A Man Who Left His Mark on Many with Coach Johnny Parker

Hello and welcome to Leave Your Mark. I'm your old Scott Least and in this is where I explore the influences that have shaped the lives of our incredible guests. These are the stories of lives we're talking about. Follow me on Twitter and build by Scott and Instagram at KingvillePaint or link up with me on my Facebook fan page, Scott G. Woodenston. My goal is to empower an inspired community of people who take every opportunity to live a high performing life. If your practitioner is tired of operating the gray area between injury rehab and return to performance without a clear framework to guide your decisions, this message is for you. There are plenty of courses and certifications that will add tools to your toolbox but very few help you bring all of those tools together in one organized repeatable decision making process. That's exactly what neuroreconditioning is. We teach you to think first through a neurological lens because the nervous system is the operating system of the human body. If you're not assessing and addressing it from the outset, you're often managing symptoms instead of solving problems. Neuroreconditioning gives you clarity around the why. So you know what to do, when to do it, and why it matters, leading to faster results that actually last. If you want to start changing how you approach pain and movement right now, we've put together a free video course that'll get you started. Download the free pain guide at www.freepainguide.com. If you're serious about getting better results with your clients and doing it faster, this is your next step. Right now, you can take what we do inside neuroreconditioning and start applying it immediately in your practice. Use the code "LYM Recon 10" and get 10% off any program at Reconitioning HQ. Whether you want a quick entry point with our Reconitioning Rubric session, a practical toolbox through Ninja Moves, or a deeper system with our Essentials program, we've built this to meet you where you are and move you forward. This is not theory, this is application. And the practitioners who lean in now are the ones who separate themselves over the next six to 12 months. Don't wait. Go to reconitioninghq.com, use the code "LYM Recon 10" and start making better changes faster. Now let's get on to our podcast guests and joy. I just want to talk about a few things before this podcast gets started. I had the recent honor of speaking to Johnny Parker. Johnny's a legendary coach in the industry of human performance and has been an influence on so many of those of you who are listening and beyond. And for those who weren't in the strength, conditioning, and performance industry who listened to the podcast, this is more about human character and humility and the desire to help people improve. It really resonates in this conversation. It was a deep honor and privilege to have Johnny on. He's battling a cancer diagnosis right now. And for those of you who know him and have worked with him or respect him, I'm sure reaching out to him or at least letting him know that you're thinking about him would be really powerful because I think he's going through the battle of his life right now. And I think he's doing it plus or minus on his own. He lost his wife a few years ago and doesn't have children. So for those of you who know him, it's your opportunity to maybe lift him up with a story or two about how he's impacted you. So with that, I just want to leave the listener with what I think is an incredible conversation. I could have spoken to Johnny for hours. And I'm deeply privileged to have been able to speak to him for something like 75 minutes. Take care. Today I am pleased to welcome coach Johnny Parker. Johnny has been in the world of human performance for decades longer than he probably cared to admit. And his career spends every level of the game. He began as a high school football coach and within five years became the first strength coach in the big 10 conference a role he held for a decade. Johnny worked for four different colleges before stepping into the NFL in 1984 with the New York Giants. He spent 20 years in the NFL with the Giants, New England Patriots, Tababay Buckeniers, and completed his professional career with San Francisco 49ers. Along the way, he was part of three super bowl winning teams. Beyond the titles and teams, Johnny has influenced generations of athletes and strength conditioning coaches through his standards, his thinking, and his leadership. It's an honor to have him on the show today. Welcome coach. God, I am honored to be on the show. Thank you for having me. And let's don't go into all the issues that I was dealt with in terms of screwing up this whole thing. We will just leave that there. You know, this will just be a secret between you and we are here and that is what the key is. I am absolutely honored to have you on. I'm glad