The Game of Life: Remembering George Raveling

Fellas, today, I'm not going to tell you what you want to hear. I'm going to tell you what you need to hear. And he went on to talk about how too often in life, people fill us with the things that we want to hear as opposed to what we need to hear. If you're sincere and you're real about wanting to have a significant impact on those that you lead or those that you hope to lead one day, and you are an emerging leader, growing leader, research Coach Ratman, study Coach Ratman. What he was really good at and could do better than anybody else was really rebounding. And he studied the art, the science of rebounding, and just became great at it. He wasn't ever afraid to tell the truth.

Not because he was better than anyone, because he believed and knew and lived what was right. Welcome back to the Athletics of Business podcast. I am your host, Ed Molitor. And today it's just us, just you and I. No special guest, but we are going to spend a good amount of time talking about a very special man, someone who had a tremendous impact on not only my life, but thousands upon thousands of young people, of coaches, of older men and women, was larger than life. If I had a Mount Rushmore for people who have influenced me in my life, this man, there's two men that would be on there right now, my father and Coach George raveling. On Monday, September 1st, we lost Coach Rablin. Now, when I say we. By no stretch of the imagination were he and I close.

By no stretch of the imagination did I have a friendship with him. But by every stretch of the imagination, I always kept him and his teachings and his journey, not only his passport, he was always doing to lift people up. I always kept it really close to my heart and really front of my mind because he had an impact on me at a very early age. And also as I progressed on my personal journey through some very dark times and some great times, some unbelievable levels of success, I always kept Coach Raveling's teachings, philosophies, and the way he modeled those lessons in his behavior and in his relationships. I always kept those very close to me. Now, I first became aware of Coach Rattling when I was about 11 or 12 years old. So around my son EJ's age, EJ's 11, Mattie's 13.

So somewhere in between the two of them and my dad and I, my dad was high school basketball coach, one of the best. I mean, just his teams were known for how hard they played, how smart they played, how much Enthusiasm and passion and joy they played with. And his focus was having an impact on them that was about more than basketball, preparing them for the greatest game of all, which Coach Rehefling talked. That was the game of life. And you know, it's funny is as children, we believe our parents are superheroes, right? At least most of us do. And we believe that they know all, but yet we're constantly looking for confirmation that we're correct. And Coach Ratling was that man. And my dad and I spent many, many hours together in a gym. Ironically, we still do, but in a gym.

And if weren't in a gym, were driving to a gym. So it's about 1981 or 1982. Yes, I know I'm dating myself when I say I'm 11. I was 11 or 12 years old back then, but were driving in his blue Datsun, no air conditioning, and were going into the city for a summer league. And back then, there was no iPhones, obviously, you just Google something and listen to it on your Bluetooth. So it was in the speakers of the car. We had this little broken cassette recorder, right? Not the mini cassettes either, like the regular size cassettes. And if you're too young to know what those are, ask somebody or look it up. All right, So I would hold this cassette recorder and we would listen to W. Clement Stone. It just all sorts of motivational speakers.

And sometimes we would listen to basketball tapes on the motion offense or certain, you know, Al McGuire mosquito defense, certain things like that. But on this particular day, I just do remember it was about 9,000 degrees. My legs were sticking to the seats of his car. We had no air conditioning. We were on 290 on the Eisenhower, headed into the city, and there's a truck in front of us that was just spitting fumes through our vent. We didn't have ac, like I said, so we had the windows open and fumes were just surrounding us. But I just remember being so locked into holding this cassette recorder. And there's another time I actually remember riding down our street asking my dad not to pull in the driveway because I wanted to listen to the end of the cassette were listening to.

And what were listening to was a recorded speech that Coach Raveling, George Raveling, gave at his Washington State Cougar Cage basketball camp. It was one of the first of its kind where he'd bring players in from all over the country and create. I think it was six or seven days. You know, back then you had camps for almost A week. Nowadays it's two or three days. And, you know, don't want anything to happen to our kids. And we want to make sure we get them home safe and they don't have the wherewithal to stay for extended time. And honestly, coaches don't want to do it anymore for that long anyways. I remember listening to this talk, and the talk was titled, and it's one of his famous lines was, if it is to be, it is up to me.

