Many people come in and out of a person's life, but only a special few have a lasting impact on the journey taken that makes them a better individual.
I can honestly trace my own growth to several people who have influenced my own life and, to this day, have inspired me in a variety of ways.
Some of these people I've never acknowledged in person as to how they helped shape and mold who I am, while others are still in my life and continue to make me a better person and I want to show my gratitude in print for the first time.
The first two people I think of go back to my high school days at St. Francis deSales High School in Toledo.
Both Coach Tom Stevens and Coach Chris Albright influenced me for different reasons.
For Stevens, it was his constant encouragement to follow my own career path and brotherly advice he gave when I wasn't getting the support I needed at home.
Coach Albright inspired me for an entirely different reason, as his love for government and political science classes was contagious to a teen who already found both subjects fascinating.
His insights and take no prisoners type of instruction encouraged me to take an active role in the political process, something I have continued to some extent even to this day.
In college, it was another coach who took me under his wings and made a positive impact on my future just by being there.
Legendary University of Toledo basketball coach Bobby Nichols was an icon long before I showed up on the hollowed grounds at UT.
Being a reporter, and later editor for the college newspaper, The Collegian, I longed to get an interview from the iconic coach, who was known to be media shy and a man of few words.
After initially granting me an interview, I did my absolute best to ensure the quality of my work would measure up to his lofty standards.
Luckily, it did, as we became close throughout the rest of my years at UT, both as a mentor and a confidante. He showed me how important loyalty was and how vital it was to get the facts straight when writing.
He also taught me the importance of media contacts and how to not betray that trust a person gives you for the sake of a story or a gratuitous headline - both important things to remember in my eventual career as a journalist.
Knowing when off the record meant exactly that is something he taught me and proved that once you have someone's trust, they will come to you with the exclusive because you didn't betray that bond in the past.
The highlights of my time at UT was having Coach Nichols accept my invitation to my college newspaper's year-end banquet, an appearance none of my peers could believe would happen, and his memorable calls to my office on the campus to come by his office to talk about the anatomy of basketball coaching or just shoot the breeze.
Those chats ironically enough, also provided me with valuable anatomy of life lessons that I hold close to my heart even to this day.
In fact the whole idea of this column and ultimately our Bedford Press Roving Reporter question this issue came about from watching a recent UT basketball game on the CBS Sports Network where they did a short tribute to the coach and made me remember all the things he had taught me some 30 plus years ago.
My next person who inspired me actually was the focus of an entire feature and side column in a recent edition of The Bedford Press. Interviewing Kaye Lani Rae Rafko in 1987 when she was Miss Michigan prior to her being crowned Miss America 1988, I could see she was someone special.
Her ultimate victory and subsequent work she did during her reign - and more importantly after it - inspired me to become an active volunteer in the Miss America Program and later a member of the board of directors for the Miss Florida Scholarship Program.
Using my talents and gifts to encourage and inspire people was a gift I could give back to others, just as Rafko's tireless work on behalf of the nursing profession and her work for the terminally ill was a passion she gave back to the entire country.
Perhaps, because my own mother was terminally ill at the time of Rakfo's crowning, it created an instant bond between what she was doing and what I was dealing with. Either way, she inspired - and continues to inspire me - with her devotion to community service and humanity.
My next person who has inspired me since the day I met her is Karen Bankowski Daggett.
She gave me a writing job when I needed one out of college and, now years later, has given me another opportunity to do what I Iove and what I know I'm called to do. Her faith in me and encouragement to do my best fuels me today as it did 30 years ago.
She makes me think outside the box and challenges me to do my best, always.
What is particularly inspiring to me about her is her never give up attitude that permeates through everything she does. Faced with her own personal loss of a daughter at an early age, she continues to remain positive and wants to see the good in people and for all of us who work for her to reflect that in our work by writing and providing the community with uplifting, positive stories that build people up, rather than tear them down.
Her community service work throughout the years only highlights the attitude that she lives her life by and she runs her newspaper with that same mantra.
In a time where print publications are fading away and people get their news and information mainly through both television and the internet, she has never compromised her integrity and continues to publish a positive community newspaper, often at times at the expense of her own bank account.
She believes in the good in people and wants to reflect that in the newspaper she prints. Those are all admirable qualities that should be praised, honored and emulated by people in today's topsy, turvy society.
More often than not people in your workplace are just that, people you associate with and not particularly inspiring.
Randy LoFaso, my manager at Sears in Ohio, is a an exception. He's different.
From even before I had applied for a job there, I was immediately struck by how he was hands-on with his job, helping his associates put up displays, while also paying close attention to the needs of the customers in his store.
I wanted to work there because I knew he was a person who would make the job enjoyable because he cared about what he was doing.
He took a chance on me when I was in desperate need of a job and only had limited retail experience and mentored and supported me, promoting me and seeing the potential in me before I even saw it in myself.
Subsequently, we have both gone on to different careers, but he continues to offer me advice and has my back always, just as I have his. He's a real role model to me and we need more leaders in the workplace like Randy.
Finally, the last person. who inspires me is someone I've never met in person, yet he feels like a brother to me.
I first became a fan of Kevin Weekes when he played in the National Hockey League. I became an even bigger fan of his after his career came to an end and he became the lead analyst on the NHL Network.
His insights and commentary are always spot on, but that's not the most important thing about Weekes.
His giving back to the community and tireless efforts to encourage young athletes to see their full potential are traits that makes him even more special. He definitely sets a great example for others to aspire to and emulate.
Through social media contacts throughout the past few years, I've gotten to know the man behind the goaltender's mask. He goes above and beyond for his fans, family, friends and society in general. He has encouraged me when I'm down and even made sure I was recovering after a hospital stay.
More importantly, he has inspired me to take a renewed interest in community activism and in standing up for what is right.
Hearing his own story on how he had been treated as both a black player in a predominantly white man's sport and the discrimination he has faced in general due to the color of his skin both angered and saddened me, as it shows just how little we have progressed as a society and how far we have to go to achieve true equality.
His work in founding a grassroots initiative that brings the sport - and shows the benefits of it - to disadvantaged and minority children is just one prime example of how he goes the extra mile to give back to the community and is just one of many reasons I hold him in such high esteem.
He is an ambassador for not only the sport, but to community activism and reflects the verse that to those whom much is given - all of which he earned through hard work, tenacity and dedication - much is required.
That he is not afraid to share his story and to share his views, has encouraged me to go the extra mile and do more to support the cause that is so critical to the future success of society.
In an era where there are many athletes who make the headlines for their bad behavior off the playing field, Weekes stands out for his exceptional compassion toward people and his continued work to advocate for justice and equality for all.
And he proves to me that I'm not too old to grow, to do more, to do better and to, perhaps, inspire people, just like he and those others I've written about here have inspired me.
No comments:
Post a Comment