TBT: The Janitor Taught Me How to Play Basketball - The LEGEND of Larry Mosley
- Coach David Heeb
- Jan 25, 2018
- 4 min read
Throwback Thursday, this is one of my all time favorite stories, about a man I loved dearly. I wanted to run this one back for everybody. It's one of the most popular stories we have ever had on Just Win Today. I hope you all enjoy it! Larry Mosley belongs in the MO Basketball Hall of Fame!!!
He looked at me, smiled that one of a kind smile, and said, "David, you dribble too much."
I was in the fourth grade. Saturday morning practice. I finally had the ball, and I wasn't going to pass it to anybody. My four teammates were doing what fourth graders tend to do - waving their hands and yelling "pass! pass! pass!" The defense was doing what fourth graders tend to do - chasing me while I dribbled with my head down.
Larry had seen enough.
He blew his whistle. We all stopped and looked. He asked me to give him the ball. I gave Larry the ball, and without saying a word, he handed me a new ball. "Play it," he said. So I took off dribbling again. There was one problem...
When I dribbled the ball, it didn't bounce. I looked up and said, "Larry, this ball is flat."
Back to the beginning of the story. Larry just smiled and said, "David, you dribble too much." Simple. Lesson learned. That's how Larry Mosley taught us all how to play basketball at Scott County Central.
When you stop and look at your own life, how many people can you count that helped you get to where you are now? I want you to really stop and think about that for a minute. Who was the best teacher you ever had? Did you have a coach who made a difference? Maybe an aunt or uncle or grandparent?
When I ask myself that question, there were plenty of people that helped me along the way. I had loving parents. My Grandpa Taylor was a huge influence on me. My older cousin, Terry Bell, who was a great basketball player, was my hero. He's the reason I love basketball so much.
But it was the janitor at Scott County Central who also served as the elementary basketball coach, Mr. Larry Mosley, who actually taught me how to play basketball. When you're a kid that grows up to become a basketball coach, and that's how you make your living, how important was the person who actually taught you how to play the game you love?
I would say that person ranks right up near the top of the list of important people in your life.
I ended up being a pretty decent high school basketball player. After I graduated from high school and college, I became a coach. Larry and I stayed in touch, and we stayed pretty close. Several times throughout the years, he would bring a group of guys down to scrimmage us during the summer.
The last time we got together I was coaching at Caruthersville High School. Larry came down with a carload of boys and Andrew Pullen. Since Andrew was going to coach the Scott Central kids, I asked Larry to just coach my team that day. My boys had one set of instructions: listen to every word this man says to you.
When I got the call that Larry passed away, I was coming home from basketball practice and had just pulled the car into the driveway. I sat in my car and cried like a baby for about 30 minutes. I loved Larry. He is one of the people that absolutely, positively changed my life for the better.
Better writers than me (Chris Pobst and Larry Lewis) have written much better tributes to Larry than I ever could (here and here). Like Chris says in his article, the best thing about Larry was "whether you could beat people off the break or hand out water, you were still part of the team. Part of the family."
Truer words were never spoken.
Scott County Central has won 18 state championships on the boys' side and seven on the girls' side. They've made a combined 32 trips to the Final Four. Larry had a hand in coaching the vast majority of those kids. He belongs in the Missouri Basketball Hall of Fame. Larry taught us all how to play, and when Larry was done with us, guys like Danny Farmer (girls) and Ronnie Cookson (boys) took us to another level.
The thing I really learned from Larry, besides how to pass and cut, was the gift of giving people your time. You can lose a lot of things in life and get it back. For example, I got hit by a drunk driver going 126 mph and completely totaled my Jeep Cherokee. When I got back on my feet, I bought a new, almost identical Jeep Cherokee. We can get some things back. We can't get back our time.
I also learned patience from Larry. He was so patient with us. He was not a screamer or yeller. He was a teacher. I can still hear his voice, teaching me by asking questions... "YOU MEAN TO TELL ME, THAT YOU WENT ALLLLLL THE WAY OVER THERE INSTEAD OF JUST CUTTING RIGHT HERE?" He had a way of asking you a question without giving you the answer but making the answer seem so obvious.
I learned so much from him.
The day after Larry died, at the beginning of practice, I started the drill with a new ball. One of our players, Kyle Moore, took off to dribble the ball, but when he did, it didn't bounce. He stopped and looked at me.
"Coach, this ball doesn't have any air in it," he said. I just smiled and said, "You dribble too much."
RIP Larry Joe.
Everybody go help somebody else today. Thanks for reading.
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