And at different points of my life, that saying alone gave me ownership and accountability for my decisions, my actions, my choices, my goals, my dreams, the gripes I had, the roadblocks I faced, the adversity I was throwing my way. I just remember sitting there and his booming voice. And now I had never seen Coach raveling before. I seen pictures of him, but I'd never seen him in person. But I had heard that it was larger than life. He had this booming voice and he called people out. And I'll never forget, he said, fellas, today I'm not going to tell you what you want to hear. I'm going to tell you what you need to hear.

And he went on to talk about how too often in life, people fill us with the things that we want to hear as opposed to what we need to hear. And the whole point of the speech was, regardless of what our chosen field of endeavor is, regardless what sport we play, regardless of what passion we pursue, if we want to be the best, if we want to be successful, whatever level we want to thrive at, it's up to us. No one controls our attitude. Nobody controls our effort. Nobody controls how well we treat people. Nobody controls how well we treat ourselves. Nobody controls what we do with our discretionary effort, our discretionary thinking. Okay, But I just remember sitting there in the stories that he told, and it was captivating.

And for some reason, at the age of 11, 12, as I sat there and I looked over at my father, it all became crystal clear to me. The power of having impact on others and leading by example. Now, did I really realize that at that age? Probably not. As time went on and I made tremendous amount of mistakes and did some really dumb things and did some good things and, you know, surrounded myself with wonderful people, I realized the significance of taking that approach to life. If it is to be, it's up to me. Ironically, this morning, before I recorded this podcast was one of those tough mornings as a parent. Right. You know, I believe in life like I believe in sports. To change direction, you have to change pace.

And it was one of those mornings with my daughter where it was time to change direction on some thoughts, try time to change some direction on some behaviors. And so I shook things up a little bit, and I found myself sitting there talking to her, repeating some things that Coach Raveling, I had heard said now later in life. It was amazing because I was a senior in high school, and there's a gentleman standing in our gym watching us practice. And I came to find out that evening at the dinner table that it was Coach Brian Hamill. Wonderful man. He was an assistant at USC for Coach Raveling at the time. Okay. I believe he had been in St. Joe's that day. Coach Pigmentor sent him over to our place to watch me practice. And that night, we're sitting at the table.

My dad never said anything about the coaches that would come, you know, watch you practice when you're being recruited. He sitting at the din table, and I said, so what did Coach Hamill have to say? And Coach Raveling, I'm not sure if I mentioned this was the head coach at USC at the time. And I saw the USC jersey on. So he told me about Coach Hamill. He told me who he was. He told me. I go, yeah, that's great. I go, what did he say? He said, well, called me Eddie at the time. Said, eddie, I'm gonna be honest with you, because that's the best way to be. Coach Hamill told me he loves how hard you play. He says, you handle it. You can shoot it. You're a really good leader, and it seems like you'll do anything for your teammates.

But there was one problem. I said, what's that problem? He goes, well, they've got this guy back in Los Angeles that's a point guard that you would have to guard every day in practice. And if you ever want to see the floor, you'd have to beat this person out. And that guy's name is Harold Miner. And he goes, and you ain't guarding Harold Miner. And for those of you, again, who might not know who Harold Miner is, look him up. They used to call him Baby Jordan. And you know what's funny is, like, I knew he was absolutely right. But what was really cool, Coach Hamill. And this meant the world to me. Coach Hamill kept sending me all the recruiting material that was on their list.

And I asked him when I talked to him on the phone, because I love their material, and it was motivational stuff. There were some stats in there about, you know, USC basketball, about Coach rallying about Other coaches on the staff. And I saved them for years and years and kept them in a shoebox and actually had him, when I was coaching college basketball, would actually pull them out, try to replicate some of those recruiting materials. So Coach Raveling was really, honestly always with me and let me back up a little bit. First time I got to meet Coach Raveling in person, I was going into my freshman or sophomore year in high school. Actually, I think I was going into my freshman year in high school.

I went to the University of Iowa basketball camp, which was where he was at prior to going to usc. I was so excited about the camp. I knew some of the coaches there that were just legends in my mind, Duncan Reed and some others. But I was most excited about the fact that I knew on Wednesday night, we're going to be in a lecture hall at the University of Iowa listening to Coach Raveling give his speech. And all I wanted to hear was, if it is to be, it's up to me. And at first I realized he wasn't going down the same path that he went down on that tape I had listened to four or five, six years earlier. So I sit there and he starts to tell different stories. He does reference.

