On the TunneySide of Sports August 31, 2020 #811 Up next… Equal Opportunity!
After further review… “There is nothing so unequal as the equal treatment of unequals.”
Now before your blood pressure gets beyond its normal limits, let me offer this. It’s the opportunity to live, grow and achieve that needs to be equal for everyone, yet not always.
It was my good fortune to be raised in a family with both mother and father who not only showed me how to live, grow and achieve but taught me to help others have that same opportunity. At an early age, I decided I wanted to be a coach. Undoubtedly, my father who was in that job had an influence on that decision. Following in his path was not so much his words that made a difference, but it was his manner and demeanor that created a worthiness I admired. Not everyone has that privilege.
My dad taught at Abraham Lincoln High School in East Los Angeles which, in the 1930s, was primarily a mixture of Eastern Europeans, Mexican Americans (as they were called then), and a variety of other ethnic groups. One of whom was an African American named Kenny Washington who went on to be the first of his race to play for the Los Angeles Rams in the National Football League. Kenny, who I got to know better later in his life, gave credit to my dad for not only teaching him to be a stand-up citizen but helping him get into U.C.L.A. and on to professional football.
When I was a senior at Occidental College, I was assigned to do my student teaching at that same Lincoln High School, which had become largely Hispanic/Latino along with a variety of ethnic groups. I coached a basketball T*E*A*M that hadn’t won many games in years before. In my four years, we went from last place in our Northern League to first place and an undefeated season my final year.
My goal in those four years was to give those players an opportunity to succeed. Every player on that squad of 12 players was not equal. They were a mixture of young men who hadn’t succeeded much earlier. Were they equal in size and talent? Far from it, but they got a chance to be successful by working together. They all couldn’t shoot the basketball as well as “Cheo” (our best shooter) who was 5’8”, but they all had an opportunity to do so and to be part of a T*E*A*M. Only two from that team went on to play college basketball.
Will you give everyone an equal opportunity to succeed?
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
To contact Jim, go to www.jimtunney.com or email jim@jimtunney.com.
Jim’s Bobblehead and books are available at Jim Tunney Youth Foundation (501c3).