it's whatever it took to get you here. I think it's important for my listeners to hear you, you're somebody who paved the path for many, many people in this industry of human performance and strength conditioning. And so it's cool to just be able to understand your story. So, Johnny, I always start with one question. When you were a little Johnny Parker and you were playing in the backyard in Mississippi, what did you want to be when you grew up? When you looked up to the stars, what did you want to be when you grew up? That is a great question. Let me give that a moment stout because we didn't even have a radio and we just subscribed to the Memphis News Paper. So, I didn't really know anything about college or professional football. So, it would probably have been some Ole Miss player. That's where the early gunnings doctorate and we spent a good bit of time over there. Which one you'll guess is good as mine. Right, right. When you were growing up, what was the first sport you played? Did you play a bunch of sports when you were growing up? No, so I did not. I tried to play football, not very successfully. I did find in my senior year in track through the discus. Okay. And I did okay there. But I got to tell you, if you think we can have time to squeeze this in about my career as a sprinter. Now, why are you laughing? I'm not coming out of this. I asked. Anyway, Scott, I always do didn't have a track. We ran out on the street and the coach would go out every day and he would measure off in the 100, 200, 400. It was 800 meters around the rock and he would measure all the passing lanes and things for the relays. Well, my ninth grade year, Mom and Dad, he got me a set of weights. For Christmas, you know, you're supposed to measure yourself. I was five or eleven and a half and weighed a rippling muscle 105. Anyway, I thought you know, we're in track would help me. So I went out for the track day and I didn't have any role or anything. And you know, the coach would say, Johnny, why don't you run this guy and you know, I'd run with him. Of course, I would be light years behind him. But anyway, Cleveland, Mississippi, just up the road from us, had a track and they were contenders for the state championship every single year. Well, so we don't have a practice meet with Cleveland. So we at least kind of look like when you what we were doing when we went to our first track meet. Well, our coach was reading out the, you know, the participants in different events. And I guess just to kind of get me out of the weight and there was give me an event, embarrass myself and then we could go on with the rest of the meet. So he said, Johnny, why don't you run the hundred? Well, remember, Cleveland, that is track. We didn't. So that was one adjustment. They had starting blocks. I didn't know even seen a starting block. So anyway, I just kind of watched other guys get down in their stance and they got, you know, tapped in the starting blocks for me and Scott, we had a fall start. What made I was okay. It wasn't a fault. But anyway, when you reached out to that, You know, they shot you gun a second time. I looked up. Those were those guys who were 15, 20 yards down the track. And I wasn't out of the box yet. (laughing) So we, you know, that happened again. And I didn't, you know, it narrowed the margin on these guys anymore. Then finally, the third time we got a fair start, it's got, within a few yards, I pulled the groin muscle. (laughing) Scott, if you remember, in track mates where an event on the track is followed by Erdel event. - Okay. - You know, they'll say, "All right, Erdel always stay off the track." And usually that's when it's a mile or the two mile relay. You know, you know, "Erdel always stay off the track. We still have a runner out." - Well, this was in the 100 yard dash. And the youngsters and Erdel always stay off the track. We still have a runner out. (laughing) Anyway, that ended my sprinting career. - They weren't using a stopwatch. They were using one of those sand timers with you. - Yeah, an hourglass. A calendar. (laughing) - Here you go. - That's a great story. I love that. That's a good way to start. When you, what was the first job you ever did as a kid? What was the first job you ever had to do to pay for? - Oh, that narrows it down somewhere. There's lots of jobs you did you didn't get paid for. - Oh, yeah. (laughing) - We had our yard wasn't landscaped or anything. But there were a lot of weeds and just so wild grass and we had a pushmower. And the push was me. (laughing) You think it's an ax of weed and that thing was just a lock. There was no motor, no method. Just me and what I didn't have any muscles. I don't know how I ever got it. But anyway, then in the eighth grade, I got a job, second groceries, it's shop-right grocery store there in Shaw, Mississippi. And Scott, we would work from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. And we