Silver is Gold
When my hometown Franklin Knights recently reached the state championship game in the Pennsylvania high school 3A basketball tournament it unleashed a deluge of emotions for me. I haven’t lived in Franklin for over 12 years, but I still follow all things FHS (Franklin High School) through social media and local news outlets. My friends and former classmates all have school aged children now and I often miss home when I see the great things that they are doing and experiencing… I had always longed to raise my family there and experience all of those great things alongside the people that I grew up with.
However, my path would eventually lead me south to the Carolina’s, a move that has been great for us even though we miss home often. I love to see my old friends and family members beaming with pride while posting about the progress of their own kids in sports and other activities at the various amazing schools in the Franklin area. That is the beauty of social media, a trend that I took many years to warm up to. It helps me feel right at home sometimes and maintains that connection to the town and schools that molded me and helped make me the man that I am today.
Although I have never met most of the young men that were on that team, I felt as though I had from seeing their progress over the last handful of years as their parents and family documented important moments online. I rooted for them with each victory and also valued their tough losses and defeats as I know firsthand that is where true growth and learning come from. I could tell that they were a truly special group, that was evident early on even from the perspective of someone who had never seen them play in person.
I so badly wanted them to win their state championship game and arrive home to a hero’s welcome. After all of the hard work and hours that they dedicated as a group over the years, you could say that they deserved it. It wasn’t meant to be though, no amount of hope, dedication, support, or luck can trump God’s plan, a path that is often misunderstood and which can seem quite unfair at times especially when you are young.
I have a message for all of those young men, their friends, family, and loved ones all over the great town of Franklin and beyond. Quite some time has passed since I was a resident of Franklin and even more has passed since I walked the halls and played the fields as a student athlete. Time means nothing though when you have been impacted by a community full of amazing influences, your love for that place and its effect on your life never fades. The events that shaped you are just as sharp and poignant today as they were decades ago.
This message doesn’t come from some random guy that doesn’t know what he is talking about. It comes from a guy who has stood in the shoes of those young men and endured the same fate after pouring heart and soul into a sport that he fell in love with. It comes from a guy who overcame long odds to do things that nobody ever envisioned possible for him. Someone who just like these boys dedicated most of their waking hours as an adolescent towards achieving the goal of becoming a state champion. Someone who would ultimately fall just short of that goal on a hot summer day in 1999 at the Pennsylvania 3A track and field state championship meet.
Twenty-five years ago, I felt the same feelings and experienced the same emotions when I took home the silver medal that day. I medal that I despised for years and refused to even look at. At the time all of this happened, I just couldn’t perceive that silver medal as anything but a sign that I had failed. A constant reminder that life wasn’t fair and that I had squandered my chance at fulfilling what I perceived to be my destiny. For years, I couldn’t even view the fact that I shattered school and district records with much positivity due to the perceived failure of my ultimate goal of being a state champion. Unbelievably, those records stand to this day, which lends further credibility to the fact that although I didn’t win a state championship I should have always been supremely proud of what I did accomplish, as should the young men on that basketball team. I am very proud of those things now, but it took me too long to get to that point, great years wasted by allowing myself to view my outcome as a failure.
It's almost impossible for me to comprehend that so many years have passed since I was in that position. I look back with regret that I allowed that one defeat to define me for so long, that I could even look upon being the 2nd best high jumper in the entire state as anything but an impressive accomplishment. What I used to view as a failure and an unfair time in my life, I now view as a necessary and fond memory of my past. That silver medal is one of my most prized possessions now because it led me to where I am today. Just like the 2023-2024 Franklin Knights basketball team I probably was the best in the state, just not that day. Give us another shot and we both probably walk away with the gold, we probably win that fight nine times out of ten, but just not that day. That is how plans that are set in stone long before you are even born work. Sometimes our destiny isn’t what we think, no matter how much we want it.
I want to speak right to the young men on that team for just a moment. If there is only one part of this that you read, I hope that it is this part…
Men, I know that it didn’t end the way that you all had planned and hoped and prayed that it would. I know that it does not seem fair to have worked that hard and to have put so much time, effort, and love into something to come up just short of your goal. I know exactly how you feel, I lived it, and lived with it for way too long viewing it as something that it was not… a failure. Don’t get caught up in the “2nd place is the first loser” mentality, because it is wrong. Believing in something, pouring your heart and soul into it, and giving it all you have can never be wrong… That should never be viewed as a failure. The lessons you learned and will continue to learn from that defeat will be among the greatest and most beneficial lessons of your life. When viewed as an opportunity to learn and improve, it can be the catalyst to all of your future achievements, the very foundation that your future successful life is built upon. It is ok to have this brief time in the following days to ponder and think, but it needs to be only a few days and then it is time to apply what you learned toward creating a bright and successful future and move forward.
Men, do not dwell on this moment too long, do not wish it had turned out differently, do not think about what went “wrong”. Look back on your journey from the beginning and be proud of what you have become and what you have achieved. There is nothing that can be taken away from you, the accomplishments, the memories… They are yours forever now, not to be overshadowed by an outcome that you didn’t anticipate. You were arguably the best basketball team in the entire state of Pennsylvania, and you did that together through teamwork, sacrifice, and dedication. All things and characteristics that will take you to even greater heights in your future life.
Every single one of you was put on this earth for a specific purpose and it will likely be a little while before you find out exactly what that purpose is. How you handle this situation will likely be a huge factor in how quickly you discover your own meaning. I had two huge goals during my high jumping career at Franklin High School and at West Virginia University, both of them felt like my destiny, and I failed to achieve them. I wanted to be a high school state champion and a division 1 collegiate national champion. As I was working toward those goals, I just knew that I was going to achieve them, and I was left shocked and stunned both times when I came up short.
I’m here to tell you though, that it is never too late to achieve your goals, although sometimes they don’t happen exactly as you thought they would. In 2022, as a high school track coach, I am supremely proud to say that I guided my 4x400 meter relay team to a state championship gold finish. A year later I became the USA track and field masters national high jump champion after not jumping for nearly 20 years. I do not say this to brag, but hopefully to inspire you men to NEVER stop using that drive and determination that got you to that state championship game. You are ALL destined for greatness if you view your time as a Franklin Knight and your experience this season for what it truly was… a VICTORY.
