November 16, 2023 • 12 mins
We've launched a campaign called “Don’t Be A Turkey Person” to challenge all of us this Thanksgiving and holiday season, and it isn’t about not eating turkey. Coach Bill Courtney shares one of the most important life lessons he's ever learned and it was from one of his 17-year-old football players.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, everybody, it's Coach Bill Courtney with an army of
normal folks. With Thanksgiving in the holidays coming up, we
wanted to bring you a bonus episode from our special
campaign Don't be a Turkey person that currently, believe it
or not, has a billboard in Times Square in New
York City. And guys, this isn't about eden Turkeys. It's
(00:24):
one of the most important life lessons that I've ever learned,
and it was one I learned from one of my
seventeen year old football players from inner City Memphis. The
story will likely change the way you look at philanthropy,
at least it did for me. We'll bring it to
you right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors.
(00:49):
When I got to Manassas, their previous ten years record
was four wins in ninety five losses four ninety five.
They've won four games in ten years. Terrible, awful. I'm
in my first season and we were three and three
midway through the season. And while I think three and
three is pretty average, when you've won four games in
ten years, that's pretty good, and the kids were buying in.
(01:11):
But the other thing we found out is we had
to coach. Other things, basic fundamentals and tenants like character, commitment, teamwork,
the value of hard work, the importance of just being
on time. Basic stuff that your grandmother taught you at
a kitchen table. One day, half the team is doing
what we're asking of them, But the other half the team,
(01:33):
while yes or nose are on the football field, they're
still engaged in some of the same destructive behavior in
the streets that kind of got them to four and
ninety five in the first place. And the four ninety
five is kind of a metaphor the losing that the
decades long losing in football is kind of a metaphor
for the generational losing that's been going on and some
(01:57):
of our most disadvantaged communities. And so I was frustrated.
So I went to my guy. And every coach has
a guy, and my guy that year was Bobo. And
went to Bobo, and I said, hey, man, how do
I get that half the team to buy into the
important stuff? Like you're half the team. Bobo was the
guy who, whenever asked a question about the culture or
(02:20):
society or history of the neighborhoods around Manassas or Manassas itself,
would always kind of tell me the down low, the
real story. And so when I asked him about why
these kids weren't buying the important stuff, Bobo just kind
of dismissed me, said our coach, just keep doing what
you're doing. And that frustrated me a lot. And I'm like, no, man,
(02:43):
real talk. And he said, Coach, I don't want to
hurt your feelings. And I said, Bobo, one more time,
straight talk, Why won't that half the team buy into
the important stuff? Like you're half the team. And he said, coach,
I don't want to hurt your feelings, but I'll tell
you and I said, okay. He said, Coach, you're trying
to figure out if you're a turkey person or not.
(03:06):
And I said, Bobo, turkey person. What the hell is
a turkey person? He's like, coach. Every Thanksgiving and Christmas,
people come into our neighborhoods and they give us hams
and gifts and turkeys, and we take them because we
ain't got none. But then they leave and we never
see them again. And it kind of makes you wonder
(03:28):
if they're doing that because they really care about us,
or they're doing that to make themselves feel good. He
loot me dead eyes, and he said, coach, what the
hell are you really doing here? Man? And I'm going
to tell you something that pissed me off bad. The
truth was, I was waking up early in the morning,
(03:49):
like four, driving to work, get my work done. Didn't
take a lunch break because I spent my forty five
minutes at lunch going to Manassas to make sure the
guys were doing what they're supposed to do. Went back
to work, then hustled up and got to the practice
field at three thirty. Practice football from three thirty to
five thirty or six at Manasses. Then I would get
(04:12):
my car and drive to the suburbs to coach my
kids in football. Because the deal was, if I'm going
to coach man Asses, I'm still going to stay involved
with my kids. We were paying for act prep classes,
pregame meals, helping kids with clothing. We were there every day,
spending our time, our money, and our resources on eighteen
(04:35):
hours a day. And we did that for seven years.
And this kid wants to look at me and ask
me if I'm a Turkey person. That's bull man. I mean, honestly,
my thought was, Okay, here's the experiment. I've dove in.
I've given them my time and my effort, my money,
and they still want to see if I'm a Turkey person.
(04:57):
I'll tell you what I thought. You can't help the
these people. Can't help these folks. I mean, if everything
I'm doing right now isn't enough, you can't help these folks.
