They’ve come in many forms over the years… many are athletes, while other luminaries of the jonnyd galaxy made their mark away from sports.
None of these men are perfect, but they each bring something to the table that I look up to, respect, admire or aspire to.
With each one, I’ll try to give a little blurb about what makes them a hero to me, and I’ll do my best to categorize them, although this list would be darn near impossible to formally rank. For lack of a better system, I’ll post them roughly in the order they make their mark on me…
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ATHLETES
He was my first favorite player on my first favorite team. Even before I can really remember watching a Texas game, I remember watching Roger the Dodger play for the Cowboys. Captain Comeback was the guy who first taught me that it’s not over till it’s over and there is always a way to pull out a win. He was my first hero, simply because he was the quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys… but he stays enshrined as a hero for me because I’ve since learned that more than just being a great quarterback, he does things right and has been a huge success in life after football as well.
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The Tyler Rose was quite simply one of the best to ever play the game. He was probably my second hero on the gridiron. He was the Heisman Trophy winner from Texas and the super star running back for the Houston Oilers. For a little kid from Austin, that was probably enough… I’ve been told I got to watch him play at Memorial Stadium back in the day, but my first true memories of him were in the Oiler days. My favorite thing about him was that when he scored, which he did a lot, he didn’t dance or jump around… he acted like he’d been there before, and like he would be back again. That’s something that I respect even more these days with so many professional athletes who think you can’t play without showboating. He proved that if you are one of the best, you don’t need to showboat. I still have the news paper clippings from when he retired from the NFL.
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In the mid 1980s, my teams were struggling. The Longhorns, Cowboys and Oilers were all down, and I was looking for a team to be excited about. Then along came the Denver Broncos and a quarterback named John Elway. I remember cheering them on that cold day in Cleveland when the Elway took Denver on “The Drive”. The way he lead the team reminded me of Captain Comeback himself. I hated watching him lose those Super Bowls, but it was a sweet day for me to see him finally raise the Lombardi Trophy in the 90s.
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Back when I was in junior high and they were assigning positions, I didn’t get my dream job at quarterback. Instead I ended up on the line, so I was forced to pick a number other than Roger’s 12 or Robert Brewer’s 16 or Earl’s 34… so I went with the number of the best linebacker I had ever seen… #50, Mike Singletary. The guy played the game with an intensity that was unmatched, and yet was the nicest guy off the field. He has also been very active with his church in Chicago and with Christian ministries nationwide, both during his playing days and since. He is one of the true role models on and off the field.
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In a world where I wasn’t the biggest or strongest or fastest player on my junior high football team, Bill Bates was an inspiration. He wasn’t the biggest or strongest or fastest either, but this scrappy little guy had made it to my dream team… he was a Dallas Cowboy. The guy was a scrapper and only knew one speed, full speed. He just flat wanted it more and he made his dreams come true. He is one of the truest examples of the coach speak I used to hear all the time in junior high and high school, “it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog”… and every time I heard that phrase, Bill Bates is the guy I thought of.
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For a football guy like me, it took someone really special to get me excited about watching professional basketball… and Michael Jordan was that guy. He was something truly amazing on the court, but it was even more than that. The fact that this guy got cut from his high school basketball team and came back to become one of the biggest stars in the history of sports is amazing to me. That is enough of an encouragement story for anyone who has had setbacks… that and his magic on the court earned him a spot on this list.
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Possibly the most electrifying player I’ve ever been blessed to watch in person. He earned legendary status and a hero ranking for me when he crossed the goal line on 4th and 5 with the National Championship on the line (Watch The Play) At that point, one of the best players in the history of Texas Football reached mythological proportions on the 40 acres. I can’t wait to see what he will do at the professional level.
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COACHES
He was just the absolute personification of class. Aside from being the coach of Dallas Cowboys for their first 28 years, he was by all accounts just a fantastic man. He was old school. Respect, Discipline, Integrity, Honor, Class… He was everything you would want to aspire to be. He was very involved in Fellowship of Christian Athletes and was widely known to be a strong Christian influence to everyone he came into contact with. It also didn’t hurt that he was a former Longhorn as well. He was a winner in every sense on the field and off. I was fortunate enough to get to meet him before his death in 2000, and even though I was a relative nobody, he took the time to treat me with such kindness and dignity, and just reinforced the image of a man that I consider to be one of the greatest to ever live.
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He seems to be cut from the same cloth as men like Tom Landry and Darrell Royal. He’s a man that strives to do everything the right way. He is also defined by words like class and integrity. I had the honor of working on the football staff under Mack, and he is an even better guy behind the scenes than he is in public. He cares so much about everyone on the team and staff, that he actually considers them to be part of his family. I admire how well he carries the burdens of such a high stress and high profile job. There is a good case to be made that this job is tougher than being Governor in this great state. I was thrilled to see Texas finally get another National Championship as a fan, but it was even sweeter to see a man that I respect so much get that championship.