I'm not going to tell you what you want to hear. I'm going to tell you what you need to hear. Now think about the power of that. Too often in our life, people tell you what you want to hear instead of what you need to hear. And as I went on and I went through struggles that I was blaming on others or blaming on DNA or whatever it was, I started to take ownership and realized that I needed to tell myself what I needed to hear, not necessarily what I wanted to hear. Okay, so Coach Railing went on and tell some different stories. And I just remember locking in and I was taking notes. And there's probably three of us taking notes in this lecture hall. And the other two people were high school basketball coaches. I kid you not, okay?

And I remember taking notes and I had caught his eye as I was taking notes. And I got to say hello to him and thank him. It was really weird for a 14, 15 year old to thank this man for what, you know, he had just talked to us about, because the whole approach was, you need to do better, like, you need to better, and, you know, you need to make the right choices. So as a camp went on, I ended up being in a ball handling contest. Got to meet him in Carver, Hawkeye, read on the floor and sit with him before I went out and competed in the finals. And it still was one of the highlights of my life. But I really, truly, I tell you these stories.

I'm not doing Coach Raveling justice, nor can I sit here and do him justice by just repeating what he did in his life. So I'm going to do two things, okay? He had written a book recently with Ryan Holiday, obviously one of the best thinkers, okay? And that's just one of the best thinkers. But what I love about Ryan Holiday is his ability to communicate his thoughts and philosophy and the impact it can have on all of our lives. What you're made for is the book. And it was funny when I saw that he was coming out with the book because I subscribed to his newsletter, the Daily Coach, which we are going to put the link in the show notes to the Daily Coach so you can go ahead and subscribe. It is the no offense, Ryan. No offense, James, clear to me.

It is, for me personally, it's the best newsletter out there because it really resonates with me. It resonates with our organization and what we do and the impact that we are trying to have with the people we are trying to have that impact. Okay? So we'll put that in the show notes. But anyways, he read that book. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to read the inside flap of the book so it tells you a little bit more about Coach Raveling. But then I'm going to read you the letter that was in the Daily Coach the week that he passed in loving memory of our beloved coach, because I believe that is the ess of the impact that Coach Rattling had in the world.

Now, I would be remiss if I didn't mention I have many friends who were under Coach Ratling's tutelage, under his wings, part of his inner circle, so to speak, and the stories, like I learned vicariously through them. Now, were supposed to have Coach Raveling on the podcast. I was hoping to a year ago. I, full of transparency, didn't pursue it as significantly and as consistently as I should have. Then the last effort I made, he just couldn't do it. And it's a regret of mine that I didn't reach out to Coach Ratling sooner so I could have actually had the conversation and always had his voice with my face so I could go back and look at the video and listen to his words. But regardless, I really want to prop Coach Ratling up here. Here's my thing.

If you're sincere and you're real about wanting to have a significant impact on those that you lead or those that you hope to lead one day. And you are an emerging leader, a growing leader. Research Coach Raveling. Study Coach Raveling. All right, you can go find a link from one of his. If it is to be, it's up to me Talks. You know, there was other books that he wrote, War on the boards, that my dad had. And many of the older coaches who are listening right now probably chuckle because they have it. But tell you what, go get this book, what you're made for, with coach and Ryan Holiday. It's phenomenal. I mean, it really. It really is phenomenal. Ian, I will be the first to say this.

If we've ever needed Coach rallying in our lives as much as possible, it's the times that we're living in right now. It opens up with a quote from Michael Jordan at the top. Okay. I'm proud to call George a mentor and a friend. Orphaned at just 13 in a still segregated Washington, D.C. george Raveling was introduced to a relatively unpopular sport, basketball, in high school. The rest, as they say, is history. Coach went on to become one of the most beloved coaches of all time, a mentor to legendary athletes, and a confidant of the sport's greatest coaches, including Bob Knight and John Wooden. Now, I could sit here and give you a list of all my guys that he has mentored all the way to the very end. Literally, to the very end.

