"My final words: Seize the day"

This column appeared in The Lima News on Aug. 2, 2006, my last day at the paper.

By JOHN S. HULLINGER
jhullinger@limanews.com
419-993-2088

One of my favorite movies of all time is Peter Weir’s “Dead Poets Society.”

Perhaps the most famous scene in that movie takes place when Robin Williams’ character, John Keating, huddles his students around a trophy case laden with pictures of former students and athletes at the school.

“They’re not that different from you, are they?” Keating asks. “Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they’re destined for great things, just like many of you, their eyes are full of hope, just like you.

“Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because, you see, gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it? — Carpe — hear it? — Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.”

Today is my final day with The Lima News. In a couple weeks, I will start law school at the University of Toledo and my life as a sports writer will come to an end.

Knowing this day was coming, I thought a lot about what I wanted my parting shot to be. Did I want to thank everyone who made the past eight years so great? I do. But there aren’t enough column inches here to do a proper job of it.

Did I want to recount the many memorable games I’ve seen or interviews I’ve had? There were certainly plenty of both.

But I realized as I looked back on everything, the first thoughts that popped in my head weren’t the interview I did with my childhood hero Mario Andretti or of any of the various pro games I covered.

My first thoughts were of the countless high school athletes I have had the opportunity to watch over the past eight years. It is to them that I address this column.

More specifically, I address this to those still walking the halls of the local schools.

I first saw “Dead Poets Society” early in my junior year at Elida. Later that year, I had a chance to “seize the day” and passed it up.

Then Elida coach Jim Dally approached me in the hallway one day in the spring and asked me if I was interested in playing football my senior year. He needed a tight end and apparently thought I had the potential to fill that slot.

I may have had the potential — I’ll never know.

I had never played organized football. I was too chicken, I guess.

I had heard that two-a-days were brutal. And of course, with football there is always the risk of an injury. Plus, what if I dropped the game-winning pass? That would be humiliating and the coach might yell at me.

I’ll never know for sure. I try to live my life without regret. But not seizing that opportunity is one of the biggest regrets I have in my life.

It is in that context that I address those of you getting ready for the pending school year.

Tomorrow is the first day of high school football practice. (Or, if football isn’t your speed, most other fall sports start practice on Monday.)

Go.

Two-a-days will be brutal. You might get hurt. You might drop the game-winning pass. Your coach might yell at you.

But you have a chance to be a part of something bigger than yourself and to prove to yourself that you can do something that you don’t think you can.

You get one chance in your entire life to play high school football.

Tomorrow morning is that chance.

So if you are sitting on the fence, climb off and get your butt out to practice.

Participate. And do it with everything you have.

Make your lives extraordinary.