Thank You Coach DG

I was a skinny high school sophomore at Boonton High School in the mid 1970’s. I decided to try out for the football team. I had always been a pretty good athlete but now the competition was different. There were so many guys on the team almost all of them bigger than me. I was not even 150 pounds at that time. Though very few were faster than me. Frankly I was a little intimidated by all this. The upperclassman seemed like men to me. I mean many of them had facial hair. While I was a bit intimidated, I was also determined to stick it out and even play some JV.

If I was smart, I would have said that with my size that I wanted to play as a defensive back but some how I was with the defensive ends, which in our high school’s scheme was like an outside linebacker. After all the general drills we broke up into our units and I was with a group of strong large players. I was one of the smallest players.

Coach Gardner (DG as we affectionately called him) selected one of the other sophomores and assigned him the task of selecting where we would practice our drills. Now at the time our fields were among the worst of all the high schools because of their overuse. The player selected a spot with some nice grass not too far from where we were standing.   The veteran players had a glint in their eyes because they knew what was going to happen. All of a sudden DG burst into a high pitched yell and bellowed “We are not going to practice on the grass! We are going to practice on the rocks, dirt and glass! We are defensive ends we are tougher!” We all then ran to the worst section of the fields with joy.

That was my first encounter with DG and that was just one lesson among many that has stayed with me.

Lesson 1 – Turning a disadvantage into an advantage. All the students at the school used to look enviously at some of the other school’s facilities. It was obvious to them that they would be better athletes because they had better facilities. Coach Gardner, however, took our disadvantage and made our unit believe we were tougher than the others because of this disadvantage.     It was brilliant and our unit was always among the best. In life we too often readily accept obstacles as an excuse for not succeeding.

DG was a master motivator and could use anything to his advantage. Frankly his pregame pep talks were legendary. They would make Knute Rockne sound like a Kindergarten teacher.

Lesson 2 – Determination and toughness can take you far. That first year I was not the best player. Not even close!  But I wanted to be on the team. The drills that we had to do were not easy. Success would be measured by just completing them. I know that nowadays these drills may seem excessively violent, but it was the way it was then and frankly I think they helped me later in life. One drill we did was that we had to go through a gauntlet of paired blockers. Not around them but through them. I remember my fear about doing this drill the first time. I was smaller than most and could not really use my greatest strength, my quickness to go around them. Yet I attacked them and made it through eventually.

In this case toughness was not physical it was more mental. Getting through this drill made me aware that I was capable of more than I thought. When I do long ultra marathons, I find that this toughness is not just physical, it’s mental grit. It’s getting through a difficult situation. In life we always encounter disappointment. Like that gauntlet we must keep moving forward with determination and toughness.

Lesson 3 – Having someone believing in you makes a huge difference. While I “survived “my sophomore year, I began to blossom my junior year. I was a little bigger and stronger. DG would coach me hard and tell me where I could improve. Previously my coaches would tell me basics and let me just use my natural athletic ability. Coach Gardner had me focus on eliminating my bad habits. Bad habits that I could get away with when I was younger but no longer could. He also made me focus on the mental aspect of the game reading the offenses and staying in my lane.

His belief in me was evident to everyone. He started calling me “JC Pinney” an obvious connection to the department store. When he yelled my name there was a hint of affection in his voice.  I heard the not so quiet whispers when I was called “Gardner’s son”. It angered me a bit because it was not like he gave me special breaks. Looking back now maybe there was a little affection on his part. For my part there was a deep need to please him and not let him down. I needed to reward his faith in me.

Having someone believe in you can make you perform better. That is true in all aspects of life not just sports.

Lesson 4 – Confidence is necessary. It is very important to have someone believe in you but that will only take you so far. What you need is to believe in yourself. In high school I had very little confidence but with some success on the football field my confidence began to grow. My junior year I was one of only four juniors to receive a letter on a senior laden team with great talent. DG’s coaching had worked. For maybe the first time in my life I felt comfortable about my ability. My senior year DG was not coaching because he wanted to have time to watch his son play his senior year of football. I really missed him, but his two years of tutelage had done its job.

It is funny, confidence is something that is not always permanent and if you start to lose it your performance suffers no matter what you are doing. My greatest successes in life always occurred because I was confident.

Confidence also comes from doing your homework, using your ability and working hard. Not just in sports but in all facets of life. I have learned that in my life but the building block for that knowledge was built on the football field with coach Gardner.

During my chat with DG at the Tourne (See previous blog about our chance meeting.) he said with joy “JC seeing you not only made my day. It made my year!” My reply which eluded me at the time is “DG having you coach me made me a better man.”