I wasn’t born blind, but I came into this life on the path to becoming blind. As a child through my adolescence and into young adulthood I was very active in sports. I had parents who never treated me as someone who would face an inevitable future. Instead they taught me and allowed me to seize every day, pursue every aspiration and to learn and cope with the sting of loss even as I pursued the thrills of victory. They were determined to teach not what I couldn’t do by placing a safety ring around me. No, they taught me to dream, fight for that dream as a way to discover my potential. This weekend I attended the Dallas Cowboys Pre-Season Game against the Houston Texans at AT&T Stadium (an Aira Access Partner) and my past came back to life as Aira Agent Rich described the game and snapped some pictures; I will post one below this piece. After the game, I reached back into my memories of a time I dreamed of playing football. Here are some thoughts I have as I reflect back, back to a past that has had a profound impact on where I find myself in the here and the now of my life.
Men are not born men, they are cultivated, motivated and pushed into manhood by a choice few in their lives. Coach Parker is one of those chosen few. The greatness of a man isn't solely measured by his personal self-serving accomplishments; it is also measured in the accomplishments of the many he has influenced over a lifetime. Whether it was in the classroom or on the field Jesse Parker influenced generations of this country’s finest. His students and his players’, and I call them “His” because to him every life held a yet undiscovered talent. Coach Parker recognized in his players as well as his students their God given potential. He strived daily to unlock it and as a result he unleashed professional athletes, lawyers, doctors, law enforcement, and members of the military, and yes even authors, careers that paint the tapestry of this nation.
I never suited up for a game under the Friday Night Lights but that doesn’t mean that at the start of every football season I wasn’t on the field trying to catch the eye of Coach Parker and his staff. Not many people knew that I was going blind; the first season I tried out for the Toros even he didn’t know. He was brutal with me, unrelenting, drove me to levels I didn’t even know existed in me. In the end, I didn’t make the cut. But then Coach Parker said, “Burton keep working, keep trying to find the “You” that can be great.” Coach Parker never once doubted me, he knew that if you applied yourself anything was possible and that belief in people holds such power in the development of youth. I took the encouragement to heart and made the JV team. The next year rolled around and again, there I was, anxious to once again try and catch his eye. By now Coach Parker had learned that I was losing my eyesight. I would learn later in life exactly how he came into that information. Did he go soft on me? No way, as a matter of fact I think he drove me harder because he knew I had to be that much better. The result, again I was cut and through his encouragement I played JV football. That year I did get the chance to practice with the varsity team. I will never forget the 2 on 1 drill Coach Parker put me through, there was me facing Todd Shell, a future 1st round draft pick of the San Francisco 49’ers, and Brad Pico, they pounded me into the ground relentlessly. As a teacher Coach Parker was equally demanding, not in a demeaning or harsh way but in a way, that just made you want to earn his respect, you see, respect was all that was important to him. My senior year I was there again, this would be the year but I blew my knee out and thus ended my aspirations but, and this is very important, Coach Parker helped me realize my failures were the foundation for any success I would find in life. He ingrained in me that when you get knocked down, you get up, no excuses and no apologies and then you continue to march forward.
He taught me to never give an inch, to hold the line, that winning is the result of executing perfectly. Nobody will forget the end of practices and the 10 perfect plays. It wasn’t 9 and 1 that was kind of perfect, no, 10. Never yield, hold the line, believe in “Team,” understand and perfect your role and when the other guy is bigger or faster know with certainty that you are better because you are prepared. This is a formula that has served me well throughout my life. Coach Parker stands as one of only a few men who have profoundly influenced my life. My eyesight is gone now but the memories of 110 degree weather, two-a-days, salt pills, bruising practices and a Coach who would grab your facemask and get right up in your face because he knew you had more in you to give, it is that intensity that fills my ears compelling me to find a way around, under, through or over my life’s obstacles.
I later learned that my father had spoken to coach Parker, told him of my dwindling eyesight. He didn’t tell him as a way of conveying the message of pity or sympathy, a way to hint that maybe he should cut me a break. No, that wasn’t my father and it certainly wasn’t Coach Parker. What my Dad was doing was looking at another man and telling him to not hold back, to make no exceptions, to show his son that the world doesn’t care what ails you. He sent the coach a boy and expected to see a man return. Facing adversity and a world that can be unforgiving is better lived if you are prepared, if you have learned to fail with grace, if you have learned that life will knock you down but the thing that separated the winners from losers isn't the final score but whether or not you rose every time you were knocked down with the resolve to chase victory rather than simply quit, blame circumstances and situations.
So, as I sat in that stadium, soaked up the atmosphere, heard the sounds of the game I remembered those years, decades ago and the impact they had on my life moving forward. Coach Parker has left this world to coach a team in the hereafter, my dad is still with me as are the lessons I learned from two men who never relented, never accepted excuses and always adhered to the belief that kids would always live up to higher expectations rather than succumbing to lowered expectations. Thank you, Dad, for allowing me to try and to fail. Thank you, Coach Parker, for teaching me that preparation is the key ingredient to thriving in life. That you are only a loser if you fail to learn from your failures. I relived a dream, a time, a place from the past this last weekend and it was awesome. Special shout out to Bill Marrin for the great seats and to Aira for affording me the opportunity to attend a game, relive a dream #onmyterms.
#aia #airaacess #airapartner #at&tstadium #whatsnext
Picture below is the view Agent Rich had from my Horizon Glasses, the view he used to describe the sights and sounds of the game.
