Bill Curry shares his wisdom with Long Island's athletes
Former NFL football player Bill Curry, gives a lecture at the Symposium on Sportsmanship in Sports at the David S. Mack Arena in Hempstead on Friday, Aug. 29, 2014. Credit: Patrick E. McCarthy
Football is a rough and tough sport, but Bill Curry reminds us that playing fields also are a place for respect and tolerance.
Curry, the former big-time college coach, NFL player and TV analyst, was at a summit at Hofstra last week to share his thoughts and his personal experiences about what athletics are supposed to be about.
Curry's opening words really caught everyone's attention. He told the athletes that they are unique.
"There is no one like you," he said. "We all have our own thumbprint. We all have the capacity to develop our own greatness from within. We are all different, and that's what makes us unique."
Curry spoke of tolerance: "We don't want to be tolerated. We want to be loved."
He spoke of 'magnanimitas' -- a Latin term for "greatness of spirit." And in spirit he meant that you are the sum of your component parts.
"Do you want the pain of discipline or the pain of regret?" he asked. "You have to choose which you want."
The owner of two Super Bowl ringsgrew up through the civil rights movement, thrived under Hall of Fame football coaches Vince Lombardi and Don Shula, and played with the Green Bay Packers, Baltimore Colts, Houston Oilers and Los Angeles Rams in a successful 10-year NFL career.
Curry went on to coach NCAA Division I football for 17 years at Alabama, Georgia Tech, Kentucky and Georgia State. He also worked as an ESPN football analyst for 12 seasons from 1997-2008 before he authored the best-selling book "Ten Men You Meet In The Huddle."
Curry was riveting in his storytelling about his days in the NFL during the civil rights movement, a time when the NFL and AFL were becoming more diverse each year.
He delivered an emotional, detailed account of racism during his days of growing up in Georgia. And he touched his audience of 600 high school student-athletes and 150 coaches with his rules as a coach on tolerance, diversity and respect.
"I thought he hit a chord and I loved his message," said Pat Pizzarelli, who serves as the Section VIII football chairman and also as the director of athletics at Lawrence High School. "We wanted to meet the sportsmanship issues head on with players and coaches. And coach Curry was fantastic."
For athletes who might not believe they play the most important position or get any of the accolades afforded the skill positions, Curry lamented his "given'' position, which was not one of choice.
"When I was 12, 13 years old, they told me I was going to be a center on the football team," he said. "No one wanted to be in that awful position at center where I was told, 'You hike the ball and get run over slowly.' "
He paused after the laughter and said, "But I did it. I did it for the team. I took great pride in my position and I defended that quarterback with my body and soul."
East Meadow senior halfback Brian Kavanagh said he hung on Curry's words. He liked that Curry was a team player and became a center to help the team win.
"Without the linemen, you can't win," Kavanagh said. "They give it up for the team every day. I've always felt they should get all the credit. And it just tells me what kind of man coach Curry was for his team. He was an unselfish player who put the team first."
Curry emphasized the importance of having a work-hard, never-quit temperament.
"Never quit!" he said.
"Hall of Famer Ray Nitschke broke my facemask, broke my nose and knocked me out cold in the first day of practice with the Green Bay Packers. Instead of quitting, I became the best player I could by giving it my best shot every day. It was either do that or be destroyed.
"And that ultimately gained me the respect of all of my teammates."
He added, "We love diversity in sports. We should all understand each other and respect all races and religions.
"I played for coach Vince Lombardi, a coaching legend in the Hall of Fame, but his true greatness was that he hated racism.
"There was a quota when I played pro football . . . Coach Lombardi didn't believe in the quota. We had 10 African-Americans and we crushed opponents on Sundays."
Curry said everyone is a primary sculptor, etching out his own legacy. He talked about the fellowship of the miserable -- people of negative influence, pessimists who bring you down. Those are the bad sculptors -- the ones who tell us the things we can't do, when indeed we can.
"It all comes down to this," Curry said afterward. "Be true to yourself and your teammates. Have fun in athletics and be humble and honorable. Get an education and be smart . . . be competitive and respect all.
"The foundation of anyone's life is family and friends. And always have faith, in your character and in something greater than yourself, which is the team."
Jim Amen Jr., the director of athletics at Manhasset and head of the Section VIII sportsmanship committee, had outlined the talking points.
Nina Van Erk, the executive director of Section VIII athletics, told the crowd, "You reflect the core of our community. Coach Curry delivered a powerful message to us today. You are fortunate that your athletic director decided this was important and I am thrilled you are here. Kudos to my colleagues for getting you here."