got, you know, got a breaker too. And so for that effort and that time, we would get a, we'd get $7. And a half gallon of seal test ice cream. They only make seal test them over. But that's what we got. And I was happy to get it. - Wow. - So that's the first day of job. (laughing) - The ice cream man. (laughing) - Absolutely, boy. I can, Danny and I could tear into that air. I couldn't help it. (laughing) It was really, really good. - Dad was happy when you got home from work. I guess you had your experience. - I had to look at you up on the surface. (laughing) - I believe it. - What did your dad do for a living? What was his, - He was a minister, a minister. - Oh wow, okay. - Well, but Scott, he must have missed a couple of the lessons there because if he heard me or didn't hear me say, ma'am or please or sir or thank you. It wasn't baseball. It wasn't, it was three strikes. The first time he heard it, two things were coming off. It's built in the hide on my rear end. - Oh boy. - And he could swing it now. He was a big man. - Bigger for my rear end. - Oh boy. (laughing) The old days. When we get into some trouble for sure. Were you a brother, did you have sisters, how many kids in your family did you grow up with? - Scott, when I was 12 years old, I'm a gay birth to the only other sick being is my brother Jim and we lost him 25 years ago. And that is still very hard. Excuse me, very hard to relate. But let me tell you, let me tell you about him. He was a deaf to state university which was a small college, he had about 10 miles from my old town and his senior year, he was elected Mr. Delta State, senior class president, all of the fame and who's who and American colleges and universities. - Well. - Well, my senior year in high school, I was in the finals for like, you know, Mr. Show I, you know, I don't know what else, you know, but for four different things. I've also four different things. - And slowest start in the hundred. - I got that one. (laughing) I tired that trophy. Anyway, a girl and I were tasked with counting the votes and for Mr. Show I, the other finalist was Randy Howard. I would read the, you know, who got the vote and then her name was Laurie Simpson. You know, she would take it off, you know, one to three four slash, then it would be the fourth day. And it went something like this. Randy, Randy, Randy, Johnny, Randy, Randy, and that's what it was in all of them. I didn't win anything. (laughing) I'd chew more than everything. Was he played football at Duff the State? And I was, there wasn't a college small enough that I could have played. - Mm-hmm. (laughing) - I was at best in every child school player. - Wow. - Well, it sounds like he looked up to him, though he was somebody that inspired you. So that's it. - Yes, and we lost Danny when my brother was eight and I was 20. - Wow. - And I became really more than a brother to him. And I'm just, everybody loved him. You know, they're people, Scott, when you meet them, they're on a street in town and they'll say, "Good morning, Scott, "you know, just make your day." - Mm-hmm. - And then the other people that will say the exact same thing, "Good morning, Scott, and you're a bunch of men to know." (laughing) So, Jim was one of the first kind, it everybody loved him. - Wow. - Everybody. - That's amazing. Well, you're affection for him still now and you can hear in your voice, which is a wonderful thing. So, I used to have, - We lost him 25 years ago. And Scott, I still catch myself saying, "You know, I didn't call Jim today, I need. - To call him, yeah. - And then I remember. - All right. Wow. When you were sort of, obviously you're growing up in rural Mississippi, what instigates you going to university or getting a college degree? And what do you decide to do? Like how do you get influenced to do that? - Well, Daddy got his doctorate at Ole Miss and we would go to Ole Miss, through Ole Miss games every year. So that's where I wanted to go. - Mm-hmm, good. - And it was all, they were really good. And I was really bad. So there was no chance of me playing higher. But again, that's where I always wanted to go. - Okay. - And I matriculated for uninspiring years. And then, and I graduated from college, Scott, at the height of Vietnam. - Okay. - Guys were getting drafted right and left. I knew one boy. They had a bunch of different draft procedures. And this one, the higher your number, you know, they would pick one through three 65. Well, his birthday was selected at 315. And he was so happy that he went out to celebrate and hit a bridge above it and died. - Well, he should die. crazy. The lit number was awful, awful. And we certainly didn't drown ourselves with any glory. So you could have been drafted, but you weren't drafted during that time. Well, Scott, I kept waiting and waiting and waiting to get drafted. And guys were getting drafted right and left. And so finally I went down to the draft board