Giving Without Taking

I am so thankful to have grown up during the 1970’s and 80’s in a time and place where Americans were true givers and not takers. One day, my boys and girls club football coach, Mr. Schmidt, told his son Bruce and I a way in which our organization did.

Mr. Schmidt was the director of football operations and head coach of the 80-pound team. Bruce and I were, and still are, the best of friends. Mr. Schmidt would leave his job, come straight to practice then take us home afterward. We were usually the last to leave as Mr. Schmidt had to deal with any questions or concerns the other coaches had.

One day as things were winding down, Mr. Schmidt began telling a man about our game uniforms. We were fortunate enough to have enough money to get new ones often. Then we used the old ones for practice.

I heard Mr. Schmidt talk about a snafu in the uniforms that had occurred a couple of years before when he was coaching Bruce on the 70-pound team.

“We got our game uniforms, and they sent us the wrong pants. We were supposed to get blue ones but got white. Our pants probably ended up in Texas somewhere,” he said as the two men laughed.

When Bruce and I became adults, Mr. Schmidt told us another story.

“You know when I was director of football we paid for uniforms for two of the clubs in our league,” he said. “They could not afford them, and we had some extra money. So, when we got word of their situation we reached out to them.

“We told them that we would order their uniforms through the same company as ours. Then pay for them under our contract.”

“No kidding?” we said.

“No kidding,” said Mr. Schmidt.

When he said the names of the boys and girls clubs that ours helped, I thought about something I told Bruce after we had played them.

“Besides the color of the other team’s uniforms they look just like ours,” I said.

Indeed, they did. They had the same jersey design. One team had the same color pants. The other team had white pants. The uniforms had to be from the same company.

An interesting side note is that one of the teams that our boys and girls club footed the bill for was one of the best in the county and a rival.

I do not know if the boys in those two clubs knew where their uniforms came from. I do know that they were happy to have them.

I also know that all those years later Mr. Schmidt and the people of our boys and girls club never mentioned it. Bruce and I would never have known if Mr. Schmidt had not told us.

This is just one example of how people with more would help those with less.

The competition did not matter. The giving so that boys could play football in good uniforms did.

This is what giving without taking in America and the world looks like.