From The Players - Dean Kilmer — 1967-69 I learned a great lesson about integrity when I was a freshman in college. I was too small and too slow to play college football; however, as a freshman at Harding, I was able to make the team and earn a scholarship. Coach Prock, a man of immense integrity, had the simple rule that, if you were a starter, you were given a scholarship. When spring training arrived, the coaches made a change in our defensive alignment, and this short, slow boy was suddenly covering fast, tall, talented receivers as a cornerback. I was fighting hard to keep my position when on the sixth day of spring training, a low block from the back took out my right knee. As I lay in the hospital with a cast up to my hip, the doctor assured me that I would be able to play again. However, he added that the injured knew would probably affect my already slow speed. Great, I thought. Now I’m small and extremely slow! I had seen a number of the recruits who wanted to play for Harding, and there were some really good athletes with size, speed and ability. In an NAIA school during the late 1960s, each school only had 33 scholarships available, so it was difficult to recruit top athletes. There was nothing in writing about my scholarship. Coach Prock had simply told me that I would be on scholarship my sophomore year. When he came to visit me in the hospital, I knew that most coaches would have taken the opportunity to recruit a better athlete and not depend on the possible return of an average player who was hurt. It took all the courage I could muster to ask him about the scholarship. Coach Prock seemed stunned by the question. “ Kilmer, you were a starter when you went down, and starters are on scholarship! It was a simple response that taught me a great lesson. Yes, I learned a lot about integrity that day. This was a man under great pressure to win, yet he honored his word even when the outcome was in question. Since those college years, I have heard many similar stories from other players whose lives were affected by this man who was doing more than winning ball games; he was building men. That is integrity in action!
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 02:07:13 +0000
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