LOU HOLTZ

When our co-worker John Holtz announced that his relative Lou Holtz had accepted his plea to be the speaker at our Management Club meeting, I was surprised by all the hubbub from my fellow management people; they thought it was quite a coup to have him. I had NO idea who/what Lou Holtz was and of course, being abysmally ignorant about football, I was neither thrilled nor impressed. The guys were actually taking footballs with them hoping to have them autographed. Of course I did know that Notre Dame was famous for football; I'd seen the movie "Knute Rockne"!

Holtz' speech centered on the importance of faith and family in his life and the speech was sparked with pithy quotes and humorous anecdotes. He told us, "Don't tell your problems to people; 80% don't care and the other 20% are glad you have them."

He ended his speech by telling us that he'd leave us with the words of his grandmother, "My grandmother always told me to do right, do my best, treat others the way you want to be treated and if that's not good enough, the Hell with 'em!"

I really enjoyed that ending, especially after listening to all of the faith/family/motivational schmaltz! Today, I wanted to learn if Coach Holtz were still alive; imagine my shock when I found that little quote as one of his "famous quotes"--EXCEPT it's written thusly: "Always do right, do your best, and treat others the way you want to be treated." I like it so much better the way he said that his grandmother said it!

After the speech, my brother had asked me what I thought of Holtz and I told him that my gut feeling was that I didn't like him, and my brother said, "Good instinct; he was fired at Arizona because he made political endorsements for Jesse Helms."