Holtz Delivers A Personal Yet Comical Speech At U.S. Army All-American Bowl Annual Awards Dinner

By Jeff B. Flinn, Red Line Editorial

Life is football and football is life, according to Lou Holtz. Whether getting sacked for a loss or scoring a touchdown, the keys to life - and sports - have more to do with respect, leadership and trust than with how many points you've put on the scoreboard.

Holtz delivered a personal yet comical speech to a crowd of more than 800 at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl annual awards dinner in San Antonio, saluting the military, of which he's been a part, and the 78 high school athletes who are hoping to move on to Division I collegiate football programs, of which he's also been an important part.

"Respect the game, and it respects you," Holtz said. "Have respect for it. Have respect for the people who play it, have respect for your opponent, have respect for other people around you."

Holtz said he, like many of his generation, served in both an ROTC program and the military.

"I went in there and I tell you, without a doubt, it was the very best experience of my entire life. I learned more about leadership, I learned more about coaching, I learned more about life, I learned more about self-discipline than any other place in my entire life," he said.

The mere existence of the military and its role in the world's struggle for freedom, he said, is the sole reason that people in the United States are free to make the decisions they do -- whether it be where to live, whom to marry, what sport to play or where to attend college.

"You also learn in the Army about teamwork, that your role is important," he said, making reference to the underlying basis of his speeches, his devotion to the world of sports. "Today, everyone wants to talk about rights and privileges. What I learned in the military was you talked about your obligations, and your responsibilities."

Holtz converted his army reminiscence to football jargon for the 78 All-American high school football players on hand, who would take the field the following day in the sixth annual Army All-American Bowl game.

"You have these athletes, these fabulous athletes that have done fantastic things and yet not one of you has done anything alone," he said. "What a team does, it enables a group of people to accomplish things that no individual can do."

Lou Holtz

In one of his first comical threads - with many to follow through his 15-minute speech - Holtz told the players, "To the athletes, you have to ask, 'What's the future hold?' I've been 18, you've never been 69, so let me share some thoughts with you."

Attitude and holding on to your dreams were aspects of his speech that Holtz aimed at not only the players but the hundreds of San Antonio Rotary International members, guests and players' families and coaches in attendance. The San Antonio Rotary Club, the largest membership Rotary in the world, sponsored the dinner, at which several of the players were honored with a variety of awards.

"The great teams, the great athletes, the great people I've been around, their attitude -- regardless of their accomplishments, regardless of what they've done -- their attitudes are 'there you are.' And the people who never accomplish a whole lot and have tremendous talent, their attitude is 'Hey, here I am, look at me!'

Holtz offered whimsical reflections on coaching. After leaving Notre Dame, he took up the reins at the floundering University of South Carolina. In that first year, Holtz said he "inherited the longest losing streak in the country, and during that first year, I contributed greatly to that streak."

Holtz continued, adding:

• "We lost every single football game we played that year, we went 0-11. I had a kicker that said, 'I can't kick when you're watching. I explained I was going to be at the game Saturday."
• "We went 0-11 that year, but records can be deceiving. We weren't nearly as good as our record would lead you to believe."
• "I was in an airport somewhere during the season, and some guy walked up to me and said, 'Anybody ever tell you you look like Lou Holtz?' I said, 'Happens all the time.' He said, 'It really makes you mad, doesn't it?'

But Holtz can turn on an audience in a minute, and did so, with remembrances of one of his more personable players.

Holtz relayed a story about former Notre Dame running back Jerome Bettis, now in what might be the final year of a 13-year NFL career. After graduating, Bettis was NFL rookie of the year, but shortly thereafter his career began to collapse. By his fourth year, many analysts, Holtz said, already began to label Bettis as washed up.

"I watched one of Bettis' games and called him up. He asked me what I thought; I said, 'Jerome, let me tell you, there's someone impersonating you. Somebody's wearing your jersey, your number, your name. You've never played that badly. He is hurting your reputation.' And I hung the phone up, that's all I wanted to say.

"As soon as the season was over, Jerome came to my office and he said, 'Coach, I was thinking about my time at Notre Dame. I had a wonderful attitude.' He said, 'I got with the wrong people, my attitude changed, I'm going to spend the next five months at Notre Dame,' which he did. He said, 'I'm going to get my attitude right.'

"During those five months, Bill Cowher, who I coached and recruited at North Carolina State, called. He said, 'Coach we're thinking about trading for Jerome Bettis. What do you think?' I said, 'I think it would be a great move.' And the rest is history."

Holtz spun the story into a dissertation of his personal philosophy.

"It's not really complicated, and I say to this to these young gentlemen, you can do marvelous things if you just follow three simple rules. These are rules I believe in.

"Rule no. 1: do right. Do what's right, avoid what's wrong. Rule No. 2, always do the very best you can. Not because somebody's looking or because somebody's going to find out...but because that's just the way you live. And the third rule is, always show people you care.

"Why are those three rules so important?" he quipped, answering his own question. "Because everyone you meet, every coach, every person, every teacher, every spouse asks these three questions. The first question everybody asks is, 'Can I trust you?' Without trust, there can be no relationship."

With the U.S. Army All-American Bowl honoring Coach Herman Boone and Bill Yoast and the 35th anniversary of their historic season, captured in the film 'Remember the Titans," Holtz referred to the hardships and struggles these coaches went through to pull a team of racially split backgrounds together.

"That was a marvelous movie, and I also remember when that story happened. You know what? They learned to trust each other. How do you get people to trust you? Do the right thing. If you don't do the right thing, you lose trust that you can't get back.

"The second question is, 'Are you committed to excellence? Do you want to be good?'" Holtz stated. "And the last question everybody wants to ask is, 'Hey, do you care about me? Do you care about me as a person?'

"If you follow these three rules," he said, "you'll always be very confident. If you do the right thing, do the best you can, and show people you care, people are always going to trust you and know you're committed and know you care about them."

Holtz' speech capped an evening of awards for the players in attendance. Awards and recipients were:

• PARADE All-America High School Football Player if the Year (Ken Hall Trophy): Mitch Mustain, quarterback, of Springdale (Ark.) High School.
• Speed and Strength Athlete of the Year (Walter Payton Trophy): Taylor Mays, of O'Dea High School, Seattle, Wash.
• AFL Iron Man of the Year: Sergio Kindle, Woodrow Wilson High School, Dallas.
• The Felix "Doc" Blanchard and Glenn Davis "Army of One" Award: East squad recipient, Corey Hobbs, of Oviedo (Fla.) High School; and West squad recipient, Chad Roark, of Ada (Okla.) High School.
• Adams USA National High School Coach of the Year: Gary Joe Kinne Jr., Canton (Texas) High School.

Story courtesy Red Line Editorial, Inc.