In his famous ESPYs speech in 1993, the late Jim Valvano talked about what constitutes a good, full day and he talked about the need to experience a variety of emotions in any given day. Remember these words from Jimmy V:
"To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. Number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day."
Well, on Wednesday I had a full day. I experienced all kinds of emotions and frankly it's OK with me if I don't experience some of them again any time soon.
To recap:
7:15 a.m. -- Check out my cellphone text messages and e-mails that give me the shocking and extremely sad news that Whitehall assistant basketball coach Ron Madouse has died. A very good guy so ingrained in the Zephyrs community and he's gone way, way too soon. I learn from Eric Snyder that Ron was a member of Whitehall's Class of 1980 just like my wife, which adds a touch of poignancy to his passing.
News of Madouse's death has brought a gloomy start to what is otherwise a very sunny day. I feel so bad for his family and friends, including people I consider good friends like Snyder and Beet Bowman. When you learn something like this, it shakes you to your core and freezes you for awhile. But I have to get up and get moving.
11:30 a.m. -- Get to visit for the first time in several years with former Bethlehem Catholic coach and athletic director Bob Bukvics, who expresses his dismay and anger at many of the recent decisions his alma mater has made. What strikes me is how passionate Bucky is still about his school.
12:45 p.m. -- Arrive in the neighborhood of Liberty High School only to find
mass chaos with police everywhere and streets and parking areas blocked off. I was supposed to cover a signing ceremony for Liberty athletes. But the ceremony never takes place and I spend the next three-plus hours pacing along the sidewalk across the street in front of Liberty with an ever-growing number of parents who are scared, confused and ultimately very angry and frustrated by a lockdown of the school over an alleged person or persons carrying around weapons. They all use their one lifeline -- their cellphone -- to try to find out information which comes in spurts, but is not always accurate and sometimes couldn't have been farther from the truth. I don't have to stay, but I somehow feel I can't leave. So I tweet out what I know and hang with the parents, who grow more impatient by the minute. By now, I am emotionally invested in this and want to see what happens.
4:30 p.m. -- Finally, the Liberty students are released from school and the parents can breathe a collective sigh of relief. The kids I talk to say it was no big deal, but they seem more intent on getting away from the school and in some cases, getting to a bathroom, than lingering any longer than need be. Many of the parents, who were shedding tears earlier, are all smiles now. All involved seemed emotionally drained and simply happy that this weird and unfortunate situation is over.
4:45 p.m. -- Stuck in traffic on the Hill-to-Hill Bridge trying to get from Bethlehem to Center Valley. Now I feel as angry as Bukvics earlier in the day and frustrated like the Liberty parents because nothing is happening very fast. I remind myself never to go this way again.
5:10 p.m. -- Get to Southern Lehigh just in time to see the final outs of another Colonial League softball win by legendary Spartans softball coach Brian Neefe. It's his 720th victory in his amazing 43-year career. On a day that has been nothing but normal or familiar, it is good to see something that hasn't changed.
8:30 p.m. -- Get to talk to Pleasant Valley football coach Jim Terwilliger and hear him tell me about resigning as the Bears football coach because he was furloughed from his teaching position. Terwilliger is drained and gets a little emotional as he talks about how much his players meant to him and how tough it was to say goodbye to a place and kids he loved. He did a nice job at PV and will land somewhere else, no doubt, but you can tell how much these last five years have meant to him.
9:15 p.m. -- I am drained, too, and begin to replay the day and all of its highs and lows in my mind. And then pops in another email and this one tells me that I have been elected to the Dieruff High School Hall of Fame and will be inducted at the school's Kiska Banquet in May.
I feel very good about it, but not for myself.
On a day that had me thinking a lot about the past and what's really important in life, this news had me feeling proud, but also sad that my grandfather, Frank Groller, wasn't still here to see his grandson go into the Hall of Fame of a school that he truly loved. I mean my grandfather loved his wine, he loved Sammy Balliet and Coplay legion baseball and he loved Dieruff High sports and was a season-ticket holder for Husky basketball games for a couple of decades.
He left us on Christmas Day 1992, but somehow, some way, I am hoping that he will still know that the little guy he took to all of those Dieruff sporting events in the 1960s and 1970s will now be honored in the same way the great Ross Moore, Skip Kintz, Jan Kapcala, John Smurda and so many great Huskies have been honored.
When I thought about that, I had to wipe a tear or two from my face.
It was just that kind of day, feeling proud and sad at the same time. It was a day like I haven't had in quite awhile and may never have again.
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