by Randy Willis

Criticism & Encouragement in Sports

My junior high Coach, Nabro Frazier, would stop under a large oak tree that overhung the street. This tree is next to Angleton Junior High (now Central Elementary). He stopped every day during Driver’s Ed. He would roll down the windows.

He taught me to take a deep breath. Enjoy your surroundings. He was the man who taught me to love football. And he had the rarest gift —the gift of encouragement. Coaches who screamed and shouted never motivated me. Although if a coach cursed you, he could lose his job.

We all sat there enjoying the breeze under the giant shade tree for five or ten minutes. It was as if he were saying, “Slow down and enjoy the experience.” The tree is still on East Cedar Street, just east of North Valderas. It is next to the track and the old football stadium. That’s where I learned to play football.

Coach Frasier was the best coach I ever had. He once surprised me by sitting beside me in the Angleton High School gym. We were near the top row of the stands watching a basketball game. He spoke to me as Head Football Coach Fred Johnson walked by a half dozen rows below. “Don’t let him get to you,” he said. Those six words were the most encouraging advice a coach ever gave me.

I never considered any coach too hard. None of them was as hard as Daddy was on me.   Daddy taught me always to be respectful and fair.  He never told me to expect the same in return, but I noticed he always did.   So, I did, too—I still hope for the same.  

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But as the years have rushed by, I’ve learned it’s best to let it go.   That is, unless it concerns my children and grandchildren being mistreated. Then, the Biblical admonition to turn the other cheek requires time, prayer, and more time and more prayer.   And even then, I can struggle with forgiveness. And—you get the idea.

Angleton Coaches C. E. “Cotton” Peterson. Carl Davis, Fred Slough, Bill Hollas, Larry Rydell, Nalbro Frazier, and others I admired taught me a lot. They were all fair men whom I respected.  

Their motivational skills varied, though. Coach “Cotton” Peterson was as motivational as any I ever knew. He had an impact on me, but soon became an administrator at Angleton High School. His advancement became my loss.

Coach Carl Davis was the most “colorful.” “Willis, you’re so clumsy you trip over the center line” [on the basketball court].   And “Willis, you run really fast, just too long in one spot.”

It was all true. But there was another that I took issue with. “Willis, the problem with you is you drink too much Sweet Lucy.” Sweet Lucy was his metaphor for water.

My water consumption was also a problem with Head Coach Fred Johnson. He took it as insubordination.   It began during two-a-day football practices.   We were allowed an 8-ounce empty Coke bottle filled with water halfway through each practice.   By then, the water was hot from being exposed to the sun.   No concern, though, because he also insisted that we take salt tablets.

In fairness to our coaches, this was the protocol almost everywhere. From antiquity to the late 1960s, athletes were advised not to drink during exercise. It was believed that fluid ingestion would impair athletic performance. Water would slow you down.

I never thought it was true. Working long hours on a farm, we were always told to drink plenty of water. A water canteen was attached to my saddle. A water cooler was on our tractor. That water never weakened me.

Daddy’s instruction was always to use common sense and common decency. “That’s not much for a high stepper like you, son,” he always said with a smile.

Publications soon began to warn of the dangers of dehydration, citing illnesses and deaths.  I first heard about the shift from salt tablets to sports drinks in the early ’70s.   By then, I was in college.

“Many today have just enough religion to inoculate them from knowing Christ.” —Randy Willis

Randy Willis Mini-Bio

Best-selling and award-winning master storyteller Randy Willis—books about adventure, family, and faith.

Randy Willis is as much at home in the saddle as he is at the computer, where he composes his family sagas.

Randy draws on his family’s heritage of explorers, settlers, soldiers, cowboys, and pastors. He carries on the tradition of loving the outdoors. Randy shares it through the adventures he creates in his short stories, biographies, and novels.

Randy Willis is the author of 19 books. These include Destiny, Beckoning Candle, Twice a Slave, Three Winds Blowing, Texas Wind, and Louisiana Wind. Additionally, he authored The Apostle to the Opelousas. He also wrote The Story of Joseph Willis and his autobiography, “To the Best of My Recollection.

“Twice a Slave has been chosen as a Jerry B. Jenkins Select Book, alongside four other best-selling authors. Jerry Jenkins is the author of more than 200 books. His works have sold over 70 million copies.

This includes the best-selling Left Behind series. Twice a Slave has been adapted into a dramatic play by Dr. D. “Pete” Richardson (Associate Professor of Theater) at Louisiana Christian University.

Randy Willis owns Randy Willis Music Publishing. It is an ASCAP-affiliated music publishing company. He also owns Town Lake Music Publishing, LLC. This is a BMI-affiliated music publishing company.

Randy Willis is an ASCAP-affiliated songwriter. He was an artist manager and TV producer.

Randy Willis is a Texas Hill Country Rancher.

Randy Willis founded Operation Warm Heart in 1991. It provides food and clothing to those in need in Central Texas.

Randy Willis was a member of the Board of Directors of Our Mission Possible in Austin, Texas. This organization empowers at-risk teens to discover their greatness.

Randy Willis was a charter member of the Board of Trustees of the Joseph Willis Institute for Great Awakening Studies at Louisiana College (Louisiana Christian University).

Randy Willis served on the Board of Directors of the Austin Apartment Association for four years. He was on the Board of Directors of the Texas Apartment Association for the same duration.

Randy Willis was born in Oakdale, Louisiana, and lived as a boy near Longleaf, Louisiana, and Barber Creek.

Randy Willis graduated from Angleton High School in Angleton, Texas, and Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. He was also a graduate student at Texas State University for six years (1980-1986).

Randy Willis was a graduate student at Texas State University for six years. He is the father of three sons and has six grandchildren.

He currently resides in the Texas Hill Country near his three sons and their families.

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Randy Willis Website: https://www.threewindsblowing.com

Randy Willis Newsletter, Short Stories & Biographies: https://randywillisbooks.com/

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Randy Willis Website: https://www.threewindsblowing.com

Randy Willis Newsletter, Short Stories & Biographies: https://randywillisbooks.com/

Books on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores

512.565.0161

randywillisnovelist@gmail.com

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