Tag: mentoring

Appreciating Your Mentors

Last week my dad, my first mentor in life, came across some old papers while he was cleaning out his attic. He gave me something that I had forgotten about, but I’m sure glad he kept it all these years. He found the letter to the editor submission of mine that ran in the Harrisburg Patriot News in 2004.

I was feeling on top of the world in 2004 – I had been married two years and Melody and I were enjoying life. I had a decent job, not the dream job, but it supported us, plus we were expecting our first child. I know I didn’t get to where I am without the many amazing people in my life that went out of their way to mentor me. I started writing to some of them to show them I was thankful for them and to let them know that I was thinking of them.

Around this time, I heard my high school football coach was retiring from teaching so I penned the OpEd you see below. I am so fortunate to have had this run in the newspaper, as my coach’s wife said he was so thrilled to see this. Plus, after it ran on a trip home to visit my parents, I paid him a visit and got a big bearhug from him and we spent the day just hanging out and talking. I was fortunate because Coach Lichtel would pass from prostate cancer a few years after, but like all the times we spent together while I was in high school, memories of him will live on just like the life lessons I learned from him.

Make sure your mentors know that you appreciate them.

Patriot News Letter to the Editor as it was written in 2004:

Coach Licthel, thanks for being a role model

Recently I watched a sentimental tribute to Pat Tillman, the NFL player turned Army Ranger. After viewing the televised program, I had no trouble seeing why all of America is mourning the loss of this fallen soldier. It was evident to me that Tillman became the person he was because of the cast of role models that he was associated with while he was maturing.

After the ESPN special, I searched within myself to see what role models can claim responsibility for how I evolved from a young kid running the streets of Mechanicsburg to a mature father-to-be, enjoying a successful home and career life in Pittsburgh. I found some answers fairly quickly with mom and dad leading the pack, but one name surfaced that I hadn’t thought of for some time – Rich Lichtel.

I had known of Coach Lichtel while attending another high school in the area, but it wasn’t until I transferred to Mechanicsburg High School during the tail end of my sophomore year that I had truly come to know who he was.

He is a role model; he is a mentor; he is an educator; he is a hero; he is a friend. He was all these things to me when I was with him on a daily basis.

He was a man that took the extra time to make sure students – and not just football players – were doing OK. He cared about his profession and that was reflected in the kids that came in contact with him. He didn’t make school a place to go because you had to – all students of Mechanicsburg, no matter what social groupings they fell in, liked Coach Lichtel. He made the time to help those that needed help, whether it was lending an ear when a student had some troubles or cheering up a student when he or she needed to smile. He simply did whatever it took to reach the young minds in the school district of Mechanicsburg.

And, oh yeah, he was also a football coach. During the 1980s Mechanicsburg high school was renowned in high school football as a quarterback factory. The school churned out some good ones like the Hakels and the Abners. Producing quality quarterbacks is certainly no coincidence, since Lichtel himself was a remarkable quarterback in his younger years.

Prior to transferring to Mechanicsburg, one thing that excited me about the move was that I, a high school quarterback at the time, was going to receive football knowledge from a proven quarterback player and coach. But the first thing he wanted to do was to get to know me. He didn’t concentrate on instructing me on how to properly play the position, when what I really needed at the time was someone to make the extra time to be there for me.

Transferring high schools, especially in a situation similar to mine where negative labels were thrown on me, is difficult for kids and he didn’t assume any rumors to be true; instead he took the time to understand me. He cared more about the students of Mechanicsburg than winning games.

So, sure the name Rich Lichtel is associated with Mechanicsburg Wildcat football and rightly so. He won some games and a few league titles. He did alright on Friday nights, but that is only a part of his legacy.

I’m sure all of his compiled wins over the years have his name appearing on some elite coaching list in the central Pennsylvania area, if not the state or country yet something tells me he’s just as proud, if not prouder, knowing that there is a lot of mature adults around this country that have him to thank for being a positive role model in their life. I know I would like to thank him.

So while Rich Lichtel is retiring from teaching, but remember that his teachings will never retire. I, like the rest of his former students, plan to instill the values that he taught naturally on a daily basis to my future child. Generations will benefit from his position as a role model.

Enjoy your retirement, Coach Lichtel! And thanks for being a role model in the Mechanicsburg area.

