Charlie's Blog

Being the Quarterback for Notre Dame is one of the most high pressure position in Sports. Jimmy Clausen is the Quarterback this year. He is having a Heisman Trophy worthy season. Clausen has a fire within to be the best he can possibly be. He is never satisfied with his performance. He accumulated massive stats in the loss to Navy recently, but all he could think about afterwards was the loss as a team and his inability to score a touchdown late in the game. Notre Dame Coach Charlie Weis said this about the fire within Clausen:
“He was texting me at one in the morning about fumbling on the 1-yard line. He had just thrown for 450-plus yards and that meant nothing to him.”
Champions have that kind of fire within.

Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts and NASCAR star Jimmie Johnson keep on winning. They never let up. Corporate Motivational speaker Lou Holtz says, “If what you did yesterday seems important, you haven’t done anything today.” That’s the approach of the Colts organization and Jimmie Johnson’s team. They are relentless. They are dedicated to excellence everyday. They take nothing for granted. Inspiration for us all.

In studying Peak Performers for 25 years, I have found that some of the top leaders and performers are those that are extremely intense, yet able to chill or even poke fun at themselves from time to time. Those that are wound too tight often excel for awhile, but then flame out.

As a broadcaster, I once reported on a young man named Mike Edwards. Mike had been born missing a bone in his left leg. The leg didn’t grow correctly, leaving amputation as the only option. A dedicated basketball player, Mike held off on the amputation. He would come home from practice and soak his leg in a bucket of ice to handle the brutal pain. While other kids were thinking about what game to play after school, young Mike was thinking about whether he would have to have his leg removed. Finally, it got to be too much. At 13, he had the amputation and continued to play with an artificial leg.

Mike and his family moved to South Bend. He didn’t tell anyone about his leg and earned a spot on the varsity team at John Adams High School based on his basketball skills. He wore sweats all the time to hide his artificial leg. Eventually, he had to take off the sweats. You can imagine how surprised his teammates were! They really didn’t know how to act around him. There was a period of awkwardness.

Mike sensed it. Even though he was one of the most intense athletes to ever play at Adams High, he also knew when to loosen things up. As the team rode a bus across town to a scrimmage, Mike took off his artificial leg and held it out the window and waved it at passing cars. His teammates got the biggest charge out of that. Everyone laughed! Then, when they arrived at the opponent’s school, Mike put the leg on backwards. With the other school’s administrators waiting outside the bus to greet the visitors, Mike walked off with one foot heading forward and the other foot heading backwards. The administrators about hopped out of their pants!

Although Mike is one of the most intense, dedicated people I have ever met, he also knows when to have fun!

His story attracted the interest of John MacLeod, who was then the Notre Dame head basketball coach. He invited Mike to be a walk-on for the Fightin’ Irish basketball team, where he would serve as a fierce practice player. I remember interviewing him before practice one time. His eyes were squinted just a bit as he told me he would do anything to help the team in practice. “I will sweat blood,” he said. “Anything I can do to make these guys better!”

At the same time, he found humor. He often joked that he was a 20/20 player for Notre Dame. He would only get in a game if the team was up by 20 points or down by 20!

Mike went on and became the first disabled player in the history of division one College Basketball to play in a game, when he got in a game in 1998.

Stoke the Fire Within!

Charlie Adams, Author and Speaker

In Connecticut recently to speak, I talked with a local CEO about the growing trend of companies going after College Athletes. Remember: playing College Sports is a 40 year decision, not 4.

He said he was a company exec and when a resume comes across his desk where the person was a College Athlete, it goes to the top of the list.

He said something very interesting. He said he likes hiring College Athletes because they don’t just expect raises unless they earn them. He said many people without College Athletic backgrounds simply expect a 3% raise because they should get it. He said athletes realize they need to deserve such a raise, and then do the work to merit it.

Charlie – What the exec said about college student athletes is so true. I spent 20 years working in the wholesale banking industry. Two of those years, I interviewed prospects from the Wharton School, Northwestern, U. of Michigan, U. of Chicago among others. These are the top finance education schools in the country. The most impressive prospects were those who played intercollegiate sports in college. They were always better prepared, asked great questions, demonstrated time-management skills, and had that competitiveness I was looking for. Also, I could never hire them. Why? They always had several other job offers that paid more than my bank was willing to pay! Keith Babb, Senior Scout, National Collegiate Scouting Association

“Chronological age is only an approximate indicator of functional age.” — Marv Levy, former Buffalo Bills Coach (and General Manager when he was 80 years old!)

