Leonard Morris was the principal of Paint Rock Elementary School, and the coach of the mighty Paint Rock Panther (boys and girls) basketball team whose annual battles with the “”team that dressed in blue from highway 58″” were the stuff that a community’s activity revolved around. I was a Paint Rock Panther in 1973-75, and was proud to wear the black and gold, 30 year old, satin-like uniforms in the service of my community.
In the logical order of things, a happening in the 4th grade probably shouldn’t be a significant event in one’s life, but seeing my name listed as having “”made the team”” posted up on the “”main bulletin board”” was a thrill that I can remember to this day. Time hasn’t dulled the thrill of being made a part of Coach Morris’ team, and I can even recall the nervous anticipation of that first practice.
A Coach Morris practice was more about drilling than scrimmaging – the fundamentals of ball-handling, rebounding and defense were stressed upon and usually followed by a hard fought scrimmage that was generally held in the last 10 minutes of our hour long practices. He maintained practice with a whistle that, when not at practice, hung in a specific place in the principal’s office near the principal’s custom-made paddle… I’m not sure which brought more attention, but there was a different pitch in the sound of that whistle when you made a bad play. I never wanted to hear that particular, shrieking pitch directed at me, but when it did he patiently, yet sternly, explained the error of my ways. Then you had the opportunity to respond out of pride and desire to not let the coach down – you produced due to pride and respect, and not fear.
Instilling pride and respect works better than fear, and many years later I realized that I was trying to apply lessons learned from the coach in the business world. Coach Morris was the first to show me that respect builds cohesion, and fear builds division. The Morris philosophy was more about “”lifting up”” than “”tearing down””. It was about empowerment and communication. It produced winning results!
Coach Morris made us believe that our awkward 10 and 11 year-old bodies could play the game of basketball. I recall the first game with Fairview, a.k.a. the “”team in blue,”” when I was in the 6th grade. Kevin and I were no longer in supporting roles to those more senior, and it was our job to rebound, score and block shots…and I was pretty nervous about getting the job done. On the day before the game, we had a short practice that Coach Morris ended with a long whistle. He told us to have a seat at mid-court, and then proceeded to tell us that we played good defense, rebounded well, and had a good fast-break. He told us that if we gave the same effort that we put forth in practice then we would win. I remember feeling very confident that I would find a way to make a contribution to our victory over the Fairview Falcons. Looking back, it was at that moment that I learned to really enjoy playing the game of basketball. Later, we took the first of both our games with Fairview that year.
Most of us recall that Midway High School used to be a real basketball powerhouse in both girl’s and boy’s basketball…but then it kind of “”fizzled””. You can point to a lot of things that might have caused this demise, but I think that a key was Coach Morris stepping down from coaching at Midway Elementary. The chief architect for the “”feeder system”” was gone, and leaving with him was the flow of fundamentally sound ball-players into the system at Midway High School…and as the fundamentals goes, so goes the W’s.
Sports at a young age (even into high school) is about learning lessons that will later be applied in “”real life””. It all starts with learning about effort and how to prepare. Defining goals, seeing the big picture, and developing building blocks for success are elements that one will deal with along the way regardless of what sport one chooses to take part in. And after everything else, it’s about how you deal with wins and losses. Throw it all together, study your lessons well, and you will define your character.
Good ball coaches generally don’t teach you engineering and accounting, but they do instruct you in areas of much greater value. Coach Morris gave us the opportunity to build the platform for the development of character. There’s not many of us that can look into the mirror at the end of the day, and honestly say that we’ve made the world a better place, and that we’ve made an honest-to-goodness difference. Coach Morris can, so in tribute let me exclaim the words: “Coach, you made a difference!”