Coaches & The Career Journal

Life is beautiful. I’ve been fortunate to find myself in unique situations to receive mentoring and advice from some awesome people along the way. Starting with my parents who taught me to work hard for what I believe in to excellent leaders in the Navy to many construction executives, there are so many people who I’m fortunate to have encountered in life. And I’m lucky for learning some life lessons from these individuals.

In high school, I played football for two dynamic head coaches in Paul Cronin at Trinity and Rich Lichtel at Mechanicsburg. Coach Cronin was the first person in my life who truly incorporated input from all levels. With young minds, it’s typical for coaches to have the authoritarian attitude and run the team with zero input. I can recall my freshman year and we’re hanging in the game with powerhouse Bishop McDevitt – nobody gave us a chance (probably even many of the faithful green). During halftime, Cronin spent his time with the offensive unit just listening to the linemen talk about what plays we should run; this goes on while the running backs, receivers and I were staring in disbelief for being shunned from participating in the offensive game plan. At the time in the locker room we didn’t realize it, but Cronin was building team chemistry by involving those who seldom are asked for their opinions. Total team engagement. We ended up losing the game, but our team won in life that night and we were better off for the remainder of the season because of that halftime.

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Over Thanksgiving break, I visited my aunt’s house only to learn that she’s downsizing and moving to a smaller home. Over the years, she collected some stuff from her nieces and nephews and now she’s in the process of returning these items. She gave me this gem that I haven’t seen in decades. 

When it comes to Coach Lichtel, I feel like there’s nothing I can say that others in the central Pennsylvania area have not already said about this icon. He touched so many people. But for me, it was a very emotional time due mainly to the reason why I transferred high schools at the tail end of my sophomore year. I only knew of Lichtel as the region’s famous football coach and I never met him. When we did meet after I transferred, he and I just talked like we knew each other years. Coach Lichtel saw a young soul in me who was at a crossroads in life and he wanted to lift me up to a higher road. We would just talk…talk about anything and everything; geez did I enjoy those crazy stories of his from his younger days. Looking back, I now know how important this was since so many at the time saw me as just a ‘football player.’ This relationship carried on after high school into my Navy days when I would come home and visit with him just so we could talk.

I think due to such positive experiences with my high school football coaches, as I was maturing in life, I found myself studying successful coaches. I started out reading about the greats – Vince Lombardi, Tom Landry, Chuck Noll, Mike Shanahan, to name a few. I pulled some great advice as I learned about how these leaders operated.

Then I set out to learn more about the current football coaches. I constantly read articles about coaches to see if I can pull anything from them for tips I can apply in the business world. How do they manage and motivate people? How do they interact with others during the game, practice, community, etc.? From the current coaches I got some good quotes, tactics for team building, and great suggestions for books to read to gather more advice. But then IT happened.

In early 2007, the Pittsburgh Steelers hired Mike Tomlin. Since I’m a Steelers fan I spent a lot of time learning about this individual who was set to lead the Black & Gold. In articles and radio interviews, I learned about Tomlin’s career journals. Per the articles it was stated how he had a vision and he would jot down the way to achieve that vision. No detail was too small. He would write about how to conduct practices, team meetings, etc. All of these details and strategies were for when Tomlin landed his dream job so that he would be prepared to achieve greatness.

When I learned about Tomlin’s career journal, I was sold. You can’t just sit there and hope for your dream career to be given to you. You have to prepare for it. Now granted I wasn’t a little boy growing up in Mechanicsburg thinking: “I’d like to be a construction association executive.” However, that was the world I found myself in during my mid-20’s. Despite not setting out to work in this industry, I really enjoy it. Working for a Pittsburgh-based construction association, I sat through many board and committee meetings, educational seminars, networking events, community functions, etc. and after learning about Tomlin’s usage of keeping good notes, I started keeping a career journal. I created this career journal to put down in writing what I would do when I was running a construction association. I experienced many lessons learned over the years, and I jotted them down, but as with Tomlin no detail was too small.

When I was invited to interview for the position of Executive Director for the Keystone Contractors Association, I studied my notes and I came prepared to discuss the many ways that I felt this association could prosper. It was a very enjoyable experience that felt more like a few friends hanging out, swapping business stories and not a formal interview as it was. I still refer to this journal, adding to it so that the KCA can work towards being a better association.

My advice to my daughters is to think about where they want to go in life, a career journal is an excellent tool to help them get there. Maybe this journal could help others too.