A person really doesn’t become whole, until he represents something bigger than himself.  –Coach Jim Valvano

I was recently back on campus for a Duke University lacrosse game and had the pleasure of running along the Al Buehler trail.  This scenic, 3-mile path around the golf course is named after the legendary Duke Track Coach, who served the Duke community for three and a half decades, and positively influenced thousands of lives along the way.  But I only know him from one story long ago.

In the Spring of 1991, I road-tripped from Durham, North Carolina to Indianapolis, Indiana with a group of buddies for the Final Four basketball games.  We were scheduled to play heavily favored UNLV on Saturday, but our plan was to pick up our tickets on Thursday, sell them for a hefty profit, and then road trip back to watch the games on campus.  We heard tickets went for a handsome $5,000 a piece the previous year, and that was enough beer money to ride out the rest of our collegiate days.  There was only one problem.  We hadn’t yet grasped the basic concept of supply and demand.

The Championship Games were held in The Hoosier Dome that year, a massive arena with plenty of tickets available.  We couldn’t give them away!  We were completely broke and didn’t have a backup plan.  Hungry and downtrodden, we stumbled into a downtown hotel that was serving brunch in the main lobby.  Why not?  But after feasting to our heart’s content, the bill arrived, and none of us could believe our eyes.  It was $30 a person.    We didn’t have $30 amongst the six of us.  Rut Roh!  Can you say dine and dash?

We rose from the table slowly and “inconspicuously” made our way toward the exit.  But the security guard was eyeing us the whole time.  When he screamed for us to stop, my one buddy made a break for it!  The security guard was just a wee quicker, and trapped my buddy in the revolving door, like Don Cuneo in The Godfather.  There was no way out.

Suddenly a towering figure appeared out of nowhere.  He turned to me and demanded to know what was going on.  When I explained our less than brilliant plan, he jumped into action. He asked the security guard to release my oxygen-deprived buddy from the fogged-up glass doors.  Then he immediately called over the manager, apologized profusely and paid our entire bill.  We had never seen anything like that in our lives.  But he wasn’t done.

“Sit down boys, I need to talk with you.”

We sheepishly made our way over to the couch.

“You boys may think you are representing just yourselves with this childish behavior.  But you are representing your parents, your families, and DUKE UNIVERSITY.”

With that, he pointed to the Blue Devil logo on his oversized jacket.  You could have heard a pin drop.

“Remember this moment boys.  Every time you act, you represent something bigger than yourselves. Make sure you do it the right way.”

We got the picture!  And with that, he smiled warmly and headed for the door.   But just before he reached the exit, I snapped out of my shock and called after him.

“I’m sorry, sir, but we never got your name.”

He smiled again and handed me a business card.  It simply read:

“Al Buehler, Head Coach, Track and Field.”

Legend.

Blazing a Trail

Life is not an individual journey.  No one gets to the top of the mountain alone.  Just as no one stumbles down the trail alone.  We all represent something bigger than ourselves.  A family.  A team.  A school.  A town.  A country.  Our actions have consequences and how we conduct ourselves matters.

Boorish behavior doesn’t just reflect poorly on an individual.  Kindness doesn’t just impact one person.  We have more responsibility than we realize to positively influence our corner of the world.  We have to think deeply before we act.  We have to step back with perspective and ask bigger questions.  Who are we representing? What responsibility do we have to the greater community?  How much pride do we take in doing the little things right?  How do we want our children to talk to their children about us?

We are all in this together.  Make sure you do it the right way!  

Thank you, Coach Buehler.  You blazed a trail that I will proudly run on any time.