For years, one of the most indelible images in college basketball was UNLV Coach Jerry Tarkanian chomping on his towel on the sidelines of a big game. The man everyone in Las Vegas called “The Shark” was a true icon in the sport.
And I’m honored to say I knew him well.
In 1990, Tark’s brash Running Rebels won the NCAA title. His teams changed the way the game was played, both from an offensive and defensive standpoint. And that title in 1990 cemented his legacy.
Or did it?
Two years after he’d won it all, Tark and I wrote a book together. We released it in 1992 when he was at the height of his success. But it was more than two decades later when I was with him in Springfield, Mass. He was finally being enshrined into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
Even though I was happy to be there with him in 2013, I was upset at the time that it had taken the voters so long to give Tark his flowers. Did anyone truly think he wasn’t deserving? Of course not.
Tark was in a wheelchair and barely communicative when he saw his HOF plaque go up in the Hall. At that time there were a number of coaches in the Hall who were still coaching. So, why did it take so long for Tark to see his enshrinement?
I’m glad he got to see it while he was still alive. Tark passed about 18 months later. But as I sat there on his big day, I cried. I cried at the idea that this man was finally getting an award that he deserved 20 years earlier.
Too often we are so busy coming up with reasons not to celebrate people that we miss—or come close to missing—those who really deserve it while they are still with us.
I had that same feeling this weekend as I watched football great Roger Craig be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
For those who don’t know, Craig was a massive contributor to the 1980s San Francisco 49ers dynasty. In my opinion, the team doesn’t win all those titles without him. What Craig could do on the football field opened up the outside lanes for Jerry Rice, it unlocked play action and the entire West Coast Offense the team became famous for.
Yet, Craig, who was voted in by a veteran’s committee and not the football writers, didn’t get to appear on the HOF stage until it was almost too late. And when he did, he was at the stage in his life when he had to admit, during his acceptance, that he is battling the early stages of dementia.
Watching Craig there, deliver his speech in a recorded video, I started to shed tears all over again.
Why do we do this? Why do we lord deserved accolades over people? Why can’t we just celebrate and allow those worthy to enjoy and take pride in the moment?
Why can’t we share the light more easily?
The same thing happens in business all too regularly. Those who came before us, those who set the foundations upon which we stand—they should know they are appreciated more regularly than they are. Yet too often they aren’t.
Let’s not wait until something has changed in their life for us to remember them, to hold them up and say, Thank you. We wouldn’t be here without you.
Don’t get me wrong, just as I was ultimately happy for Tark, I’m glad Roger Craig is in the Hall of Fame. And, just like Tark, on his big day, Craig was up there and he just glowed.
But it didn’t have to be this way. They both deserved better.
From now on, I say let’s celebrate people while they’re able to truly celebrate with us. Let’s not wait until something has changed for the worse in their lives.
Let’s not wait until it’s too late.
As a Hall of Fame keynote speaker, longtime Associate Editor for Sports Illustrated, and 13-time New York Times Best-Selling author, Don Yaeger is one of America’s most provocative thought leaders. From walking into Afghanistan with the Mujahadeen to living with football legend Walter Payton, Don has spent three decades embedded with the world’s greatest "Greats." Now a sought-after executive coach and host of the Corporate Competitor Podcast, he translates the lessons of sports and business legends into actionable strategies for building a culture of greatness.