I grew up watching my grandfather live to be 101. He stayed active the whole way, working his garden way into his late 90’s. I’ll have more later in this newsletter on how he reached 101.

Ed Friend has been a longtime friend of mine. The former Police Officer is an inspirational speaker and writer. Ed bubbles over with positive attitude and a zest for life. He recently spoke at my Church. We all left with our fires stoked by his never ending belief that age is just a number.

Ed writes an inspirational column for the South Bend Tribune. I wanted to share part of one of his recent columns, as it inspired the heck out of me:

Inspiration from Ed Friend

Gladys Sheneman has a love affair … a love affair with life!

She just turned 95 this past July and is on the go all the time. Gladys is the den mother of momentum. Age is a numerical equation for accomplishment or despair. Retirement is a word that should never have been invented or pursued. I have known people at age 35 so bored with life that they had one foot in the grave counting the hours, days, months and years until they could retire. I have known other folks who had no plans to leave their jobs, ever.

When her husband Claude died Gladys started volunteering her services and friendship to many people in need. Some were homebound others were in nursing homes. She visited people and prayed with them. She felt she was called by God to share her good life and happy spirit. She developed a band several years ago. She plays piano and her colleagues accompany her on quaint instruments such as the washboard, gut bucket and other novel tunemakers. The band plays at the North Liberty American Legion Post the first Friday of each month at lunch time.

Gladys has been president of Retired Neighbors and Friends for 17 years. The group meets at Pine Creek Church the second Tuesday of each month and about 150 achievers gather each month for lunch. Her band plays there, too. She has told them when they see her start “losing her marbles, tell her” but they haven’t told her yet. So, she retains the presidency.

Gladys still drives a car. She plants, tills and weeds her own garden, camps with family and friends, never plans a schedule (likes a spontaneous life), visits many people and gives her long life’s credit to living right, eating right and doing right. Her faith in God is credited for her good health. She recently walked a mile-and-half trail at Potato Creek “just like when I was a girl” she told me. Her wish: When the Lord calls her home, she wants to be in her own home, no hospital!

by Ed Friend

********************************************************************

Thank you, Ed. I mentioned earlier in this newsletter about my grandfather living to be 101. His grandson, Bill Hubbard, hit his longevity right on the head with this statement:

“You don’t get to that age without letting an awful lot of life’s problems run off like water on a duck’s back. Sure, when things don’t go like you would have them go, it makes you wonder how you could’ve made it different, but you don’t let anything consume you and forever take away what good there is in life”

I heard 1995 Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George of Ohio State speak this week at the College Football Hall of Fame in downtown South Bend as part of the Key Bank Gridiron Legends Luncheon Series.

When asked about a memorable recruiting experience, George chuckled as he thought back to when Ohio State was recruiting him. He had attended Fork Union Military Academy for the 10th to 12th grades. He stayed an extra year (13th grade, so to speak) which helped his recruitment.

When Ohio State brought him in for an Official Visit that winter, they had some of their most serious Buckeyes host him for his 48 hour visit. Their logic was that they thought he was a very serious guy since he went to a Military Academy. In reality, Eddie was an outgoing guy who was hoping to get out and at least meet some girls while on his visit to Columbus. He joked that at Military Academy he hadn’t seen girls in months.

The serious Buckeye players, however, took him back to their apartment. On a Friday night he said they watched old movies like “Yentl.” Eddie eventually asked them if they were going out since it WAS Friday night. They said they usually stayed in.

The next day while being shown around campus, Eddie ran into other recruits. They said that they had been up all night having fun with their hosts.

Despite his lack of fun on his Official Visit, Eddie signed with Ohio State. His story is one of overcoming adversity. As a freshman, he got off to a good start as he scored 3 TD’s over Syracuse. However, against Illinois early in the season he lost two fumbles.

He was relegated to the deepest part of the bench for practically two seasons.

