Sportsmanship Shines in St. Louis at the Musial Awards
by Jon Lugbill
I just left St. Louis feeling inspired and proud of the St. Louis Sports Commission. I went out there to see the Musial Awards ceremony and see if we could learn anything from the experience. Our counterparts at the St. Louis Sports Commission created the Musial Awards to recognize the coaches, athletes and parents who embody sportsmanship and demonstrate values like respect, civility, selflessness and integrity. This national awards program brought together 11 different individual or team stories of extraordinary sportsmanship from around the country. You’ve probably seen a few of them, including little league coach David Belisle’s speech after his team lost at the little league world series, on ESPN or somewhere online.
Mike Bush, a local television sports anchor emcees the awards at the beautiful Peabody Opera House in front of 2,500 people, and the program airs on Gannet’s television affiliates around the country. The production of the event is top notch, featuring special video vignettes introducing each of the award winners and a live band that plays special theme music. Standing ovations are common throughout the evening. The power of the emotions in the theater was best summed up by Joe Torre after winning the lifetime achievement award: “I’m more proud of this award than any I have ever received in my life.” That is a powerful statement indeed from a man who is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame and whose team won four World Series titles when he managed the New York Yankees.
My favorite story of the night, however, was one that highlighted a play that the Olivet 8th grade youth football team made during a game in Michigan. The crowd at the game knew something was up when the Olivet running back stopped and kneeled on the 1-yard line. He then ran to the sideline, without the coaches’ permission, and told Keith Orr to go in for him. The team, without their coach knowing it, had put together a plan to have Keith Orr, a member of the team with a learning disability, to come in for a play. Keith Orr lined up as a fullback and was handed the ball and ran a running play right up the middle as the entire offensive line plowed over the goal line with Keith easily scoring a touchdown!
At the awards banquet when asked why they did this, the young team members responded, “Because we wanted to prove that he was part of our team, and he meant a lot to us.” Wide receiver Justice Miller told the audience he had learned a valuable lesson, stating “We originally did this to help Michael, but I didn’t realize that helping him would make me feel so good.” As eyes watered throughout the theater, it was obvious that the standing ovation was driven by our collective realization of the power of his simple statement.
The morning after the awards ceremony, I got up early and went for a run along the Mississippi River on the Riverwalk Trail. I was thinking of ways we could celebrate individuals or teams who show great moments of sportsmanship here in the Richmond area. Perhaps this sportsmanship award could be part of our Times Dispatch/Sports Backers Scholar Athlete Awards dinner? We would then be able to have our winners nominated for a national Musial Award.
As I was hatching this plan, I came across some graffiti tagged on the floodwall that read “no justice no peace”. The juxtaposition of the positive vibe of the night before compared to the conflict in the same community over the Michael Brown shooting was difficult to put into perspective. After some reflection, I thought that at least everyone at the Musial Awards might have more empathy for others in their community because of a simple statement made by an 8th grader from Michigan—it really does feel good to help someone else. And the best part about it is that everyone benefits. I’m looking forward to spending some more time celebrating sportsmanship right here in our own community.