I wasn't gonna quit during the middle of the season,
but I'd pretty much made up my mind that I
was done. Like I said, I coached my kids out
in the suburbs, and I would show up to practice
(05:22):
at my kids practice, and they were young, they were
in the third and fourth grade and coaching high school ball,
and I would show up in my Manassas gear because
I didn't have a chance to change from Manasa's practice
going out there, and guys were walking up to me
and saying, Bill, what's this Manasa stuff you're wearing? And
I'm like, you know, it's I'm coaching Manassas. Like Manassas,
(05:42):
They're terrible. This is not an exaggeration. Two weeks after
Bobo told me the Turkey person story, the Commercial Appeal,
which is the daily newspaper in Memphis, not the sports page,
the front page had a picture of a picture of
me and the title was Manassas Miracle because we turned
(06:04):
around Manasses me And so at these practices, people walking
up and saying, Bill, it's amazing what you're doing at Manassas.
Tell me more. I bother like, well, I got am
act pup classes. Wow, Bill, what else are you doing well?
You know? I got them winning football games. What else well?
Instead of going up and down the cold road these
(06:26):
fall nights on yellow school buses, we're riding on charter
buses that we're providing. Man, that's amazing, Bill, What else
are you doing well? I got them doing their homework.
What else you doing well? You know? I got them
being respectful in classes.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
And the point is, anybody, anytime anybody asked me anything
about everything that was going on Manasses, I was happy
to tell them everything I was doing and getting backslaps
and kind of elevated me among my contemporaries in my
neighborhood and in my society, and it felt good.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Meanwhile, you may not know why kids in the hoods
sleep in tubs, and it's because most of the neighborhoods
in the hood, most of the homes are old and
the tubs are cast iron, and the reason people lay
their children and babies down to sleep in the tubs
at night is because if there's a drive by shooting,
they'll survive the night. Me these kids didn't know where
(07:27):
their next meal was coming from. Many of these kids
were doing homework for the first time in their lives,
and their friends were calling them chumps. Many kids were
getting called sellouts because of Anassis. All the players, all
the students are African American, and I was white. There's
likely this white guy ain't got nothing for you. Man,
(07:47):
What you doing hanging around with is white coach. And
these kids, to be part of one positive thing in
their life, fought their own friends, some of their own
cultural differences, started doing things that other people saw them
as chumps for doing. They were getting beaten out of
(08:12):
gangs to be able to be part of the football team.
They were doing all of these things and starting to
the first time in their life be part of anything
that had a positive, winning thing. And any time anybody
asked me about Manassas, I was all too happy to
tell them everything I was doing. If you serve soup
(08:36):
at soup kitchens, or you give away turkeys on thanksgiving
or gifts at Christmas to children who don't have them.
It is a beautiful thing. Do not misunderstand the purpose
of my sharing the story with you. There's not only
nothing wrong with doing those things. There's are great things
to do, and I think we're called to do them
(08:58):
and should do them. But what's your motive? What's your motive?
Are you doing it because it makes you feel good?
Are you doing it because people in your family or
friends around you and your business say, oh nice what
you're doing and they're giving you backslabs? Are you doing
it because your company has a philanthropy that everybody gets
(09:22):
around and you're just kind of called to do it
because it's the right thing to do in your business,
and maybe even it helps you when the next promotion
talks come up. What's your motive? If you are not
motivated to do something for the simple edification and exaltation
(09:43):
of another person who is not as blessed, as fortunate
as you, and you're motivated by what it does for you,
then you are, in fact a Turkey person. And what
a Turkey person is as a fraud. And I can
say that to you because I was one. My son
(10:04):
was sitting at the kitchen table, and he looked at me.
Not long after the Turkey person story and the Manasas
miracle article came out, and he said, hey, Dad, I
know everything you're doing at Manassas, but what are your players' names?
Out of the mouths of babes. An eight year old
boy shocked me when he revealed to me that I'd
(10:29):
been telling everybody everything I was doing, but people didn't
even know the kids' names who were actually doing the work.
I reversed course immediately. I started giving credit where credits due.
I started stepping back and allowing them to have the
illumination of the success. And this crazy thing happened. That
(10:50):
group of kids that weren't buying into the important stuff
started buying in because what they saw was a servant,
not a fraud. We need to create an army of
normal folks that do things all over our country and
their communities and their neighborhoods and say hey, I have
a need I can help. I know government's never going
(11:11):
to get it right, and I know the fancy people
on CNN Fox are just dividing us. But I see
a need and I can fill it in my neighborhood
and community. We need an army of normal folks saying hey,
I can help, but we need to be motivated properly too,
because we can do more damage than good if we
(11:31):
go into areas of need and do it for ourselves.
We need an army of normal folks motivated properly, not
turkey persons servants. We see area need and fill those
areas and needs for the right reasons, for the right people.
(11:53):
And if we did that, we literally can change this country.
And that's a lesson that was taught to me my
seventeen year old black kid from the hood, my first
chair at minasis. All right, y'all, thanks for checking out
this bonus episode. I hope you'll consider sharing it with
family and friends over the holidays. And if you want
(12:15):
to check out or share the video versus the story,
go to turkeyperson dot com. It's on the homepage. You
can also join the army of normal folks there, and gosh,
I hope you will. Together. Guys, we can change this country.
