Robert L. Terrell: Coach and Role Model

I first met Robert Lewis Terrell in the fall of 1963. Mr. Terrell was a physical education teacher, an assistant football coach, and the head basketball coach at Corry Junior High School in Memphis, Tenn. Known to his friends as “Bobby,” Mr. Terrell was respected by faculty, staff and students alike. Little did I know the impact Mr. Terrell and the values I learned playing sports would have on my life.

Academics, Athletics and Adolescence

The transition from elementary to junior high was not much different 45 years ago than it is today. Many students felt anxiety moving from an environment where their classroom teacher provided instruction and guidance throughout the entire school day, to one where they experienced many changes, not the least of which included a new school, changing classes, puberty, and peer pressure to smoke, use drugs, drink alcohol, engage in sexual activity or join a gang.

I’ve always been athletic and above average size. I wore men’s size 12 shoes, stood 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed 170 pounds when I entered seventh grade. While I loved playing basketball and wanted to go out for the school team, I was wooed to join the football team. However, after just one day of practice I went to the coach and informed him that football was not for me. I left the team but not without pressure to “stick it out.” However, I made the decision that was best for me, which became my litmus test for dealing with peer pressure.

Later that fall I went out for the basketball team. I had been in love with basketball since the third grade when my school showed a filmstrip about the Harlem Globetrotters. I was amazed and enthralled with the ball-handling skills and wizardry of the likes of Curly Neal and the rest of the team.

The one thing that was a constant for me was the values that my family had instilled in me from a very young age. My parents showed me love and ensured that my brothers, sister and I went to church regularly. I was a high achiever and had been placed in the top classes throughout my six years at Dunn Avenue Elementary. With my faith, family values and focus on academic achievement, tackling junior high was not difficult for me.

Making the Team

I was excited to go out for the basketball team. I credit Mr. Terrell’s discipline and physical regimen for getting me into shape for the team and helping me slim down from a “husky” 13-year-old to become a budding athlete. Looking back, going out for the team involved more conditioning and endurance than actually playing basketball. I think Mr. Terrell was trying to gauge which ones of us had the perseverance to keep going when the going got tough. He taught us how to dribble, shoot and make lay-ups. He taught us how to keep a wide stance with one foot in front of the other and our center of gravity low when on defense. Then, one day Mr. Terrell posted the names of those who had made the team on the bulletin board. As we scrambled to see the list, I was glad to see I had made the team!

Mr. Terrell and the basketball team became my family away from home. The discipline and camaraderie I gained from playing basketball gave me the skills to be successful in school and in life, and kept my mind and body busy and away from negative influences.

Mr. Terrell was firm but caring. Unlike another more famous coach, also named “Bobby,” Mr. Terrell never threw chairs or tirades. He had high expectations for us on and off the court. We worked hard, sometimes holding two-a-day practices in the summer. We even practiced on Thanksgiving morning.

Mr. Terrell’s diligence paid off in many ways and by my ninth grade year our team was a basketball powerhouse. We beat every team we played. I remember going to the citywide junior high tournament in my final year at Corry. The team we met, Porter Junior High School, had an identical 29-0 division record. We were both undefeated and everyone knew it was going to be a tremendous contest! The game was hard fought and went down to the buzzer. You could feel the tension in the air as an opposing player sank the winning jump shot just as the final second ticked off the clock. Our hearts sank like lead balloons. My teammates and I cried as our opponents jumped in joy as they hoisted their first-place trophy. We had worked so hard and achieved so much, however, that night we had to settle for second place.

We wondered about the integrity of the officials and the fairness of the final call. Had the time expired before their player hoisted that final shot? We were undefeated. How could the last game of the final year at our beloved school be marred with a defeat? Regardless of what he might have thought, Mr. Terrell took the high road, congratulated the coach of the opposing team and told us to hold our heads high as we had nothing for which to be ashamed. His demeanor made a profound impact on me and I learned a valuable lesson on sportsmanship and how to lose with dignity.

Role Model

Mr. Terrell was more than a teacher and basketball coach; he was a role model. With the same esteem I had for my father, I admired Mr. Terrell and wanted to be like him. He influenced me in many ways. When I was promoted from the ninth grade, I was named salutatorian of my class and received the award for “Academic Excellence for an Athlete.” The skills I developed under Mr. Terrell’s guidance prepared me to make my high school’s varsity basketball team in my sophomore year. The discipline, teamwork and leadership skills I learned under his guidance prepared me to excel, becoming a member of the National Honor Society, President of the Student Council and President of my Hi-Y Club!

In 2003, upon receiving my Ph.D., I looked up Mr. Terrell’s number in the phone book. Since it had been 37 years since I had seen or spoken with him, when I called him I said, “I don’t know if you remember me. This is Willie Dean. I’m a former student and player on your basketball team at Corry Junior High School…” Before I could finish, Mr. Terrell said, “Of course I remember you Willie! You and your teammates were a special bunch!” After I told him about my life and accomplishments since junior high, he said, “I always knew you would do well!” What validation; the man who had made such an impression on my life was telling me that I had made an impression on his!

A few years later in 2006, I got a call from Mr. Terrell asking me to speak at his retirement dinner in Memphis. I told him I was honored and looked forward to the occasion. My Dad and I went to the dinner together. This was fitting to have perhaps the two most influential men in my life in a room together.

Mr. Terrell passed away in March 2008. His wife, Katherine, phoned to tell me the somber news. She said that he always held me in high regard and often praised my accomplishments. Mr. Terrell had retired as Principal of Cummings Elementary School. A year after his death, the street on which the school is located was renamed “Robert L. Terrell Boulevard.”

YMCA Youth Sports

The values I developed under Mr. Terrell are similar to the values we teach in YMCA sports today. I didn’t know four decades ago that Mr. Terrell’s guidance on and off the basketball court would help shape and mold me to become the man that I am today.

Each year over 14,000 youth in the Arlington and Mansfield communities play sports through our YMCA. They learn the fundamentals of basketball, flag football, track, volleyball, baseball, and t-ball, etc. However, more importantly, they learn values like caring, honesty, respect, responsibility, and faith. They learn how to lead and how to follow. They learn how to give and take, and how to get along with others.

Through the caring leadership of dedicated volunteer coaches, thousands of youth develop healthy lifestyles and learn how to transition from adolescence into adulthood. We believe that youth participation in YMCA Youth Sports helps combat childhood obesity. It also prepares youth to make wise decisions and to resist peer pressure to smoke, use drugs, drink alcohol, engage in sexual activity or join a gang. We view sports as tools that help us work with youth to instill values, develop leadership skills and improve their health and well-being.

I thank God for caring and supportive adults like Mr. Terrell! I pray that the thousands of youth in our sports programs will receive the same guidance from caring adults in their lives!