As a matter of fact, the gentleman I found out about Coach Reveling passing, had just spoken to him two days earlier, was driving and had to pull over because they were laughing so hard. He brought Michael Jordan to Nike for one of the most important partnerships in the history of sports, the Air Jordan. Now, if you've seen the movie, Air Coach Raveling's role in that movie, while it's a nice touching tribute to what he did and the impact he had on Mike, it doesn't do any justice to how that relationship really evolved and came to be. Again, all started with trust. Okay, so Coach raveling led the 1984 U.S. men's Olympic team to their ninth gold medal.

He was given the original handwritten copy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's most famous speech by Dr. King himself after a stint as a bodyguard during the march on Washington. Now, that's a great story. Go find that story. Listening to him tell that story is really cool because he saw the value in what was happening that day and he just wanted to be a part of it because of his Size. And because of timing and by the grace of God, he happened to be in the right place. And I said, hey, we. We need security behind Mr. King. Now.

Let me read you the letter and thank you for staying with me here because I know this isn't how I usually try to do my solo cast, but again, we're trying to really give you a picture of who Coach Raveling was and what he did. This world lost a trailblazing giant and transformational icon on Monday. Our dear friend, our mentor, our co founder, and our beloved coach, George Henry raveling transitioned at 88, peacefully, surrounded by family after facing cancer with courage and grace. And never was there a moment you'd ever think you'd face it any other way. Words will never truly do justice nor capture the pure essence of what coach George Ravling has meant to us here at the Daily Coach, what he has meant to his family, his friends, his colleagues, his former players and assistants into the world.

Now think about the fact that I am sitting here and first heard Coach Raveling at the age of 11 and 12. And I'm now sitting here reading a letter because I want to make sure that I do Coach Raveling justice so that you feel compelled to go out and take some of his thoughts, philosophies, behaviors and approaches out into the world so you can impact others. Coach Raveling touched, influence, change, and transformed our lives. Born into a world of segregation in 1937, where the outside world did not acknowledge or fully see his humanity, Coach kept finding a way to beat the odds, to beat the statistics, to overcome obstacles and adversity, and to keep rising. Let me pause here. When he went on to Villanova to play basketball. Okay, that's another great story. That's in the book what you're made for.

He knew in order to get on the court, he had to figure out what he was really good at. And what he was really good at and could do better than anybody else was rebounding. And he studied the art, the science of rebounding and just became great at it. His teams became great at. He coached guys and went on to the NBA who were great rebounders, all because he had that ability to not try to be something that he wasn't capable of being. All right, let me get back to the letter here. Okay. To keep anchoring himself amidst the storms and turbulent tides, to keep showing up and serving a bigger purpose beyond himself in a world in society that didn't see his humanity at birth.

He spent decades upon decades seeing the humanity in others, pouring into people from all walks of life, never ever expecting anything in return. Because for coach, the arenas of leadership and sports were never truly about the wins and losses. They were about the relationships, the lessons, the beauty of witnessing transformation in others, and the responsibility of equipping those who entrusted him to lead them for the ultimate game, the game of life. Coach Ratling was more than a barrier breaking basketball coach or visionary executive. He was gentle, thoughtful, compassionate, humble, kind, curious, authentic, and a beautiful soul. He cared deeply about people and about doing what was right, not just what was comfortable.

If you had the unique opportunity to be in his presence, to feel his aura and there was an aura, or to engage with his words and teachings, you quickly realized our beloved coach was uncommon. He intentionally lived uncommon and constantly challenged the status quo in both living and leading. He was more than one of the greatest friends anyone could ask for. He was a mentor, a confidant, a truth teller, a true believer, a guiding light, a steady hand, and a treasured source of wisdom and inspiration. Let me pause there for a second. I want to go back to this. He was a mentor, a confidant, and a truth teller. I'm going to stop at that first half of the sentence. I have several friends, as I mentioned, that were very close to Coach.

And at some point Coach had a set of standards that he lived by. And if you were in his inner circle and his name and his influence were attached to you, there was an unspoken expectation of you to operate with those standards. Honesty, integrity, right. Things of that nature. If you strayed, if you got off course, off path, it wasn't judgmental, it wasn't you're lesser of a person. But there was a disappointment. Maybe that's a strong word. You never wanted to let Coach Raveling down because you knew he stood for what was right. Okay, so let me read that sentence one more time. He was more than one of the greatest friends anyone could ask for. He was a mentor, a confidant, a truth teller, a true believer, a guiding light, a steady hand, and a treasured source of wisdom and inspiration.

