![]() I call it “walking through the woods.” It’s where you start to define who you are and what you are. I view the college years as some of the most crucial in a young person’s life. That realization was one of my happiest moments in watching his growth. It felt like the first step in him carving his own legacy. He could follow my lead without following my footsteps. played a different position, he’d never have to live up to a particular legacy. ![]() I was excited because he was outgrowing the running back position - the position where I made a name for myself. My wife noticed I was celebrating and said, “Oh, you’re excited because he’s getting taller for basketball?”īut that wasn’t it. That 5’11 fifth-grader somehow shot up to 6’2’’. Then, I stood up straight, and I was still looking up at him. Leaning down and resting my elbows on the kitchen counter, I looked up at him. Then, one day later that year, I was at home in our kitchen talking to my wife, and T.J. There’s some height on my wife’s side of the family - my sons’ grandfather and uncle are 6’6’’ and 6’7’’ - so there was a chance T.J. Because you could stop growing, and those will be the skills that will carry you later on.” If you’re going to play basketball, you need to learn the little-man skills. “I’m basically the same height today as I was when I was your age. “I’ve been 6’1” since the sixth grade,” I told him. I wasn’t going to coach him, but I did have one piece of advice. He was maybe 5’11” and he wanted to play AAU basketball. I also didn’t want them to look at my on-field successes - at Michigan or in the NFL - and compare themselves to me or feel the weight of continuing my legacy. I didn’t want that to be our only common interest. I didn’t want every waking moment in our lives built around sports. After that, we’d talk about other things. After every game my boys played, we’d sit in the car and talk about the game - for five minutes. The last thing I wanted when I walked out into the yard was to have my boys think … Here comes dad. I always thought it was important for them to take coaching from someone else - learn how to be coached and not to look at their dad as someone who’s always coaching them or coming down hard on them. I wanted to be a voice in my boys’ lives, but I didn’t want to be the only voice. “You played basketball, football and baseball. My wife always wanted me to go out and coach my boys. So there was a struggle in our house for years. The one who pushes his kids so hard that they lose the love for the game he loves before they even have a chance to truly develop. The one who’s living vicariously through his kids. We all know “that dad.” The one who’s hanging on to the past. With Tyrone Jr., my eldest son, I got the best of both worlds. And that becomes what you want him to be. Over time, you watch him grow and develop into a young man. You want him to continue your legacy.īut then life happens. Second, you want to give him all the good things you had in life - the experiences you feel lucky to have had and that shaped you into the man you are.Īnd if you were me - and I’m sure it’s like this for most athletes - you want him to play your sport and go to your alma mater. First, you want to protect him - guard him from the mistakes you made and shield him from all the bad things in this world. When you’re a new father - and you think you might have a son - you feel like you have a pretty good idea of what you want to provide for him. That was the first song my boys ever heard. Hail! to the victors valiant Hail! to the conqu’ring heroes Hail! Hail! to Michigan, the champions of the West! ![]() Then I reached down, pressed the teddy bear’s hand, and the little band inside its belly played the Michigan fight song, The Victors. When each was born, I laid them in their crib, and next to them, I placed a teddy bear. ![]()
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