Mr. Henry Morris

Henry Morris is one of the greatest coaches of all time, but he also leaves behind one of the greatest legacies of all time. Henry Morris was the women's basketball coach at Landmark Christian school in Cincinnati, Ohio, and although he retired the year before I became a freshman, the junior high team would practice with them all the time. I did get to have him as a teacher for two years as well, and he would always find a way to intertwine these things together.

Success, sportsmanship, academics and leadership were bound together tightly in his world, and that resonated with everyone he coached and taught at Landmark. In the classroom we got into shape by racing to the chalkboard from the back of the classroom to answer a question. There is not one student or teammate that I can think of that wasn't inspired by Henry Morris, and his humor enlightened every heart. If he thought someone wasn't quite with it he would refer to them as "blockhead", making reference to Charlie Brown, but if you did well he would give you all the praise and encouragement in the world.

Aside from his leadership and his ability to teach even the unteachable, Mr. Morris taught everyone, whether athlete or not that everything is possible, but that you and only you are responsible for making it happen. No matter how many laps we ran in practice, he would ask you to run one more. The whole time he would push you until you just couldn't do it anymore. He taught everyone that he came into contact with that you have to push yourself to the limit and over the limit to get what you want out of life and with anything that you do. Because of Mr. Morris' words, that has resonated with me into my freelance writing career. I have discovered that sometimes I have to do projects I may not have normally wanted to make things happen and get my name out there, and to never quit writing. No matter how many times I have wanted to give up I can't, all because I can hear Mr. Morris in the background saying, "Don't you ever give up." I am so thankful for his teaching, and how far I have come. I can only hope that my children will someday be so fortunate to have a role model like Henry Morris.