Pep Talk: "Guts and Gusto!

It’s a chilly Friday night in the Mile High City, darling wife is away, Billy Joel’s playing in the background and I’m thinking of my old man. This day, the ninth of January, would have been his 84th birthday. Cancer took his life, but nothing can quench that man’s spirit.

That’s my pledge to him.

My mind wanders to the night before. At the usual A Stronger Cord Thursday night workout, this ol’ jock had encouraged and challenged the other gathered knuckleheads with, “Let’s have a great workout in honor of my old man.”

What a guy.

Challenges? You have challenges in life? Of course you do. We all do, right? Marvin Walter McIntosh, Jr. was the oldest male in a six pack of siblings. The oldest boy. His father - I never met him - checked out before my father was ten. His mom died shortly thereafter. Grandparents raised six kids. Dirt poor. Dad used to say, “We didn’t have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out.” I hope that doesn’t offend. It’s the truth.

But he never complained.

From a dirt poor and uneducated background rose a great man. A knucklehead for sure - tap dancing on bar tops in golf spikes - but a dude that rose above adversity, time and again. From quite humble beginnings the father of four cared for his kids, rose to outstanding business success and befriended a ton of folks who would have ran through a brick wall for a enthusiastic spirit who loved to organize golf gatherings.

So I’m sitting here on a cold Colorado evening with Joel cranking out “Say Goodbye To Hollywood” and, considering it would have been my golf buddy’s 84th birthday, somewhat pensively wondering, as Donovan sang long ago, "To catch the wind and play a round of golf with Dad.” He’s missed greatly.

And then I zoom back to the night before, when a bunch of knuckleheads from missions to mansions and everything in between came together for a wonderful workout that honored a guy affectionally called, “Marv Dog.”

We were, to steal a line from the beloved ’89 Colorado Buffaloes, “One Heart Beat.”

With gusto and guts, everybody poured heart and soul into a challenging workout. There was a spirit present on this night that, at least for this simple dude from Missouri, resonated with the ol’ man sitting up there, at the 19th hole after a round, shouting, “Way to go!”

That’s just the way Hacker Mac was. There were many bumps, physical, emotional, and financial along the road. He never allowed himself time to be a victim of them. He attacked life with guts and gusto. Trust me folks, it was not a walk in the park. Dad persevered. He never gave up.

The knuckleheads gathered for ASC’s Thursday “Sweat, bond and grow” gathering poured that kind of magic potion into the workout in honor of my old man. Pretty cool.

Guts and gusto. Worked for my father. It’ll work for us, too!

Pep Talk: "Prove Otherwise"

Controversy had struck A Stronger Cord. A front-page story in the December 26, 2014 edition of the Denver Post, while generating valued exposure and outreach, had created consternation within the ranks.

Some of the guys living at the Denver Rescue Mission felt reporter Jennifer Brown had not portrayed them as desired. For the record, I thought it was well written story telling.  From personal experience, it’s a common challenge for journalists and their subjects. In my sportscasting days, there were many times, after creating a profile piece on a newsmaker, they would later inquire, “Why did you say that?” or, “Why didn’t you include this?”

It’s the challenge of having someone else define us. It will certainly be open to interpretation.

That’s true whether we’re talking a growing platoon of ASC knuckleheads coming together to sweat, bond and grow while reducing the amount of isolated, unfit and stressed out dudes living in our community; a group of folks coming together to reduce the amount of sugary foods in schools; a group of folks trying to clean up streets. Whatever.

Brown, who has been reporting in the Post extensively about Colorado’s mental health challenges over the past few months, nailed the story well but ASC continues to evolve. For instance, since the journalist/fitness enthusiastic and photographer visited about a month ago, we’ve partnered with Union Baptist Church.

We needed a winter home because participation had grown and the Denver Rescue Mission’s Crossing facility doesn’t have a gym, and it’s often too cold outside. As mentioned last week, ASC needed a gym. Union Baptist was looking for men to fill its gym. Bingo. A match made in heaven.

We’re also starting community outreach. Knuckleheads knocking. In groups of three,  fanning out into the neighborhood around the church. Looking for isolated men, knocking on their doors with, “Hey buddy, come join us for a workout.” Finding the single mothers in the neighborhood. Knocking on their door with, “Trust us with your sons.”

Brown wrote the story about two weeks before it was published on the day after Christmas. ASC had evolved in the interim. Some of the guys wondered why the emphasis of the piece was more on their past than ASC’s future.

We’re all knuckleheads. A bunch of dudes, with checkered pasts, but united in trying to become more fitness-minded, dependable and productive men. We choose to believe that type of spirit will help us build a stronger cord - thus the name - to families, jobs and communities. We all win. If pulling up to a fast-food speaker, we’d bellow, “Supersize it!”

The point is this: others will always have their perceptions, opinions and interpretations of our thoughts, words and actions. That’s okay. That’s life. Let’s just make sure those perceptions, opinions and interpretations do not define us.

But let’s also remember our past should not define us either. If the past leads to certain perceptions, opinions and interpretations deemed unflattering, it’s incumbent that we prove otherwise.

Good luck this week!

Pep Talk: "Three Wise Men"

Darling wife had waded into the sea of shoppers on the final Sunday before Christmas. NFL football’s in the background, crooner Aaron Neville’s singing and this knucklehead starts thinking about three men.

Each has bored into my marrow with their passion for team. They come from different walks of life but share a similar spirit. They understand the importance of being on the same page with others. One Heart Beat. Yoked. United. Call if whatever the heck you wanna call it. There are exceptions to every rule, but most of the time when speaking of successful teams from athletics, business, non-profit, civic or wherever, folks talk about a bond. A cord that is not easily broken. These three men exude that belief. It’s infectious. Just my opinion, but, admirable. Wise to emulate. From baseball, when talking about these dudes, the announcer might suggest, “Here’s the batting order.”

Leading off? John Ware. What a guy. He’s a chaplain at the Denver Rescue Mission. He works with the same guys as the “A Stronger Cord” project works with. Fellow knuckleheads trying to overcome life’s challenges. A graduate of the Mission’s New Life Program (NLP), the 63-year-old dove right into ASC’s warm up, workout and hang out philosophy. Good dude. Makes things happen. The kind of guy buddy Billy Mac from Hackensack likes to bellow, “Would charge from the fox hole with ya!” Got your back.

Batting second is Lester Fisher. Not surprisingly, I was introduced to the church deacon through Ware. A fellow NLP graduate encouraged Denver’s oldest African-American church to throw open its gym for ASC. The workouts at the Crossing, a nearby Mission facility where Ware works, had outgrown space reserved for indoor exercise during cold weather. Union Baptist said, “Come on over, boys.” 

Next year, in partnership with the church, ASC is launching a neighborhood outreach campaign targeted at isolated men and fatherless boys. There are plenty of each. Les Fisher is yoked in trying to reduce their numbers. A valued comrade.

Batting third is Denver Police Chief Robert White. Along with a fellow knucklehead, your scribe attended the city of Denver’s recent gathering on race. It was held at the Colorado History Museum. It was productive. Obviously, residents of the Mile High City - I’m one of them - have room for improvement. We all do, right? There’s always room for improvement. Every time I’ve heard Chief White speak the message has focused on the importance of community and police force being yoked. It requires everybody to check egos and agendas at the door and work for something greater than ourselves. Simple, not easy. Home. Work. Elsewhere. The three-year chief gets that and, at least when I’ve been present, implores others, “We gotta work together.”

All these men get that elusive quest. Right on.

It’s amazing what can be accomplished when nobody cares who gets the credit. The question becomes, will we believe it? Three wise men do. I hope you do, too.