and I volunteered. And he said, "We'll be. " It's got. You know, we had just lost daddy. And there were people, you know, influential people that would tell us, "Look, just sign up for the National Guard. We'll take care of you." You know, you won't have to go to Vietnam. But Scott, I thought that I had enjoyed the privileges of being an American for 21 years at that time. And in my country, I wanted me to go to Vietnam. I was going to go. But I didn't get drafted. I didn't get drafted. Finally, I volunteered. And one of the questions on the draft board or on the draft test was, you ever had any stomach problems? And I thought it says, "Ever." I had an ulcer in the seventh grade. And I thought, "Well, the worst thing to get out of this is just yell at me." So I clicked, yes, that I had had stomach issues. And at the end of the practice, I'm sorry, then, the day you meet with the doctor, and he asked me about my stomach problems. I said, "Sir, I don't still have them. It's just I had an ulcer in the seventh grade, but no more." And somehow, he didn't get what I was trying to tell him. And in other words, you know, he said, "Do you bring extra things?" I said, "No, sir." And then I don't still have it. I don't still have those. You know, he asked, "Well, who is a doctor?" I told him. And he asked for the doctor's phone number. And he asked me to sit out in the hole, called him, verified what I had said. And that was in my army career. Wow. That's crazy. Well, Scott, I've probably gotten killed in boot camp, much less in the war. But, you know, I just, I thought it might do you to go. Wow. That's interesting to listen to you talk about that in terms of duty. And I think you come from a generally, I'm, did your father serve in World War II? Or was he not in World War II? Daddy was for help. Because in the high school, on their football field, next to it, they had torn down a brick building. And at least in one spot, there was an edge of a brick, you know, kind of poking out of the ground. Daddy made a tackle and hit that leather helmet. He ride on the, that sharpest point of the brick. He lost his sight in one eye. Okay. So he was for help. Okay. Wow. Yeah, you're, you know, your generation and the generations before that, you know, there was a sense of duty to country and to serve that, I don't know, exists really anymore to a degree, but it's a, do you ever want, do you ever think about how you've been drafted and what your life has been? My best friend was for help. And, and by the way, you know, when I took that physical, we got on a bus and cleaned the Mississippi, drove to Memphis to the physical. And then after all that was over, we were going to go to Fort Campbell, Kentucky that night. So my best friend was for help because of his eyesight. And we talked about that. And we're really kind of lucky that we didn't get drafted. Because again, I wouldn't have made it a week over here. So, you know, that was probably the best thing for me. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think I'd have killed too many of it. The maze either. I tried. Well, you've let you, you luckily did not go and have left in an indelible mark in the industry I grew up in. So please tell me how like, how did you discover becoming a football coach? So you go to university, what instigates you becoming a football coach then? Okay. One of the things I don't go into law school after the army. And I'd looked up and done well enough on the, as I tell you to get scholarship. But then when I flunked at physical and I had to make a decision about what I wanted to do in my life, I realized that I didn't want to be a lawyer. I just wanted to wear a three-piece suit and chair briefcase and you know, everybody think I was really wise. So I had to figure out what to do. And during the time I'd waited on the draft, I had done some substitute teaching and Mama had taught both of her brothers and her one sister, all taught. I don't know if that has anything to do with it or not. But anyway, I knew that I didn't want to be an attorney and what I wanted to do is work with kids. I had been substitute teaching and I little time waiting for the draft. And I loved it. But Mama had been a teacher. Daddy had been a teacher before getting his doctorate. Both of Mama's brothers were teachers, Mama's mom was a teacher and Mama's sister was a teacher. So I guess that was kind of in the blood. So I was offered a job. The Indian Ola Miss Secret, about 15 miles from where Mama and Jim lived. And I think that there might have been some worse teachers and coaches in this planet. But they would have to really work at it, be worse than I was. It's got to be prepared at night. But for the next day, I would just kind of make a little check mark where we finished off in the book. And I mean, it was awful. I was more detaers than Scott. One of my assignments was to coach Sempton eighth grade girls basketball. And