One of my favorite childhood memories are related to a trip my parents and I went on to Auburn, Alabama to watch my Arkansas Razorbacks play basketball during the 1991-1992 season. The Hogs were really good and had been ranked pretty highly all season long. Also, this is around the same time that my family had picked up and moved to Alabama, so this was a major change in my life and everything I had seen so far.
I can remember walking into the arena on the Auburn campus and thinking how huge this place was and how excited I was to see some of my basketball heroes play that night. As we settled into our seats one of my all-time favorite Razorbacks began to come out of the tunnel. It was a good hour or so before the game was to start and here comes Oliver "Big O" Miller, the center for the Hogs, dribbling a ball and headed towards our end of the floor. My mom urged me to go down and see if I could get his autograph and maybe a picture. I can recall the way my shoes squeaked on the floor as I hit the hardwood and I can also recall walking up to the biggest man I had ever seen in my life and stuttering as I asked him if he would sign my ticket. He smiled and with his huge hands reached out to take the ticket and sign it. I said thank you and headed back up to the stands where my folks were waiting. I was on cloud nine. I can't recall who won that game or how Big O played that night but I will never forget that smile or the way I felt when I walked back up those stairs.
This guy was literally a giant in my eyes. He surely had his own story and honestly, I would love to be able to sit down and hear those stories of his time at Arkansas and in the NBA. I am sure that he has no idea how much his time that night meant to a 12/13-year-old kid. I wanted to play like Big O. I wanted to wear the cardinal and white. I wanted to be the giant in the eyes of another 12 or 13-year-old kid. To him, I am sure it was nothing more than taking a moment to speak with a clumsy, lanky kid who had been pushed to come down onto the court.
As I am not an NBA superstar or even a country music singer, I am just a salesman with a little bit of a platform. But it is my platform as a father, friend, son, husband, and man that I take so seriously. While I may have not reached the star status of Big O, I still have the power to positively influence a young life. I have sons and they have friends, I have cousins and they have kids, and I have friends that have sons that all hear and see how I act every time I am around them. We can never underestimate the power we can have on a young life. We have no idea just how close those young people in our presence might be watching or listening. We must take care of what we say and what we do in every single moment of our lives.
I can remember walking into the arena on the Auburn campus and thinking how huge this place was and how excited I was to see some of my basketball heroes play that night. As we settled into our seats one of my all-time favorite Razorbacks began to come out of the tunnel. It was a good hour or so before the game was to start and here comes Oliver "Big O" Miller, the center for the Hogs, dribbling a ball and headed towards our end of the floor. My mom urged me to go down and see if I could get his autograph and maybe a picture. I can recall the way my shoes squeaked on the floor as I hit the hardwood and I can also recall walking up to the biggest man I had ever seen in my life and stuttering as I asked him if he would sign my ticket. He smiled and with his huge hands reached out to take the ticket and sign it. I said thank you and headed back up to the stands where my folks were waiting. I was on cloud nine. I can't recall who won that game or how Big O played that night but I will never forget that smile or the way I felt when I walked back up those stairs.
This guy was literally a giant in my eyes. He surely had his own story and honestly, I would love to be able to sit down and hear those stories of his time at Arkansas and in the NBA. I am sure that he has no idea how much his time that night meant to a 12/13-year-old kid. I wanted to play like Big O. I wanted to wear the cardinal and white. I wanted to be the giant in the eyes of another 12 or 13-year-old kid. To him, I am sure it was nothing more than taking a moment to speak with a clumsy, lanky kid who had been pushed to come down onto the court.
As I am not an NBA superstar or even a country music singer, I am just a salesman with a little bit of a platform. But it is my platform as a father, friend, son, husband, and man that I take so seriously. While I may have not reached the star status of Big O, I still have the power to positively influence a young life. I have sons and they have friends, I have cousins and they have kids, and I have friends that have sons that all hear and see how I act every time I am around them. We can never underestimate the power we can have on a young life. We have no idea just how close those young people in our presence might be watching or listening. We must take care of what we say and what we do in every single moment of our lives.
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