By Richard Shank
Shank’s Scoop
News accounts last week reported legendary Coach Lou Holtz has entered hospice care signaling what may be the final chapter in a remarkable life spanning 89 years.
Holtz is best remembered for the 35 years he spent as head football coach for six Division 1 teams, including an 11-year tenure at Notre Dame where he coached a perfect 12-0 season in 1988, notching a national championship for the Irish.
The 1989 and 1994 Notre Dame teams finished second in the nation, but scant mention is made of runners-up in sports rankings.
Still, there is more to Lou Holtz than coaching, as he also gained fame as one of the nation’s preeminent motivational speakers, authors, and sportscasters.
From what has been written, Holtz’s formative years were anything but plush. The first seven years of his life in Follansbee, W. Va., were spent living in a cellar with his parents and older sister.
The four-member family share a single bedroom, a small kitchen and a half bath with no shower or tub.
Born with a speech impediment known as a lisp, most of his contemporaries growing up thought his career potential would be limited, especially after he graduated from high school in what he called the third of the class that makes the top two-thirds possible.
His high school coach encouraged Holtz to pursue college and thought one day he could be a coach himself. Next, he went to Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, where he made the football team.
Following graduation and a succession of assistant coaching jobs at multiple colleges, Holtz, in 1969, was offered his first head coaching job at William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. Pay was sparse for head coaches in that era, so Holtz took a second job selling burial plots in the offseason and, from all accounts, did quite well as it was almost as profitable as coaching.
After taking William & Mary to a bowl game, Holtz went on to coach North Carolina State before jumping to the pros for a one-year stint with the New York Jets. The brief NFL coaching stint was solid proof he was cut out for coaching in college, and he was back on the sidelines with Arkansas, Minnesota, Notre Dame, and South Carolina before hanging up his coaching cleats in 2004.
Perhaps, the greatest story regarding Holtz coaching occurred leading up to the Jan. 1, 1978, Orange Bowl. Holtz brought his Arkansas Razorbacks to Miami to play second-ranked Oklahoma. A few days before the game, Holtz dismissed three star players for disciplinary reasons. Then, the trio of Arkansas players sued Holtz asking for reinstatement.
Holtz was represented in court by Arkansas Attorney General Bill Clinton and the suit was eventually dropped. On game day, Arkansas stormed the field defeating Oklahoma 31-6 in a total shock to the sports world.
During the 1980s, Holtz was in the peak of his coaching career and took on a second profession as a motivational speaker, with results exceeding all expectations and would last for four decades. On multiple years, Holtz was voted America’s top motivational speaker as thousands flocked to Chamber of Commerce dinners, sports banquets, and corporate meetings to hear his message.
Holtz’s message centered around three life precepts: Do the right thing, do everything to the best of your ability, and show people you care.
His quotations are thought-provoking:
“Ability is what you can do, motivation determines what you do; attitude determines how you will do it.”
“If you are bored with life, if you did not get up every morning with a burning desire to do things, you do not have enough goals.”
“Do not tell how rocky the sea is, just bring the ship in.”
“No one has ever drowned in sweat.”
“The way you motivate a football team is to eliminate the unmotivated ones.”
“Never attack the performer, attack his performance.”
“Quitting is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.”
“You are never as good as everyone tells you when you win and you are never as bad as they say when you lose.”
“Do not tell your problems to people, 80% do not care and 20% are glad you have them.”
“I have never learned anything talking. I only learn things when I ask questions.”
During his first year coaching at Notre Dame, Holtz installed a sign at the dressing room exit stating, “Play Like a Champion Today.” The sign remains to this day for all future Irish teams to read as they enter the field to play another game of football.
A four-word inscription on a life-size statue of Holtz at Gate D of Notre Dame Stadium sums up his life story: “Trust, Love and Commitment.”
Richard Shank is a retired AT&T manager and external representative for Hutchinson Regional Medical Center. He can be reached at shankr@prodigy.net or by calling 620-664-1517.