Scott, I didn't know anything about basketball hadn't played it. But I didn't try to learn. And that's very shameful. Well, Scott, our practices weren't even chaos. They were disorganized chaos. If that's a possibility. Our first game, we got beat 51. This is with four, six minute quarters out, 51 to nine. So, you know, if he had, if he'd left his shoulders in there, he could have gotten at least 80 in 24 minutes. But it's kind of nice given. Since all the other basketball teams in school were having a practice. And we were by far the worst team. I thought we'd better have a practice. And the other team was shooting free throws. And I substituted a little girl in there. And here's where she, she went straight over, stood in front of the shooter with her hand straight up in the air. She was guarding the free throw shooter. Now, that's how poorly coached it. We were. But anyway, little girls would ask for a ride home after practice. And thanksgiving. By the way, Scott, we got to the school thanksgiving. Saturday after Thanksgiving. I realized I didn't have a key to the gym. So I sent the girls. I don't know scavenger hunt. I don't have playground. And they came back with an undersized under inflated basketball. He tried to dribble it. It was just. There was a goal. I don't understand this cohort. And it was cold and windy. And I'm sure we didn't make a basket all day. And finally this practice mercifully ended and lose any corny. It asked me for a ride home. And then she turned and looked with kind of a devilish look on her face. And she said, "It cooked for her. Take me on last." I'm from OK on the way that's going. So all I could afford was a Volkswagen vehicle. And girls would pile into that thing. And we couldn't even roll up the windows. So there were arms and legs out the windows. We pulled up the one girl's house. They would all un-pile. Or it would go right into pile back in. Finally, we got to where we just sent him ourselves. And we got close to her house. She said, "Cost Parker, pull up in the driveway." And they're house sat about 10, 15 yards off the road. So that was no big deal. So as I pulled up in there, she said, "Cost Parker, see?" Well, it was obvious from the fresh dirt that she had a new basketball goal. And she said, "Cost Parker, I got mom and daddy to get that form as an early Christmas present." And then she said, "Cost Parker, come on when I practice. Every day it will dark." And then Scott, the moment that changed my life. She just burst into tears. Uncontrollable, inconsolable tears. Nose was running, you know, tears running down the front of her face. And I didn't know what was wrong. And finally, she was able to get enough self-control. And she said to me, "Cost Parker, I want to be good so bad that you never work with me." That's God. I don't know the worst pain you have had. But that was mine. Wow. I can still feel it. 55 years later. I can still feel that. And Scott, I can't say if it's that second or that minute or even that day. But pretty soon, I'm eight or five out of myself. If for the rest of my life nobody would ever be able to say that to me again. So I enrolled in night class of the Delta State. And to so I have no more history. And I started traveling all over the South and Southeast and the near Southwest to learn football. And I would stay gone. You know, I'd be gone every time we had some kind of holiday. And Scott, I had to admit, at that point in time, I didn't know if the ball was blown up or stuffed. But the first coaching clinic that I went to featured the University of Tennessee staff. And it was in Jackson, Tennessee. Coach Voddell, Bill Voddell, was a head coach. And it was 28 years old. Well, Scott, he said to the group and I will never forget this. He said, coach, he said any, let me say, okay, he said, if your kids, if your kids can be around you for three or four years and not come out of that experience, it's better people. You're in the wrong profession. And I never forgot that. Never. And Scott, the only things that have weight decent that I'll say about myself, or that I try hard and I love my kids. That was, that was a bad idea. But Scott, I would take, I don't know, 12 to 15 learning trips every year. And you know, I finally got above zero in my knowledge there of football and strength training. And you know, those battles saying that was an enormous influence on me. So you were learning to coach football and at the same time you were learning about strength training for football or you were learning something. Absolutely. Scott, the father of our old profession is a man named Alvin Roy. And Mr. Roy was, he was the manager, not the coach, but a manager of the United States Olympic weightlifting teams. You know, the sport is going on in the weightlifting. And he did him Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He felt that football players should live weights in a specially the explosive