BEST OF ROSIE: John Larson

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Each of us may often yearn fora time when anything and everything we do
isn't available for public consumption. Somethingthoughtless we do in public, a false
charge, maybe a domestic dispute.Social media and the search engine Google ensure
everything sticks, Which means that,try as we might, these moments of
regret try their best to define usfor life. How many of us get

(00:22):
a chance to rewrite our unintended biography. Basketball coach John Larson is one who
did. His story Ain't that unique, but it's no less sad. March
third, twenty eleven, eight yearsago, he had just led his Lincoln
Southeast Girls high school team into itstwenty fifth state tournament in thirty one years
as head coach. Fourteen times.In those thirty one seasons, they had

(00:45):
played in the state finals. Ninetimes they had won the state finals.
In twenty nine of his thirty oneseasons, his Nights finished with a winning
record. John Larson was the MikeSkrzyzewski of girls' high school basketball, but
his Knights lost that more March third, in the first round season over swung
by a Lincoln South Lincoln sports barthat John and his wife owned he had

(01:07):
around and then another and then another. But the time coach Larsen climbed behind
the wheel of his pickup truck tomake the one mile drive home, he'd
had too many. Next thing,John remembers he'd struck a parked car.
Flashing red lights made him squint asseveral officers surrounded him and recited his Miranda
rights, D you I. Bythe end of the weekend, he'd been

(01:30):
fired as head coach after five hundredand sixty wins. By the end of
the school year, he was nolonger a teacher after thirty nine years.
Imagine if every day of your adultlife you happily went to do for what
God intended, only to have thatpathway blocked by one thoughtless moment. Imagine
the embarrassment here you are a shamedrole model for very young people. Would

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all those life lessons taught in theclassroom and on the basketball court be forgotten
or cast aside as phony in lifeless because of what the teacher did well
that didn't happen. John Larson alsotaught about the virtues of contrition, forgiveness,
sharing both success and failure. Hedidn't offer an excuse for driving drunk.
He took responsibility and practiced the sermonshe had delivered all those years.

(02:15):
You make a mistake, admit it, learn from it, make amends to
those harmed, and move on.If you think somebody else, like a
teammate or a classmate, or inJohn's world, a bartender, has a
bigger stake in your trouble, youhaven't learned enough. Nevertheless, he was
ready to live with this painful lesson, expected to never coach again. Well,
the John Larson's among us, thelearned, always get another chance to

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teach. Last summer, TJ Crickle, the athletics director at Crete High School,
just thirty minutes from John's house,called. He had just lost his
girls basketball coach to another job.He knew about John's mistake, He knew
about the seven years in coaching exile, and the five hundred and sixty wins
and nine state titles. Tj offeredto give coach John Larson his coaching life

(03:00):
well. At ten forty five thismorning at the Pinnacle Bank Arena, Crete
takes the floor against Scott in thefirst round of coach Larson's twenty sixth state
tournament. Which means, if yougoogle John Larson basketball coach, you're likely
to see a happy ending,