In 1929, Georgia Tech played Cal in the Rose Bowl. It was a long time before the BCS system was even thought of and when the Rose Bowl was “The Game’ on New Year’s Day. I don’t know how old I was when I first heard about that game and the player, Roy Reigals., who “ran the wrong way” and had to be tackled by his own teammates before he crossed the Cal goal line. I recently heard about that story again. This time it was more about his coach than about Roy. The story goes like this. Roy sat in a corner at half-time and wouldn’t look up. He couldn’t face the mates he had let down. As they got ready to return to the field, the coach announced that the same team that started the game would open the second half. The team charged the field, but Reigals just sat there...head in hands. “Let’s go, Roy”, called the coach. “I can’t”, Roy replied, “I failed you and the team and all our fans.” “Nonsense”, said the coach, “we’ve still got a half to play.” The coach was giving Roy a second chance. I would guess that as coaches we’ve all given a player or two a second chance. And, I bet it might have something to do with one of our coaches giving us a second chance when we were kids.
The greatest motivation for giving a second chance is the example found in Romans 5:8 which says: “But God has shown His great love for us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Even before we knew we needed a second chance, God was making that second chance possible. What a wonderful God we have. And God’s second chances don’t just come in regards to the sin in our lives. Let me share one of my very favorite personal stories. It has to do with another kind of second chance.
About thirteen years ago, I had experienced probably the three worst years of my life. My five year old granddaughter had died of cancer in 1989, that same year I went through six months of a very ugly chemical depression, and the football seasons of 1991 and 1992 were my most terrible as a head coach. I told God, and my athletic director, that I couldn’t coach any more. This was after the final game of the ‘92 season that ended with both teams and many fans on the field in an awful fight. Everything that I wanted for myself as a football coach crashed around me. I’d failed. Three months later, I was encouraged by a coach I hadn’t seen or heard from for about two years to get a coach’s Bible study going again. I sent letters to all the coaches I could think of who might like to attend and also extended an invitation to coaches at Valley Christian - even though I didn’t personally know any of them. At the first breakfast meeting at the Hickory Pit near the Pruneyard, I met Bob Riddell who was the VCHS head coach. It was a “God thing” and, as a result, found myself as a varsity assistant at Valley Christian the next Fall. The highlight of many precious memories of that year came at our very first game of the season. We were to play Cupertino at their field. This was the same Cupertino that was Lynbrook’s big rival. It was the same field I coached on in all of Lynbrook’s home games. For that first game, I told Bob I would meet the team at Cupertino because I was still teaching at Lynbrook - just a few blocks away. That evening, I walked into our locker room and joined the team as they dressed for their first game in a public school league. Soon the team gathered for a time of devotion. Then, they prayed for the game, our team and also for the Cupertino players and team. Just when I expected the “Let’s go kill ‘em” speech, the kids sang together “In our team, Lord, be glorified” and quietly filed out to the field. I waited till they were gone and then, through my tears, quietly told God how awesome He was. For 35 years of coaching in the public schools I had dreamed that this is how it might be. I thought I had given it all up, failing to ever come close to what I’d just experienced. And yet here I was, starting to soak up what was to be blessing after blessing during a very special championship season.
Does God give good things to His children? Oh, yes! I could tell you about hundreds of ways these last thirteen years I’ve been here at Valley. I sit in my equipment room at times and think how low I was after that last game in ‘92. Then, God shakes me a bit, and reminds me of what Isaiah said in chapter 64 and verse 4: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.” Let’s really love God, give some needed second chances to our players, and expect God to do great things in our lives.
Coach Hitch
