He's giving up his position after twenty years.
For twenty years, this man has been coaching a junior high boys team. For twenty years, this man has been a coach, role model, mentor, encourager, teacher, and cheerleader for the adolescent males he's worked with. For twenty years, I'm sure he's learned as much from them as he taught them.
I had the privilege of working with this man in the collective arena of teaching young people, molding the minds of young people, and making a positive difference in their lives. He personifies the type of individual that every public school teacher should aspire to be. He is humble, quiet-yet-firm, dedicated, skilled, inquisitive, and empathetic. He is also a Christian, although he keeps that side of his life "quiet" in the public school setting. He doesn't have to wear "Christian" on his sleeve. His faith, ethics, and moral code go with him wherever he is. Once, when I was in a particularly frustrating period of time, he left me a simple piece of a 3X5 note card - the teacher's indispensable tool. On it he wrote the following scripture, which I carry with me yet today: "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." II Cor. 3:17
Fortunately this man will still serve in the classroom where he can continue his legacy of loving the art of teaching children. His "coaching" will now be for his students and his own offspring, where he can be part of the cheering crowd for his children and their teams.
He will always be a coach to students and adults alike, just as he was to me many years ago.
Coach, I salute you!
Ancora imparo
