The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
HS sports’ selflessness lesson has never mattered more
The “by the way” modesty with which the concept was expressed probably missed the mark.
Chardon welcomed Wickliffe for a gridiron clash Oct. 15, 1943.
On a night when two area high school football games were postponed due to a rain storm that left their fields unplayable, Hilltoppers quarterback Bill Schmidt didn’t start against the Blue Devils.
“Bill Schmidt, Chardon quarterback, was kept out of the first quarter,” the Painesville Telegraph explained in its Oct. 16, 1943 edition, “having to report for an Army physical in Cleveland.”
It was, after all, a fall during World War II, when sports were not a primary concern — and as has been stated often during this novel coronavirus pandemic, nor should they be in a time of crisis for the world.
We are reminded, however, in these moments where so much seems bleak, about one of the most valuable lessons high school sports provides for then and for later in life: Selflessness.
In retrospect nearly 77 years later, it doesn’t really matter Chardon played Wickliffe on that particular Friday night.
Or that it was in a storm. Or that the Blue Devils won, 13-6.
The most important development that day was Schmidt answering a call bigger than himself or guiding an offense in football. The duty to his country and to a better world mattered more.
We don’t know what will come in the days ahead, as we navigate how to restart high school sports eventually and when appropriate.
Sooner rather than later, an announcement will come from the Ohio High School Athletic Association.
It may be to tell us, as we pretty much expect at this point, that the 2020 winter sports postseason for boys basketball, girls basketball, hockey and wrestling no longer has a feasible path forward.
It may be to tell us spring sports will, at the very least, be abbreviated — or, hopefully not, worse.
It may be a combination of both.
With all of that in mind, it is probably not a stretch to contend that relinquishing sports for a world that eventually returns to normal is the ultimate act of selflessness our area’s student-athletes can make right now.
And it’s happening with a group of young people who are only beginning to learn about themselves, with the lens of sports supposed to serve as a helpful calibrator.
On Twitter on March 22, Chardon standout junior sprinter and returning Division I 400 state placer Jenna Oriani tweeted a video I had posted of her last season from the D-I Mayfield District closing out a 400 victory. It included the simplest but most resonating message: “I miss this,” with two broken-heart emojis.
It is a sentiment shared by student-athletes across the country, who wonder if they’re going to have to process a lost season in their given craft and, by extension, a missing element of their formative years.
If sports teach us anything in the grand scheme, it is the value of every contribution.
We talk often about the invaluable reserve or the person willing to defer.
We talk often about all of the components coming together to field the best team or unit.
No basketball team succeeds with one person scoring 40 points a game. They need a rebounder. They need a facilitator. They need depth off the bench and those willing to take charges.
No hockey team succeeds without that third forward line who doesn’t score as many goals, but turns in physical shifts that wear down an opponent. That screener in front of the crease, who may or may not get a tip on a power play, is necessary.
No 4x800-meter relay in track and field succeeds without the standout who has enough sense to realize their best role is as the opening leg. It never reaches its goals, either, without the middle legs who need to rise to the occasion as well. Then, and only then, is the anchor in a position to thrive.
In short, no collective effort is worthwhile or ultimately prosperous without every contribution adding up.
Expecting athletes to forgo at least a key part of their high school experience is an act of selflessness unlike any related to high school sports in recent memory.
Selflessness is all about an eye for the greater good.
In February 2019, while compiling an oral history to mark the 10th anniversary of University’s 2008-09 state championship hockey team, former US coach Bill Beard told me, among many, a story I never knew before from that banner season. The Preppers during that “triple” campaign — winning the Red North, Baron Cup I and state title all in the same season — needed double overtime to defeat St. Edward in a state semifinal.
All these years later, I can still envision like it was yesterday current US coach Andy Gerow’s slapshot from just beyond the blue line on the left side of his zone at Nationwide Arena in Columbus finding its way into the back of the net, and the wild celebration that followed. Andy Neff provided a screen in front of the crease, and Gerow was credited with the goal.
“And to tell you how selfless that team was, we always went back and at the end of the year, we talked about the winning goal,” Beard said in 2019. “Because if you watch it on tape, it might have hit Neff or hit his stick. He said, ‘Coach, I think it might have actually tipped off my stick.’ This is way after the fact, and I turned to him and said, ‘Andy, you never said anything.’ He said, ‘Oh, I didn’t care.’ That said a lot.”
Indeed it did. Because every contribution, unspoken or not, leads to defeating an opponent.
The truth is, we are facing perhaps the most formidable opponent of our lifetimes. And on this occasion, we’re all on the same team looking to contribute. It’s not going to be easy. It may take a sacrifice of spring sports, or a state experience in winter sports for many student-athletes that never culminated.
But we’ve got to get this right. We’ve got to think more like Bill Schmidt.
Because in a critical time, the lesson of selflessness has never mattered — or inspired — more.
Lillstrung can be reached at CLillstrung@NewsHerald.com; @CLillstrungNH on Twitter.