Yesterday I had the luxury of listening to Coach Boone (Remember the Titans), speak at UW-Platteville. If you ever get a chance to listen to him, do it, it was phenomenal.
It is obvious that he was a coach, as he brings a presence to his speech, even at his older age. He talked about the team, and why it was so special for not only him, but the country, however his underlined message was about diversity, and what it means to him. His main idea was not by color, but a respect issue, and that everyone, whether you are in a coaching profession, business profession, classroom setting, or a social event, should give respect to one another, something that I think is lost, and getting worse in society. Going to a school that is about 90% white, most likely more, and at a school where lately there has been some issues with racial conflict, a speech given by a man like him was what our school needed
Also, he was pretty damn funny.
He made jokes about UW-Whitewater, which was pretty fantastic
He made jokes about Denzel, saying that he called him to tell him to tell us "2-time, academy award winning actor, Denzel Washington"
He talked about the team, and no, Sunshine didn't kiss Gary, if anyone wondered.
All in all, it was by far the best speaker I have seen in person since coming to college, and recommend him to anyone that gets a chance, especially if you are thinking about going into the coaching profession. I ended up taking more out of it then I thought I would.
Also, when the students had a chance to ask questions for him, he came off the stage to answer the questions face to face, which is remarkable, and as he was stepping off the stage to go answer questions he stated "I am not coming to your level, I am going to my level", the man, although he is great, is humble.