But remember it starts with you. I'm Bill Courtney. I'll
see you next week.
Hey, everybody, it's Coach Bill Courtney with an army of
normal folks. With Thanksgiving in the holidays coming up, we
wanted to bring you a bonus episode from our special
campaign Don't be a Turkey person that currently, believe it
or not, has a billboard in Times Square in New
York City. And guys, this isn't about eden Turkeys. It's
(00:24):
one of the most important life lessons that I've ever learned,
and it was one I learned from one of my
seventeen year old football players from inner City Memphis. The
story will likely change the way you look at philanthropy,
at least it did for me. We'll bring it to
you right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors.
(00:49):
When I got to Manassas, their previous ten years record
was four wins in ninety five losses four ninety five.
They've won four games in ten years. Terrible, awful. I'm
in my first season and we were three and three
midway through the season. And while I think three and
three is pretty average, when you've won four games in
ten years, that's pretty good, and the kids were buying in.
(01:11):
But the other thing we found out is we had
to coach. Other things, basic fundamentals and tenants like character, commitment, teamwork,
the value of hard work, the importance of just being
on time. Basic stuff that your grandmother taught you at
a kitchen table. One day, half the team is doing
what we're asking of them, But the other half the team,
(01:33):
while yes or nose are on the football field, they're
still engaged in some of the same destructive behavior in
the streets that kind of got them to four and
ninety five in the first place. And the four ninety
five is kind of a metaphor the losing that the
decades long losing in football is kind of a metaphor
for the generational losing that's been going on and some
(01:57):
of our most disadvantaged communities. And so I was frustrated.
So I went to my guy. And every coach has
a guy, and my guy that year was Bobo. And
went to Bobo, and I said, hey, man, how do
I get that half the team to buy into the
important stuff? Like you're half the team. Bobo was the
guy who, whenever asked a question about the culture or
(02:20):
society or history of the neighborhoods around Manassas or Manassas itself,
would always kind of tell me the down low, the
real story. And so when I asked him about why
these kids weren't buying the important stuff, Bobo just kind
of dismissed me, said our coach, just keep doing what
you're doing. And that frustrated me a lot. And I'm like, no, man,
(02:43):
real talk. And he said, Coach, I don't want to
hurt your feelings. And I said, Bobo, one more time,
straight talk, Why won't that half the team buy into
the important stuff? Like you're half the team. And he said, coach,
I don't want to hurt your feelings, but I'll tell
you and I said, okay. He said, Coach, you're trying
to figure out if you're a turkey person or not.
(03:06):
And I said, Bobo, turkey person. What the hell is
a turkey person? He's like, coach. Every Thanksgiving and Christmas,
people come into our neighborhoods and they give us hams
and gifts and turkeys, and we take them because we
ain't got none. But then they leave and we never
see them again. And it kind of makes you wonder
(03:28):
if they're doing that because they really care about us,
or they're doing that to make themselves feel good. He
loot me dead eyes, and he said, coach, what the
hell are you really doing here? Man? And I'm going
to tell you something that pissed me off bad. The
truth was, I was waking up early in the morning,
(03:49):
like four, driving to work, get my work done. Didn't
take a lunch break because I spent my forty five
minutes at lunch going to Manassas to make sure the
guys were doing what they're supposed to do. Went back
to work, then hustled up and got to the practice
field at three thirty. Practice football from three thirty to
five thirty or six at Manasses. Then I would get
(04:12):
my car and drive to the suburbs to coach my
kids in football. Because the deal was, if I'm going
to coach man Asses, I'm still going to stay involved
with my kids. We were paying for act prep classes,
pregame meals, helping kids with clothing. We were there every day,
spending our time, our money, and our resources on eighteen
(04:35):
hours a day. And we did that for seven years.
And this kid wants to look at me and ask
me if I'm a Turkey person. That's bull man. I mean, honestly,
my thought was, Okay, here's the experiment. I've dove in.
I've given them my time and my effort, my money,
and they still want to see if I'm a Turkey person.
(04:57):
I'll tell you what I thought. You can't help the
these people. Can't help these folks. I mean, if everything
I'm doing right now isn't enough, you can't help these folks.
I wasn't gonna quit during the middle of the season,
but I'd pretty much made up my mind that I
was done. Like I said, I coached my kids out
in the suburbs, and I would show up to practice
(05:22):
at my kids practice, and they were young, they were
in the third and fourth grade and coaching high school ball,
and I would show up in my Manassas gear because
I didn't have a chance to change from Manasa's practice
going out there, and guys were walking up to me
and saying, Bill, what's this Manasa stuff you're wearing? And
I'm like, you know, it's I'm coaching Manassas. Like Manassas,
(05:42):
They're terrible. This is not an exaggeration. Two weeks after
Bobo told me the Turkey person story, the Commercial Appeal,
which is the daily newspaper in Memphis, not the sports page,
the front page had a picture of a picture of
me and the title was Manassas Miracle because we turned
(06:04):
around Manasses me And so at these practices, people walking
up and saying, Bill, it's amazing what you're doing at Manassas.
