
Meyer, and he is well qualified to speak on the topic. One of
Olney's first gigs was working under Joe Biddle at The
Nashville Banner (beginning in 1988 - during a great span for DLU). While writing in
Nashville, he was a beat writer for college basketball in the city, and he
had a great story line in the mighty Bisons.
A video
presentation preceded the keynote address by Coach Meyer, and it was a very well done piece. Lipscomb Alum, Jimmy Chaffin, is a
partner at Dye, Van Mol & Lawrence
Public Relations & Advertising, and he served as the
mastermind/editor for this wonderful video which featured many highlights
on and off the court during the 24 year span Coach Meyer roamed the sidelines for the Bisons. (In fact, this is the advertising
firm that Shay and I were shooting footage for during the event. She had a
camera shot in the video for Coach
Meyer too.) The video was great.
It pulled some tears from the crowd.
Dr. Don Meyer was the Keynote Speaker, and he stood several times throughout the
night, but "Little Buddy"
(as he colorfully refers to his "nub" where a leg used to be)
confines him to a wheel chair for much of his waking hours. As he made his
way to the podium, however, the entire crowd stood to welcome a popular
figure back to the Nashville campus. The speech was excellent with both
funny and serious moments; here's a sampling:
Coach Meyer has 3 rules during his very famous and heavily attended basketball
camps: 1.) Pick up trash.
(Leave a place better than you found it. He referred to how his teams
would oftentimes leave the visitor's locker room in better shape than they
found it during road games.) 2.) Please
& Thank You & Yes Sir &Yes
Mam. (In basketball, the classroom, business world & life,
the little things matter.) 3. Everyone takes notes. (Continual improvement
or Kaizen). These
rules made me think of my best friends, Andy Woods and Justin
Woods, who tell great stories of weeks at camp on the Nashville
campus which consisted of "sitting on the wall" and
"push-ups" to the point of bodily failure and soreness like
you've never felt before. While the "steely eyes" of Coach Meyer could be
intimidating, the camps also greatly improved the basketball games for
each one of them.
A great
quote from the address: "Competitors don't have time to complain.
They're too busy getting things done."
"F
Words" learned during the immediate recovery from his wreck: Faith: Coach stated he "lost 7% of his body mass each week he
was bed ridden after the wreck.” During this time, he created a prayer
list of people to pray for because, "You have to pray for other
people before you pray for yourself.”
Peace isn't the absence of storms or trials. Peace is the calm you
have in the middle of the storm.” Coach
Meyer stated the most intense pain he has ever felt is when
the bandage covering "Little
Buddy" was changed in the hospital. In fact, he stated that
the bandage would "attach to his open would and be peeled off.” Not a good image, huh? During these
times, he would scream/sing the following hymn all Evangelical Christians should know by heart: "Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let
the earth hear His voice. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the people
rejoice. Oh, come to the Father through Jesus the Son, and give Him the
glory, great things He hath done." Family - "Carmen
did it all. She kept on top of my medical info and sometimes knew more
than the doctors about my condition." (This reminded me of my mom who
kept copious notes during my dad's many bouts with cancer and would set
out for the best options possible.) Coach made mention of his kids,
grandkids, etc. Friends: Coach Meyer made mention of many
who made the trip to see him in the hospital and the tons of letters, etc.
Fitness - "The
first time I had to walk 120 feet, it was very tough. I had to have the
discipline to do the little things every day."
Coach Meyer gave a
great lesson that really hit home with me because of my job as a Project
Manager for Franke
Foodservice, managing New
Store, Rebuild and Remodel Projects for McDonald's. The very
first McDonald's was in
Illinois, and Coach Meyer
said that this store used Pepsi
products: (paraphrase): "During a very busy Saturday, the only McDonald's at that time ran out
of Pepsi, and they
made a phone call to Pepsi
requesting they bring them some of the cola to the restaurant so they
could quench the thirst of the customers. The person who answered the
phone after hearing the plea, simply stated: “It's Saturday, and we don't
deliver Pepsi to nobody on
Saturday.” That very next Monday, McDonald's
signed an exclusive contract with Coke.
If Coke were to lose every
account but hold onto McDonald's,
they would be just fine.” Sounds like another company I am familiar with. Coach
Meyer went on to say, "People make/form their opinions of a
company or organization based off the particular individual they deal
with. That one rude representative of Pepsi cost the company millions and
millions of dollars." I found this to be food for thought.
An
autograph session was next where I was able to tell Coach Meyer how much I enjoyed
watching him coach in my hometown at my Alma Mater Freed-Hardeman University in Bader Gymnasium. The two schools were fierce rivals, both
being Church of Christ
institutions. FHU usually
came out on the "short end of the stick,” but the games were highly
competitive and fun between the teams and crowds. He mentioned how hot it
would get in Bader, and
that's the truth a real "sweat box" as he called it.
After
signing autographs for over one hour, the night concluded in McQuiddy where it was only the
former players, Coach Meyer
and a handful of people (including Shay and me getting the video
evidence). Coach gathered
the team around him for a huddle, photo and private pep talk. This was
special to witness, and several successful coaches and others were surrounding
the legendary coach including Union
University women's coach Mark Campbell, Freed - Hardeman University's
men's coach Jason Shelton, the founder of Rivals.com, John Pierce and three point bomber Andy McQueen. The list goes on and on.
In conclusion, this was a wonderful fund raising event for the Athletic
Department at Lipscomb University,
and it allowed a school to reconnect with the glory years of its basketball
program and the head coach who brought them that success.
Eric
