Because of Joe

Tomorrow, December 3rd is my dad's birthday. He would be turning 57 years young. Last year at this time I never could have imagined he would be gone, it's still so hard to believe. Over the past months I have often thought about how badly I want my future children to know their grandfather without having him here physically. How will I be able to carry on his legacy? What has my dad taught me that I can share with his posterity?

If I were to describe my dad in one word, the first that comes to mind is generous. He lived a simple life so he could give more to others. He was a talented coach that made good athletes great. He believed in them, taught them how to work hard, be successful and achieve their goals.

About one month ago, my oldest sister, Shelley had purchased a two week membership at a gym for a fundraiser from her son's basketball team. She had never been there before and finally went on the very last day before the pass expired. Upon leaving, the owner of the gym approached her, gave her the new member spill and was trying to talk her into joining. She was in a rush and didn't want to be bothered. The gym owner finally asked her why she was so against joining and she said, " because my son is trying out for basketball and needs some help getting stronger and faster, I need to put my money into training for him, not me right now". The guy looked at her and said, " well that's exactly what I do! When I was in high school, I tried so hard to make the basketball team but got cut my sophmore year. I went to tons of different coaches to help me get stronger and jump higher but none of them helped. Finally I was sent to the very best coach"...

At that moment, my sister knew who he was talking about. The young man went on to say, "his name was Joe Jolley". With tears in her eyes my sister said, "that's my dad". The young man looked upset and walked away. A few minutes later he came back a little choked up and said, "now you don't have anyone to help your son because your dad is gone?" The young man told my sister how my dad trained him, believed in him and helped him achieve his dream of going on to not only make the high school team, but also play collegiate basketball. He said he never would have accomplished what he had or be where he is today without the help of my dad.

My dad helped so many young athletes on and off the field. Coaching was his hobby, not his career. He often did it without pay, sacrificing his time and talent out of love for these young kids and their sport. More important than athletics to my dad was the gospel of Jesus Chris. He once told one of his athletes, "there are two things your future wife has to have, number one, she's got to have a testimony and number two, she's got to be able to back squat double her own body weight!"

I've decided that every December 3rd on my daddy's birthday I'm going to try to go out of my way to help someone more than usual, think to be a little more generous, and do something kind. I'm hoping that my future children will notice this and come to realize I do it because of my dad, because of their grandfather, because of Joe.