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Darrell Royal is, at least in this town, Royalty. Even so, in some ways, he is a strange pick for my list. Most of what he did professionally was before I was born. For most of my life Coach Royal was the guy who won a few National Titles before I was around and hung out a lot with Willie Nelson. But in the last 10 years or so, I have come to develop a huge respect for Coach Royal, the man. I’ve been fortunate enough to meet him and speak with him on several occasions. He was always so gracious to me, treating me like we were old friends. This is the man that the stadium is named after – the stadium that has been a place of almost religious importance to me – and here he is talking to me like I am one of the most important people in the room. That really said a lot to me… and gave me a huge trait to aspire to in my life. Regardless of the success I may or may not have, I hope I can learn how to treat people the way that Coach Royal does.
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ENTERTAINERS
Slippery When Wet was the first album I purchased and Livin’ on a Prayer was one of the first songs I really remember latching onto, and it’s still in my iPod today. I remember dancing my first junior high dance to Never Say Goodbye when Jon Bon Jovi was about the coolest thing going and I’ve been a fan ever since. They are one of the timeless bands of my life. In fact I just saw them in concert for the first time about 3 years ago. It’s amazing the kind of staying power they’ve had… and the fact that I just recently purchased their most recent album Lost Highway more than 20 years after buying my first cassette tape of theirs says something about their longevity. I like the fact that superstardom didn’t drive him away from his wife (who was his high school sweetheart) but really they are just here because they were the first true musical bookmark, as he calls it, of my life.
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They call him King George, and he truly is the gold standard for country music. The first song of his I remember hearing was Amarillo By Morning, when I was on a trip with my dad in El Paso… don’t quite remember the year on that one, but it was a long time ago. Then I rediscovered him in a big way my sophomore year in high school. Beyond The Blue Neon was the first album of his I bought and I just about wore that tape out, as Baby’s Gotten Good at Goodbye became one of my all time favorites, and yes, it’s still on my iPod as well. In fact, over the years George Strait has released 33 albums and 1 box set… I own all but 1 album, and that was a greatest hits album that I already had every song from. Quite simply, I celebrate his entire collection and he is my number one favorite musician of all time. Coincidentally, he is also still married to his high school sweetheart too. He is King George, he’s been around over 25 years and there will never be another like him.
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PUBLIC FIGURES
The Great Communicator was the first President that I really remember being aware of. He presided over my formative years and, to some extent, I’m sure that helps mythologize him in my mind. My first trip to Washington DC and The White House happened during his administration. He brought the country from the brink of economic disaster, he won the Cold War and brought down the Berlin Wall. He was larger than life and set a standard for future Presidents to live up to, which to me, none of them have yet. I’ve made the trip to his Presidential Library in Semi Valley, California twice. He is a giant in this country’s history. He was famous for bringing back Morning In America and restoring a sense of patriotism that our country hadn’t had since WWII. He was our national father in a way no President had been since FDR. He was calming hand in time of tragedy like the Challenger explosion, he was an inspiration and a source of confidence for the world. He spoke of an America that was a Shining City on the Hill, and that is what he strove to make us. He was one of the best Presidents this country has had and I’m glad I was around to witness his time in office.
Bring Back The Gipper – Ronald Reagan Great Moments – Ronald Reagan Tribute
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REAL PEOPLE IN MY LIFE
My Parents
They say that your parents are your first heroes, before you even know what a hero is. They are the ones that provide for you, feed you, protect you, comfort you and make sure you’re alright. They are the ones that forgo sleep, among other things, to take care of you in the early days. They sacrifice a lot to make sure that your needs are met. It starts from the time they bring you home from the hospital and it never really ends. Now that I am a parent myself, I have a much greater understanding for what my parents did for me and my brother. You can’t have a list of heroes and not recognize your parents on that list.
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My Brother
It might seem strange to have my little brother on this list. After all, the young ones are supposed to be the ones looking up to the older ones. In my case, I find myself looking at him as an example. To put it in Star Wars lingo, which is only appropriate since we watched it about a thousand times together growing up, “when I met Michael, he was but the learner, now he is the master” He has excelled in many areas that I have fallen short. While birth order and life experience has made me the protector and defender, he has become the diplomat. He is much better at handling difficult people than I am – a trait I’m sure he learned from my Dad. Really, he’s better at a lot of things, and to just go into a laundry list here would take too much time. He’s a good man, and I admire a lot about him.
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My Wife
I may be a few years her senior, but in many ways she is far beyond me. You hear people talk about marrying above their heads and I know I did. She is much more selfless than I, a dedicated hard worker, an extremely loyal friend and a committed saver. She loves her family and she always thinks of the needs of others, especially the ones she loves. She was a steadying force in her family when her parents divorced and selflessly chose to live at home in college to help take care of her mom and her brother and sister. She’s quality in every way… and hopefully, she’s pass those qualities onto our kids as well.
