This week has been one of reflection for me. We’ll start from the end of the week and move back. On Thursday evening, my 11 year old granddaughter, Lexi, graduated from the 5th grade. Lexi struggles daily with several issues, one of which is an undiagnosed neurological disorder. She has tremors which affect her balance, and her learning level isn’t the same with those in her class, but yet, she rolls with the flow. I like to say she has the heart of a champion, because she understands the challenges she faces each day, but yet is intent on being as independent as possible, and doing as many things the other kids do as she can.
During our trip back to my hometown in North Carolina for the graduation, my mom told my wife that I would often sit in the floor in front of the T.V. doing a young child’s version of play by play. From the time I could talk good, I would be in this position. Her statement takes me back to the start of the week when Dwight Clark died. I remember watching him make “The Catch” very well. Cheering for Joe Montana and the 49ers, when it happened. I still remember saying to my dad “he caught it, did you see that, he really caught it”. That is one of my earliest memories of the emotion sports could provide, and one of the moments I attribute to me doing what I do today. You see, I would soon realize, that I would never be a player in those settings, but I still wanted to be connected to the games.
The desire to be close to the games grew even more from the many nights of listening to Woody Durham, the longtime voice of the North Carolina Tar Heels, bring the action into my house on the radio. We didn’t have cable, and besides this was long before there were games on T.V. nearly every night anyway. So I would listen to Woody describe the plays, and talk about the guys who were hero- like to a young boy. I would often wonder, “What was it like to on the other side of the radio”? Now I get to answer that question, and live out a young boys dream.
From the spark that was lit in my parent’s living room with Dwight Clark’s catch, to Woody Durham fanning that flame through the radio, that fire is now a love of sports, and now sportscasting that continues to burn in me.
Back to Lexi, who faces more than she’ll ever know each day, she makes me want to approach everyday with the heart of a champion too, understanding there will be challenges along the way, but to do the best that I can and keep rolling with it. As Dwight Clark and Woody Durham inspired me then, Lexi inspires me now.
