Celebrating A Coach and Teacher

Illustrating the difference a coach or teacher can make by one statement is the subject of today’s post. Continuing with my mission of acknowledging those who have made a demonstrable difference in either of my careers (golf or insurance), and those who made a fundamental difference pre-career, today I would like to address a coach/teacher (Doug Rademacher).

Doug Rademacher was a teacher (typing class or what today’s kids would call “keyboarding”). He was also our boy’s high school volleyball coach. Yes, this is not a misprint and it was boy’s volleyball even though it was the 1960’s for those who are wondering the accuracy of these posts. I haven’t a clue where he is today, nor if he is still alive, but he made a huge difference in my life starting with the ability to type this blog! He made typing class interesting for a 16 year old by convincing us of the worthiness. Clearly he was ahead of his time as Mike Neismith’s (of Monkee’s fame) mother may not even invented white out yet to the best of my recollection.

What a world of difference it made to be typing literate for someone of my generation of business people. I am amazed when I see peers of a similar age struggle with a computer, typing one finger at a time. How lucky I was because of Mr. Rademacher’s ability to point us in a direction by making us believe someday it make a difference in our lives. The second huge acknowledgement is because of his coaching skills and his unique ability to hammer in serious points to thickheaded teenage boys.

For me it took place my senior year at Woodlan High School (I remember it well, and still tell it often). I was a setter on our volleyball team (not that this is important but I wanted you to know I had some athletic skill, albeit minuscule). Our team was “bumping and setting” volleyballs in the locker room when one of the ones I “bumped” knocked out a ceiling tile ten feet up in the air, thus eliminating the quick repair a normal teenager might have attempted before Coach returned. Coach R walked in, looked up at the tile and simply asked “what happened here”?  Going back to my second  post to my blog you will understand how my mother and father raised me so I had no choice but to “fess up” and take accountability. To this day I remember Coach R looking up, staring back at me, looking up, and then returning the gaze back to the dip _ _ _ _ who knocked out the tile (me) and he said simply this “I would have expected more” and turned around and left the locker room. “I would have expected more". For gosh sakes I wish he would have screamed obscenities, back handed me, or threatened to keep my first born later in life. It was not until years later when I realized in business that what is not said, but how it is said that makes a demonstrable point. This is particularly true when it could have been said, or you might have expected it to be said, much louder. To this day, I use the exact same line to those I coached in business, always referencing the huge difference Coach R made- thanks Coach where ever you are today.

Take a moment to reach out to a coach or teacher who helped shape you or your views and say thank you. Feel free to share this post as well.  Until next time...