“That was devastating,” he said. “I would be in the cafeteria and people would say, ‘Don’t drop your food.’ Some people voted me as the worst running back ever to come to Ohio State. I thought about quitting or transferring, but really that’s when I won the Heisman. I didn’t quit. I worked harder. I stayed in the weight room longer. I did extra film study. I stretched more. I even took ballet class. By the time I was a junior they had recruited other good running backs. People said that at 6’3” I was too tall and wouldn’t be able to get through the tackles and that I wasn’t tough enough.”

George’s resolve paid off. He had a strong junior season and then exploded as a senior, rushing for a school record 1927 yards and 24 TD’s. Against Illinois, the same team he had lost 2 fumbles to as a freshman, he rushed for 314 yards in 3 quarters. He went on to win the Heisman Trophy. “I had gone from two fumbles that sent me into a spiral of self doubt,” he said, “to becoming the best player in College Football. That’s how I knew God was with me the whole time.”

George had compelling insights about teamwork. In 1994 Ohio State was loaded with future NFL talent. Still, Penn State beat them 63-14. Can you imagine!?

“We could have spiraled downward or propelled higher,” George said. “That’s when we realized we had to play as a TEAM. We had guys who were thinking about pro football and about getting agents. Forget that crap. We made a decision to be a team.”

The next year, with their emphasis on team, Ohio State was almost unbeatable.

George said something young people can draw inspiration from as far as setting goals. In 1988 he watched an ESPN show on Barry Sanders, who won the Heisman that year. He said he taped it and watched it over and over. That week he made up his mind he would win the Heisman one day, and started practicing his speech as a kid. He visualized his future success.

Charlie Adams
Speaker and Author

Jerry Rice is going to be the next speaker at the College Football Hall of Fame Gridiron Legends Luncheon series on October 29th. For tickets you can go to Collegefootball.org

I am excited to announce that I was recently named Senior National Speaker for National Collegiate Scouting Association of Chicago. A passion of mine is guiding young people to College Athletics scholarships. It can truly be life changing. More than ever, Companies are going after College Athletes because of the fire they bring with them. True student athletes are fiercely competitive, goal oriented, leaders, respectful, on time, and they do not flinch in hard times. Also, as athletes they had to manage their time. I highly suggest you get the new book Athletes Wanted by Chris Krause. It gets into this topic thoroughly.
As senior national speaker, I deliver the presentation College Recruiting Simplified across the country. The Talk makes for a tremendous Breakout Presentation when I deliver the Stoke keynote at conferences. Every organization has people who either have kids capable of playing college sports at some level, or they have nieces, nephews or friends. This presentation provides powerful tools to make it possible. On average, 90% of young people who qualify for NCSA play college sports and this will average getting $18,000 towards their education. Now, when I talk college athlete, I am not only talking about the Purdues, Southern Cal’s, Notre Dames and Mississippi’s. In most cases, I am talking about Ohio Northern, Benedictine, Milsaps and Bethel College – places where young people get tremendous degrees, the college athletics experiences, and where they learn to stoke the fire within. Now, if you have a son or daughter and you would like an evaluation of where they stand as a college prospect, email me now at cadams@ncsasports.org and I will take action to help you. – Charlie

“I heard a quote today that hit home for me: “You have to stoke the fire if you expect it to stay hot”. Throughout life we set goals for ourselves; whether it is in fitness, parenthood, spirituality, financial, professional or relational, we have a mental image of what we want all of these areas to look like or feel. I know that once you attain that goal, or even get close to it, it feels GREAT! What I have also learned is that that is when we need to keep pressing on. It’s wonderful to make gains in our fitness lives or to get to a good place with our husbands or partners but that doesn’t mean we stop and say “I’m done”. In order for the fires, the good stuff in our lives, to stay hot and alive in us, there is work to be done. I encourage you all to “stoke the fires” in your lives. Give those areas in your lives which matter to you attention and intent, I bet our lives will be richer for it!”
by Farel Hruska

I came across a copy of Guideposts magazine the other day. There was a page of motivational quotes that caught my eye. One of them was from Rev. Robert Schuuller:

“In times of difficulty you may feel that your problems will go on and on, but the won’t. Every mountain has a top. Every problem has a life span. The question is, Who is going to give in first: the frustration or you?”

Well said.

Charlie

As one who is always looking for inspirational quotes that make an impact, I came across one today that I believe applies especially well this year:
“If things are tough, remember that every flower that ever bloomed had to go through a whole lot of dirt to get there.”
Barbara Johnson, author
That is a really good quote to help stoke the fire within!