Tell me more. I bother like, well, I got am
act pup classes. Wow, Bill, what else are you doing well?
You know? I got them winning football games. What else well?
Instead of going up and down the cold road these
(06:26):
fall nights on yellow school buses, we're riding on charter
buses that we're providing. Man, that's amazing, Bill, What else
are you doing well? I got them doing their homework.
What else you doing well? You know? I got them
being respectful in classes.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
And the point is, anybody, anytime anybody asked me anything
about everything that was going on Manasses, I was happy
to tell them everything I was doing and getting backslaps
and kind of elevated me among my contemporaries in my
neighborhood and in my society, and it felt good.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Meanwhile, you may not know why kids in the hoods
sleep in tubs, and it's because most of the neighborhoods
in the hood, most of the homes are old and
the tubs are cast iron, and the reason people lay
their children and babies down to sleep in the tubs
at night is because if there's a drive by shooting,
they'll survive the night. Me these kids didn't know where
(07:27):
their next meal was coming from. Many of these kids
were doing homework for the first time in their lives,
and their friends were calling them chumps. Many kids were
getting called sellouts because of Anassis. All the players, all
the students are African American, and I was white. There's
likely this white guy ain't got nothing for you. Man,
(07:47):
What you doing hanging around with is white coach. And
these kids, to be part of one positive thing in
their life, fought their own friends, some of their own
cultural differences, started doing things that other people saw them
as chumps for doing. They were getting beaten out of
(08:12):
gangs to be able to be part of the football team.
They were doing all of these things and starting to
the first time in their life be part of anything
that had a positive, winning thing. And any time anybody
asked me about Manassas, I was all too happy to
tell them everything I was doing. If you serve soup
(08:36):
at soup kitchens, or you give away turkeys on thanksgiving
or gifts at Christmas to children who don't have them.
It is a beautiful thing. Do not misunderstand the purpose
of my sharing the story with you. There's not only
nothing wrong with doing those things. There's are great things
to do, and I think we're called to do them
(08:58):
and should do them. But what's your motive? What's your motive?
Are you doing it because it makes you feel good?
Are you doing it because people in your family or
friends around you and your business say, oh nice what
you're doing and they're giving you backslabs? Are you doing
it because your company has a philanthropy that everybody gets
(09:22):
around and you're just kind of called to do it
because it's the right thing to do in your business,
and maybe even it helps you when the next promotion
talks come up. What's your motive? If you are not
motivated to do something for the simple edification and exaltation
(09:43):
of another person who is not as blessed, as fortunate
as you, and you're motivated by what it does for you,
then you are, in fact a Turkey person. And what
a Turkey person is as a fraud. And I can
say that to you because I was one. My son
(10:04):
was sitting at the kitchen table, and he looked at me.
Not long after the Turkey person story and the Manasas
miracle article came out, and he said, hey, Dad, I
know everything you're doing at Manassas, but what are your players' names?
Out of the mouths of babes. An eight year old
boy shocked me when he revealed to me that I'd
(10:29):
been telling everybody everything I was doing, but people didn't
even know the kids' names who were actually doing the work.
I reversed course immediately. I started giving credit where credits due.
I started stepping back and allowing them to have the
illumination of the success. And this crazy thing happened. That
(10:50):
group of kids that weren't buying into the important stuff
started buying in because what they saw was a servant,
not a fraud. We need to create an army of
normal folks that do things all over our country and
their communities and their neighborhoods and say hey, I have
a need I can help. I know government's never going
(11:11):
to get it right, and I know the fancy people
on CNN Fox are just dividing us. But I see
a need and I can fill it in my neighborhood
and community. We need an army of normal folks saying hey,
I can help, but we need to be motivated properly too,
because we can do more damage than good if we
(11:31):
go into areas of need and do it for ourselves.
We need an army of normal folks motivated properly, not
turkey persons servants. We see area need and fill those
areas and needs for the right reasons, for the right people.
(11:53):
And if we did that, we literally can change this country.
And that's a lesson that was taught to me my
seventeen year old black kid from the hood, my first
chair at minasis. All right, y'all, thanks for checking out
this bonus episode. I hope you'll consider sharing it with
family and friends over the holidays. And if you want
(12:15):
to check out or share the video versus the story,
go to turkeyperson dot com. It's on the homepage. You
can also join the army of normal folks there, and gosh,
I hope you will. Together. Guys, we can change this country.
But remember it starts with you. I'm Bill Courtney. I'll
see you next week.
Host
Bill Courtney
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