Bob Cotham - what a coach

Everyone has a mentor and a hero and one of mine is Coach Bob Cotham of Shidler High School.  He was short but the broadest shoulders you could ever find.  A person grows up with stories and sometimes those stories are myths, meaning not so true, but here is my memory of Coach Cotham.  

I believe he grew up in the Shidler area and then played college football somewhere and as I recall (note my hesitancy as I have never been able to confirm) he was drafted by the Green Bay Packers.  I know he had a giant scar on his knee from surgery and what I always understood was that the scar was what kept him from playing professional football.  Anyway, we were lucky and blessed to have him in Shidler.  

It was the start of my junior year and I had been hauling hay all summer for Paul Jones, Don Kelsey and the Mullendore Ranch (read the book about the Mullendore murder and yes we all knew E.C.).  In fact if anyone of you know Boog Williams or Kenny Kelsey you can get some good stories from them.  Anyway, back to the story.  It was at the end of the summer and Paul Jones wanted me to keep working until the last minute so he promised to fly me home for football practice (the Mullendore Ranch was near Copan, Ok).  There are a couple of things you should know about that trip.  First, Paul Jones was very ornery and he tried to scare the crap out of me while flying.  Second, it was my first airplane ride.  He made me carry a bucket in case I tossed my cookies up in his plane.  He actually would have deserved it but that is another story.  

Well he flew me home and I went straight to football practice.  I was in the best shape of my life.  The coach had been told that I was a lineman but when he saw me, he immediately moved me to fullback where I worked with Harold (Chuckles) Codding.  Harold had multiple knee surgeries and wore two knee braces and he was still faster than I was.  So I got to play fullback and defensive end for my junior and senior year.  What I loved about Coach was he would make us work exceptionally hard and he would just laugh at us, especially when Steve Chrisco tossed his chunks while running in the hot summer of Oklahoma.  It was funny that I was really not a fast runner but in the beginning of summer practice I was one of the fastest because I showed up in such good shape while most of the other guys needed to get in shape.  The sad thing was after a few weeks they could almost all out run me.  I honestly don't know why he let me play the position except that I would sacrifice my entire body to take out the opposing players for Harold.  I loved counting my bruises.  OK, back to Coach.  

He was tough as nails and pushed us hard everyday and he loved defense but he had a giant heart as well.  He never hesitated to punish us for the least little thing but you could depend on him to stand up for you.  You had to respect him but he was a great friend to all of us.  Once we went to an OSU football game and he told us where he would be before the game and during the game and that we should stay out of trouble and not go trying to drink beer.  Then he told us again where he would be and that he would not be looking for us.  We knew what that meant and I hope I don't get in trouble for this but we did get a hold of some beer and the fact is I did not like beer, but I enjoyed the mystery and risk of getting in a bar while being under age and drinking a few and then sneaking a few beers into the game.  I am not going to tell on AJ or Rick or Jim or Steve or any of the other guys but we had a good time until Monday rolled around.

ON Monday Coach said he smelled beer on us and decided that we deserved to run a lot to get it out of our systems.  I don't believe for a minute that he smelled beer but he, just like always, laughed and made us work harder than ever.  I think everyone truly loves discipline and structure so that you know what to expect and you have hope of what you might gain.  I personally loved it and loved Coach.

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• What you lack in one area you can make up in another, like speed for sacrificing your body
• Someone that loves you cares enough to discipline you and sometimes they laugh at you
• Now that I think about it, isn't that what Jesus does,  He allows us to go through trials so that we might become more righteous

Well, thanks for listening,

gary

gary@mylifelegacy.co

yes, I do have another email address..... 

Pneumonia and just how smart of a boy are you?

 Well as I recall I was in about the 5th grade and we had one of those spelling tests from Mrs. Beth Shumate in Grainola.  I don't know about you but a couple of things I just dreaded, one was a spelling test on paper and the other was a spelling test where you lined up in front of the class to be humiliated by my lack of spelling acumen.  Debbie Jones who was and still is one year older than me and Joy Frank which is number 6 of the Grainola 5 and sometimes 6 club (you have to go read the older stories to get it) both could spell everything correctly.  It was not a fair fight/contest.    Luckily we did not all get trophies for participation and I should mention that Jimmy Heath could spell everything as well.  But what really hacked me off was when I was asked to spell NEWMONIA or Pneumonia.  Sure I got it wrong and Jimmy got it right.  HOW?  It was not fair.  Who ever heard of having a P at the beginning of a word that has no sound?  The great thing about those spelling contests was learning about humility and how to lose with grace.  I do believe I can honestly say I never won a spelling contest.

Today I heard a friend (a lady) speak that left home when she was 12 because her step-father was an alcoholic and abusive and then she lived in a laundromat for 6 months.  She shared that what she learned was what she did not want in life.   She also shared that her 3 siblings were all drug attics (for those of you who did not catch it, attics is in the ceiling and addicts is the other)  and in and out of jail.  She got her GED and became a nurse for 16 years, had 3 failed marriages, six children and contributes where she is today is because of God's protection and leading in her life.  Her story went on but it was one of the most inspiring stories.  I loved this item she shared:  There is a highway to hell and a stairway to heaven.  Another way to say it is, "you can go to hell in a hurry or take the challenging way and go to heaven".  How about the old poem:  yard by yard is hard and inch by inch is a cinch.

I find a lot of wisdom in all this.  When we make things to easy it is easy to be lazy and apathetic and in fact there becomes a reliance on others to take up the slack.  I guess folks around Shidler and Grainola never gave much thought to relying on the outside to take care of them.  They persevered and depended on themselves.  I am thankful for not getting a trophy.

So, what do you learn in the Osage?

• The best things come from overcoming
• Winners never quit and quitters never win
• God promises us only one thing in life, problems or should I say a stairway with the knowledge that we get to chose a highway to hell or a stairway to heaven

Thanks for listening,

gary

gary@mylifelegacy.co