Thank You Coach

A message from Steve... 

With baseball season around the corner and having just finished sharing the Game On Nation message as the keynote speaker for Little League’s International Congress, it got me thinking about my little league days and the power of all the selfless mentors, volunteers, and coaches who gave us guidance, provided patience, and showed us unconditional love on the daily.

With that said, this seems like a good time in the season, or the pre-season if we’re talking baseball, to say... thank you coach! 

There are so many teachers, coaches, family members, neighbors, and friends who helped guide me and show me the way. But if we’re talking baseball, there’s one man in particular who was on my heart while I was on that stage recently presenting to Little League staff and over 800 volunteers from around the world. That man was Coach Greg Gano. 

Every little leaguer at Cortez Park in West Covina, CA in the late '70s and early '80s wanted to play ball for Coach Gano. He was THAT coach. He had the respect, the look, the feel, and the knowledge. If you were fortunate enough to be on his team, he would ask a lot of you, but in return, he gave us all so much more. In Game On terms, we call this the “Challenge and Support Dynamic”. 

From the way his teams wore their uniforms, carried themselves, and took infield, to how we had to hustle on and off the field, everything about being on a “Gano Coached Team” was different, and everything was driven by care, discipline, and excellence.  

Playing ball with him, around him, and for him was a big deal. You felt like you were part of a big league/prime time program. It was all discipline and focus when you took the field, and his pre-game infield drills were next level. Anyone who witnessed it and/or experienced it as a player knows first-hand how he so effortlessly handled a fungo bat to hit infield like a seasoned composer conducting a junior/elite orchestra.  

It was an exercise in sound, control, and flow, and we all benefited so much, on and off the field, from his structure, guidance, and care. That structure, guidance and care was never more evident than on Saturday mornings during the season. If you arrived early - irrationally early as many of us would do on game day - there was always one person there earlier than any of us, and that was Coach Gano.  

Those of us who couldn’t wait to get to the park for a full Saturday of hide and seek, snow cones, fun dip, foul balls, scorekeeping, taquitos, and so much joy, would quietly watch from outside the chain link fence as this future coaching legend quietly and meticulously mowed the outfield grass, raked the infield, and lined the base paths.  

All of this was in preparation for the games, our games, that we all eagerly awaited. Until seeing it first-hand, I never knew how our neighborhood ballpark always looked so immaculate every time we took the field. That first Saturday morning, the mystery was solved, and from that day on, I began to slowly understand, at an early age, what servant leadership, excellence, and caring about youth sports was truly all about. 

Before there was travel ball, showcases, club teams, elite camps, academies, and before it all became so much more than youth sports, there was the neighborhood little league where we all played. If you were blessed to live in or around that area, Cortez Park was your home away from home, and Greg Gano was there to greet you like a loving father. And when he met you, he was able to see the excellence in all of us, and was intentional, direct, and caring in how he shared that encouragement and instruction. 

With these gifts, Coach Gano went on to have an illustrious career as a high school football and softball coach, impacting thousands of young men and women in and around the San Gabriel Valley area. Before that illustrious career took flight, before the multiple CIF Championships, before we all grew up, there was a special time in the late ’70s and early ‘80s where a bunch of early-to-the-park, squirrely kids were so incredibly blessed to live near Cortez Park and have a guy like Greg Gano there - in his mid-20’s - cutting the grass, raking the fields, lining the base paths, coaching us up, and showing us the way. 

At our field of dreams, we learned to take the field with excellence, play the game with excellence, take care of our teammates with excellence, and take care of the place where we played - where we all grew up a little - with excellence. 

Here's to Greg Gano, and all the leaders, coaches, teachers, mentors, and volunteers who quietly and selflessly set the stage for young kids to learn how to play and respect the game so well. Thank you for seeing and bringing out the best in others. Thank you for teaching us all lessons for life. There’s no wonder why every kid in West Covina, and eventually throughout San Gabriel Valley, wanted to play on a “Gano Coached Team”. 

What an impact Coach Gano made, and so many others continue to make behind the scenes, away from the spotlight, and between the lines. No matter our age and what season we're in, here's to all of us doing our best to step out of the box every now and then, calling a quick time out, and simply saying... Thank You Coach.