Right Place, Right Time

"The harder I work, the more luck I seem to have." ~ Thomas Jefferson

We've all been lucky before. Right place, right time. Later, when you look back at the situation, you ask yourself, "what are the chances of something like that happening to me?"

Good fortune, or good luck, definitely plays a role in our lives (so does back luck LOL). Having said that, I guarantee that if you take a step back, you'll also realize that your "good luck" was only possible because of the effort you put in that put you in the position to even "get lucky."

That's what my story is about today, and it involves a girl named Tiara Perry.

When I was the head women's basketball coach at Robert Morris University in Springfield, IL, I was recruiting this 6'0 power forward from the Champagne, IL area. She was a really good player. I had sent her some mail, talked to her on the phone, and also spent a great deal of time talking to her dad.

I finally had a chance to go see her play in a Christmas Tournament in Champagne. Since school wasn't in session, and we didn't have a game that week either, I hit the road for three straight days of watching high school basketball: Day One, Peoria; Day Two, Bloomington; Day Three, I would head back down to Champagne to watch my "target recruit" play.

After sitting on a bleacher and watching dozens and dozens of players play the first two days, I drove down to Champagne to watch the girl I was recruiting. I knew what time her team would play. They were the favorite to win the tournament. There was one problem: I got to the gym, and her team had lost the night before. So instead of watching her play, I arrived to watch a game between some team (can't remember who) and Proviso East High School, a school in Chicago.

I noticed that Proviso East had twins that were about 6'1, and they were really good. I sat down and started making a few notes in my program. An older gentleman (we'll call him "Harold," since that ends up being his name later in the story LOL) asked me what school I coached at. We struck up a conversation. Then he said "coach, you're wasting your time if you're looking at those twins. They've already signed at Central Michigan."

Central Michigan was an NCAA Division I school that offered full ride scholarships. My school was an NAIA school that offered 55% off of tuition and 0% towards housing!! So I knew I had no shot at signing the twins. A bit dejected, and extremely exhausted, I put my pen away and got ready to head for the door. Harold, sensing that I was about to leave, offered up some advice.

"You need to stay and watch #4 play. She's good, coach, and she's a great kid." Not wanting to be rude, I nodded and watched the game for a few more minutes. Finally, I saw my chance to leave, so I headed that way. Right when I got to the door, I saw a coaching buddy of mine, the assistant coach at Parkland College. We struck up a conversation down in the corner of the gym, meaning that I didn't quite make it out the door.

Finally, I turned to leave, but guess who was standing there? If you guessed Harold, you were right. He said, "Coach, talk to #4. I'm telling you, she's a great kid. She's worth a look." I nodded and told myself that I'd stay until the start of the fourth quarter. With about 10 seconds left in the third quarter, a girl Provio East's team sprained her ankle and was down on the floor. The referee looked at me and said "hey buddy, can you get us some ice from the concession stand?"

So I went to the concession stand and grabbed a bag of ice. By the time I got it to the girl in need, there were about four minutes left in the game. I thought to myself, 'might as well stay and talk to #4.' So I hung around until the game was over. I met #4, a 5'7 guard named Tiara Perry. Harold had been right about Tiara. She was a good player. I gave her my business card. We stayed in touch.

Later that spring, we signed Tiara to a scholarship. She came and played for me as a freshman and was the "sixth man" on our team that set a school record for wins. One day we were riding the bus, and I told Tiara the story of how I discovered her. It was a series of really lucky things happening in a row... the original target recruit's team got beat, I ended up sitting next to Harold, I ran into my coaching buddy, the girl sprained her ankle, etc, etc, etc... pure luck! The key figure in the story though was Harold. If I hadn't sat by him, I have no doubt that I would have just got up and left.

Tiara got a little teary eyed. She said, "Coach, do you know who that man was?" I told her no, and Tiara went on to tell me that the man's name was Harold (Tada!!! haha), and that he was their team's bus driver. She was always nice to Harold and helped him make sure all of the trash was picked up on the bus. She was always respectful to him.

Tiara said, "Coach Heeb, you're the only person that offered me a scholarship." I found this unbelievable, because she was a very good player. It happens sometimes though, a good player just falls through the cracks. Good luck brought Tiara and I together. A closer look will also reveal that hard work brought us together.

I had been on the road three days, working hard. I was tired. Not only that, I had spent months (hours and hours) recruiting this other girl that indirectly led me to Tiara. Tiara had also put in a lot of time and effort that led to that moment. She spent years practicing to become such a good player. She had also always carried herself the right way. After all, Harold was adamant that she was a "great kid," not just a good player.

So hard work laid the groundwork for good luck to even have a chance. I also love telling this story, because besides talking about "luck is where hard work meets opportunity," it demonstrates two other really, really powerful life lessons.

One, you never know who is watching you. The most unlikely person in the world, the team bus driver, opened a door for Tiara. Why? Because she was always doing the right thing. She had no idea of knowing that Harold would be such a difference maker in her life. You just never know who is watching or who you're making a good (or bad) impression on. So do the right thing!

Two, and this one is a constant a lesson for me... you can't get hung up on your disappointments in life. I could have just got upset that I missed out on the girl I had spent MONTHS recruiting. If I had focused on that, I would have missed out on Tiara, a really good player and a GREAT person. Think about how many times that happens in our lives... we didn't get the job we wanted, or we had a bad breakup, or we missed out on some great opportunity...

You can't focus on what you "lost." If you do that, you'll miss the next thing. Who knows, the next thing might be even better that what you were hoping for in the first place?

I hope you enjoyed the story! Have a great day!!

#goodluck #rightplace #righttime #thomasjefferson #hardwork #opportunity #basketball #collegebasketball #ChristmasTournament