How many times? Let me go back to what you need to hear versus what you want to hear. How many times in life do we tell our children, do we tell our spouse? Do we tell the people that we lead? Do we tell our bosses or what they want to hear? Because we're afraid of the difficult conversation, we're afraid of the so called fallout when it's really, truly not going to be fallout, it's going to be elevated results. Here they are so eloquently. And passionately talking about what a tremendous man he was. And he wasn't ever afraid to tell the truth. Not because he was better than anyone, because he believed and knew and lived what was right. Now it goes on to talk about our hearts are broken and ached for this immeasurable loss.

It's never easy to say goodbye to those we love. And I love this next line. Grief will always arrive where love is abundantly present and deeply felt. And for some of you out there who have lost a loved one, you know, we've had some. We've had losses in our families over the course of the past year and two. And then my wife lost her father, which was and is challenging, you know, for a lot of folks, her especially. And I share this, because grief will always arrive where love is abundantly present and deeply felt. And when it's your time, you do one. I'm that guy who's like, no, I have an Irish wake, right? I want everyone to have cocktails and have a party and have fun and laugh and talk about all the good times.

Yet when I'm on the other side, like, it's okay to grieve, you know, and because when people grieve your loss, it's because you had an impact and it was. You were meaningful to them. Coach Ratling lived, truly lived, until he was called home. I mean, to the very end, there will come a time when we are all called home. It is something we each will wrestle with our own mortality when this life we have known will take its final bow. When the body rests, but the soul carries on, the wisdom, the impact, the love, the influence. Those remain, they live on in how one lived, in how one loved, in how one led, and in how one treated people without wanting or expecting anything in return. This time we are given as precious and finite. No matter how many years we get.

Coach Raveling was blessed with 88. And he made those 88 sacredly meaningful, memorable. We're all just passing through. Yet along the way, we had the opportunity to be deeply inspired by life and legacy. Like Coach George Ravelings. Go grab a book, listen to stuff, read the stories. Because his story has grit, his childlike curiosity, his love for life, books and service remind us it is never too late to chase the things that make our souls laid up. It is simply never too late. One of Coach's mantras was, if it is to be, it's up to me. Beyond the accolades, Coach rose and blossomed like a rose from that segregated basement floor, hospital delivery room. All the way to the halls of the Naismith Basketball hall of Fame. But even more than that, Coach Raveling was simply a good human being.

To speak of Coach, is to speak of a life well lived, a life of exhausting every ounce of potential, of not allowing age to dictate dreams. And I'm never letting anything interfere with being a positive difference maker in as many lives as possible. Could our society use that today? You know, it goes on, obviously, to get personal about saying goodbye to Coach. I want to read the end of it because here's an exercise that I've done and I will continue to do, keep myself in check. I encourage you to do, I implore you to do that, is write a letter like this from someone important in your life that you have influenced, right?

Not a family member, not your best childhood friend, but someone along the way who came into your world, whether it was through your career, through a mentorship, through your involvement in the community. But do that, okay? And here's what it finishes up saying. You can rest now, Coach. We'll celebrate you always as we take the baton from here and honor you by how we live, how we love, how we lead and how we treat people. Rest in peace, rest in power, rest in divine protection. Rest in the royalty that you are. Mr. Rambling, you defied the odds, wrote your own narrative, lived uncommonly and transformed more lives than we will ever fully know. We will carry your wisdom, grace and humility forward. You are adored and your humanity is seen.

You will be deeply missed, coach, with an aching heart, yet one filled with immense reverence and eternal gratitude for you. We love you and we simply thank you. Now think about that. I was 12 years old and reading someone else's words who I don't even know still moved me to emotion because I understand the responsibility I have as a leader, as a parent, as a husband, as a mentor, as a friend. And what if were all just to take ownership of our. And our approach and our attitude and our resilience? What if we all came from that place with purpose and curiosity and all the things that. I mean, what I just gave you, basically, I just gave you a game plan for success as a leader.

I literally just read to you what it takes for you to maximize the impact that you can have on those that you lead. Thank you for listening to the athletics of business. Be sure to give us a rating and review so we know how we're doing. For more information about the show, visit theathleticsofbusiness.com now get out there. Think, act and execute at the highest level to unleash your greatness.