The summers of my junior and senior year in high school, I was fortunate to have a job working for Clyde Jackson in his cornfields. Morris Allen Stewart is Clyde's son in law. Morris Allen and my Dad had coached together at Boyle County. Coach Stewart helped me get that job.
When I got back to Mercer County, I told Coach Stewart I wanted Trosper to work in the cornfields like we did. He told me that no one does that anymore!
In the summers of 1981 and 1982, I was a corn roguer for Mr. Jackson. We would walk through cornfields and chop out the bad corn. Toward the end of July, the corn could get pretty high. It was a hot dirty job.
Another job we would do was to detassel corn. Physically, that was a much easier job. We would ride a machine (highboy) above the corn and remove the tassels from the top of the corn. The faster you could detassel, the faster the machine could move. And, missing a tassel was not good. It meant the entire machine moving backwards.
My problem with both jobs was that I was an uncoordinated, clumsy, unathletic subdivision kid. You might as well have told me to fly a jet airplane. When it came to tobacco, all I could do was load and unload wagons. I would have definitely lost an arm or leg cutting tobacco. The over/under on me to fall out of the top of a barn housing tobacco would have been about 30 minutes.
My foreman working for Mr. Jackson was Curtis Wren. Curtis didn't say a whole lot, but he did a good job of letting us know what needed to be done. Especially at the beginning, I missed a bunch of corn that needed to be chopped out when we would rogue corn. And, if the entire highboy was backing up for a missed tassel, it was probably my fault.
I know Curtis got really frustrated with me, but he gave me a chance to get better. I found out later from others that even though I started off pretty bad, he knew I was trying and wanted to give me a chance. He never told me that. I found that out years later.
Looking back on it, I think it is a miracle that I kept that job the first year and then got hired back for a second summer.
Over the years, when I may get frustrated with an assistant coach or player, I think about Curtis. I start the same way Curtis started with me.... does the guy have good intentions? Does he want to be here? Is he doing the best he can? Can he be successful down the road?
As leaders, we can discard people or develop them. If at all possible, my choice has been and will be to develop them...if they WANT to be there and are there for the right reasons. From a very practical standpoint, no organization has perfect people. In our football program, if we eliminate everyone with significant flaws, the head football coach will be the first guy out the door. We will always be starting over with new people because everyone we hire will have their flaws or issues. But, most of those same individuals will bring a skill set and passion to the organization to make it grow stronger. For me, if a guy loves kids and loves football, we can work on the rest of it.
I am really glad Curtis hung in there with me. I also am thankful for the head coaches, principals, and superintendents that have hung in there with me and been patient over the years. I wish Trosper could get the same experience and benefits I got from those cornfields. Now, I do NOT want to go back to work in those cornfields again! But, I am thankful for those hot summers and that I had a boss that believed I could do it. I had no idea that I was learning about leadership in those cornfields, but I have applied that lesson often over the years. Thank you Curtis Wren.
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