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May 27th, 2015
This Friday, May 29, 2015, is the annual Friday Night Lights benefit at St. Jude Park to raise money for the Mike Linsky Memorial Scholarship fund, awarded to an outstanding John Marshall High School student athlete each year to help with college costs. This year, I was invited to perform at the event, which undoubtedly marks the high point in my adult-onset singing “career” for a couple of reasons. First, I get to perform with Glen Dale’s legendary Rip Rockers. For at least the last couple decades, joining the Rip Rockers on stage has been high on my bucket list. I have watched and listened to them many times and have witnessed the energy and outstanding musicianship they bring to every show. And I’ve known and spent time with most of the guys all my life, so I was definitely a fan. It’s been so great to have been invited to practice, perform and hang out with all the guys, but beyond simply getting to live out a rock ‘n roll fantasy, this event, and most importantly the man behind it, are very dear to my heart, which makes Friday night extra special for me.
For me, Coach Mike Linsky is a giant in the annals of John Marshall sports history, not necessarily because of his winning percentage, although he delivered us a State Championship in 1996, but because of the profound influence he had on the lives of so many players and students, including me. You see, although I never played football for him, Mike Linsky was every bit the coach and mentor to me that he was to his players. When I came to John Marshall for high school, it was as a transfer student from Linsly. It was pretty nerve-racking for me to be honest. I had been out of the county school system for three years by then, long enough to have been forgotten by my grade school peer group during a time of extreme physical and emotional change for all of us. Plus I was transitioning from a private school where I wore a coat and tie every day, and where you were picked on if you didn’t get good grades, to a school where lots of kids wore cowboy boots and the so-called “nerdy” kids were the ones often targeted. It’s never easy being the new kid, but Coach Linsky went out of his way to make sure I never had to be. In the Winter/Spring of my freshman year at Linsly, Coach Linsky agreed to let me come lift weights with the football players every day after school, which was a tremendously generous gesture in its own right for a kid who didn’t even go to school there and wasn’t going to play football. I figured I’d sort of sneak in there, keep my head down and work out in a corner by myself. Boy was I wrong. From the first time I ever stepped foot in that weight room, Coach Linsky treated me just as if I were a member of that team. He had a great program going in that weight room at the time, tracking milestones, setting goals and promoting safe, healthy competition to try and get the best out of all of his players. He threw me right into that mix, tracking my progress right along with all the other players, pairing me up with a lot of different guys for certain lifts, I think mostly so I would get to know them and encouraging me and cheering me on just as he did with everyone else. Looking back on it, those few months in the weight room were instrumental to my high school experience. Not only did I improve athletically, but I gained more than a few new friends and may have even earned the respect of a few kids who were otherwise likely to have tormented me in school. Coach Linsky made me one of the guys. So when I arrived for school at John Marshall that fall, it wasn’t as that skinny dork from the rich kids’ school, but instead as that skinny dork from the weight room – but having an established presence with a decent sized group of kids coming in that fall made all the difference for me. Coach Linsky gave me the gift of self-confidence and reassurance that I could cut it at a big school. I can’t ever thank him enough for that.
If you knew Coach Linsky, then you know that he didn’t stop there with me. Although I never had the opportunity to play for him, I was blessed to have Coach Linsky as my AP History teacher. He was so knowledgeable and passionate about the subject that you couldn’t help but absorb the material. He made learning interesting and fun. He also taught us quite a bit about navigating adulthood, about finding balance in our academic and scholastic pursuits, about being a good father and friend. Outside the classroom, he continued to take an interest in me and many other non-players. He’d come to our non-football games and get excited with us for big ones, or stop us in the hallway for a laugh or to offer some advice. When time allowed, sometimes he’d even sit down for a quick game of euchre with us. Coach Linsky always had a big heart. I witnessed many examples of Coach going out of his way to bond with students whose situations were less fortunate, to try and bring some levity and joy to their lives – which was something else that has always resonated with me. He was genuinely happy to listen and try and help his students if they had a problem.
I’ve heard many wonderful remarks about Coach Linsky over the years from his former players, and was as thrilled as anyone when he led the Monarchs to the 1996 State Championship with a team of wonderful players and people who truly embraced Coach’s style and philosophy, but to me Coach Linsky was always much more than a football coach. To me he was a life coach, and there’s still not a week that goes by that I don’t think about him and the stories and advice he provided that still impact me as much, if not more, today as a husband and father myself. It’s hard to believe he’s been gone 9 years now. I still get emotional thinking about him. I wish he could have met my kids, whom I know he would get a kick out of, and so they could experience his kind wit, big smile and caring wisdom. But I know Coach wouldn’t want us to dwell too long on things missed. He would want us to persevere and keep working hard to be the best we can be and live the happiest lives we can. So I am truly overjoyed to see his former players, students, fellow coaches and the community at large come together each year to make certain that the profound impact Coach Linsky had on other’s lives is remembered and honored through support for others. And being fortunate enough to have been asked to play at Friday’s event, we’re going to play our hardest and best to make sure everyone enjoys themselves as much as possible. After all, I know that’s the way Coach would want it. If you’re interested in the event, check out http://linskymemorialscholarship.mysimplestore.com/.
