Ex-LSU coach encourages students
LAFAYETTE — No obstacle is insurmountable.
That’s the message former LSU basketball coach Dale Brown delivered to about 900 Northside High School students Wednesday.
“There are hurdles that we all have to jump over,” Brown said. But what awaits at the finish line is “success, happiness and peace.”
Brown shared his philosophy for overcoming life’s obstacles, which is detailed in his book “Getting Over the Four Hurdles of Life.”
Those hurdles are the things that hold people back from who they are meant to be, he told students. They’re things people tell themselves like, “I can’t” or listen to others who say, “You can’t.”
Brown said other hurdles include past failures and the fear of failure and what he termed as “handicaps” such as the loss of a loved one, growing up in a broken home or foster home, addictions, or even being cut from a sports team.
The fourth and final hurdle: “lack of self-knowledge,” he said.
“This hurdle’s higher and it’s off to an angle,” he said, stressing the importance of students understanding their own individuality.
He shared an anecdote of an encounter with a 13-year-old boy who was tall and clumsy and asked the coach for help standing out on his basketball team. Brown told the boy he’d send him a weight-training workout program to follow. Two months later, the boy wrote to tell him he followed Brown’s advice, but still was cut from the basketball team. Brown said he wrote the boy back with this bit of advice, “If you always sincerely try to do your best and never give up, then God will take care of the rest.”
That boy didn’t give up and grew up to play for Brown at LSU.
His name: Shaquille O’Neal.
He shared with students that the former NBA star is working toward new goals. Two nights ago, O’Neal invited Brown to his graduation. The former NBA star will receive a doctorate degree in leadership and education with a specialization in human resource development from Barry University.
Brown stressed the power of education in setting one free from the hurdles they face in life.
Circumstance doesn’t define one’s success, Brown said as he shared his own background. His father abandoned his family two days before Brown was born. His mother had an eighth-grade education and she worked cleaning houses. The family was on welfare, living on $42.50 a month.
For 21 years, his mother stressed to him, “You’ve got to get an education.” She understood its power, he said.
Brown’s visit is timely as the school faces a physical and internal makeover to help improve its academic performance. The school is the lowest-performing high school in the district. A turnaround plan for the school will be released to School Board members later this week and will be considered for board approval at its meeting Feb. 1.
Board President Shelton Cobb said he was encouraged by the community support of Brown’s visit. Representatives from Upper Lafayette Economic Development Foundation and 100 Black Men of Greater Lafayette were part of the event.
“Our schools need to be community-oriented and we want them to be involved,” Cobb said.
The school district purchased a copy of Brown’s book for each Northside student and faculty member, said Sandra Billeaudeau, a certified school turnaround specialist, who helped develop the plan for Northside.
Brown’s motivational talk helped jump-start the turnaround effort, she said.
“It’s really about kicking off to a new start and a new year,” Billeaudeau said.