I proudly call this man one of my mentors. One of my heroes. He was a man of little education, of great wisdom, of untold humour, and unsurpassed caring. Just do a google search for Brian Saip and you'll catch that from all that his been written since his death on this last Sunday. And as with the passing of all great people, the world has lost a light, has become dimmer in one part.
I however know that the world is far brighter, and will continue to be far brighter for generations to come because of the work Coach Saip did. He made it his business to make men of boys on various sporting fields. I know this personally from my time spent on the Martin Monarchs from 1989-93. He was my Head Coach all four years. He took a fat kid who was nearly destroyed and waiting for a miserable unknown death, and gave him the tools and encouragement to be a man. Few things in my life have impacted me as much as that time on the field did, as most can guess from my other writing, and few things mean as much to me as the activities I enjoy passing on the lessons Coach Saip taught me.
He was the first person to demand I not only be better than I expected, but better than anyone could possible expect. He made me crave to succeed. Not at the cost of others but to enhance the world around me. He taught me the value of dedicated work, of properly administered discipline, copious amounts of compassion, and self-respect. He was the first person to recognize my need to create myself and control my identity, encouraging even the most outlandish ways I expressed it.
His example is the one that I employ on the football field when I coach now. I do it my way, but in his tried and true measure. I owe him that passion that allows me to believe that his death is not the end, merely another beginning, another generation that will step up and do what is right for the world around them, as he did.
Because I know I'm not the only one. I know there are thousands of us. Thousands of men who served in Coach Saip's schools of battle. Thousands of us who listened, learned, and acted. Thousands who will take this loss and use it as the means to continue what he started. Thousands to take up one man's great shield and standard, and bear it forward so that others will benefit. There is a litany of names I could mention, names you'd all recognize for their great achievements, for their deeds, and every single one would point back to this man and say 'He showed me how.' There is an entire roll of young men who might have been lost forever, who still make mistakes, yet come back because of this man. The quiet unknown ones who owe a debt to Coach Saip. Multiplied over by thousands of actions, on hundreds of thousands of days, and you see, there is no dimming of this great man's light. There is only the forever exponential growth that will carry on beyond his own name.
Good bye, and thank you, from my heart and soul, Coach Saip. Real men get back up. We got this.
1 comment:
Well said!
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