lifts. You know, like cleanings and squats. And he told me how to do those things and how to, you know, how to maneuver, not maneuver to play in. And what a great influence on me he was. And Scott, if you hear any sounds in the background, not here, but in the background on your side of any noises or what, that's probably people getting up to go turn off their computer because they would have had enough of hearing me talk about me. And that is the most tedious topic that I can imagine, isn't it? Listen to me talk about me. I think you would be surprised how many people are still glued listening to this because the reason it's so important to tell your story, Johnny, is that, you know, a lot of people like myself and younger people than me need to know how this profession became a profession and who the people were that navigated what didn't exist and make it exist and make it something that people really respected and believed in. And you are one of those people who helped make it something that it wasn't at one point. And I think that's what's really important to listen to in you and your wonderful stories about being slow. Like I think everybody needs to know that you weren't fast. Scott, I was so lucky to have been associated with great coaches Alvin Roy, the father of our profession, Louis Rickey, who was the next to the last American, the set of world record on Olympic weight they've tried to mimic the first man in history to clean and jerk over 400 at a body weight of under 200 and then on the football say, you know, bill parcels. And even probably more influential was a head coach of our high school team, you know, I was a first-story coach and Bill McGuire. He was a stickler for technique. How would he have told him, do it right, do it right, do it wrong, do it long and what is he, what's that meant? They had better be focused in on their techniques. But do you know, you know the basketball coach Bob Knight? Yeah, yes sir. Well Bob had an enormous impact on me and I think if you had to narrow it down, it would be, or try to pinpoint it, it would be that players always have something left. They think that they can't do any more they can. And he coached that way. Now I didn't hear Bob say this, but somebody said it in one way because I'm not smart enough to come up with any original thoughts, but I'm really believe this. Good coaches can make them sweat. Good coaches can get them to bleed. And you know, I didn't mean they got and sliced up their team with a knife or something. It's just players will go on beyond what they thought was possible. And I was so fortunate to be around people like those two. Hey, look, it goes for ourselves and goes night or close friends. They were at the US military cadet me together. Quick break here. We'll be back to our podcast and just a few moments. You can find the answer to almost any question on the internet today. But finding the answers to why and when, especially in the gray area between rehab and performance takes context. And context is built through experience and critical thinking. That's the gray area, neuro-reconditioning was designed to help you own. A Reconditioning HQ we teach an operating system for problem solving, one that helps you evaluate the individual, the environment, and the demands of the task so you can choose the right intervention at the right time. Whether that's Ninja Moves, Essentials, Foundations, or the complete neuro-reconditioning program, every course is designed to sharpen your decision making and improve client outcomes. And as a listener of Leave Your Mark, you can take $75 off of any of our core education products using the coupon code LYM202675. Add to Reconditioning HQ.com and if you want to start immediately download the Free Paying Guide at www.FreePainGuide.com and start owning the gray area this week. If you want to get better results with your clients and do it faster, this is for you. Add to Reconditioning HQ.com and use the code LYMRecon10 to get 10% off any program. Whether it's a quick win with our Rubik Session, hands-on tools from Ninja Moves, or a deeper system with Essentials, you can start applying this immediately. Don't overthink. Go to Reconditioning HQ.com, use LYMRecon10 and get to work. Now let's get back to our podcast guest. But you know, I'm just just thinking about the stories I could tell you about Bob Knight and you know, they might sound cruel or unjust, but the players that stuck it out with Bob for four years, they would die for it. I don't know why I learned this, Scott, but I thought it was my job to find out what each kid was capable of as soon as possible. And I'm thinking more of my classroom students and then Scott, once I decided what they were capable of, I demanded that every day, every day. And you know, Scott, a kid might come in and say, "Hey, those Parker, you know, I had to flew all night. I don't know why I'm going to be able to do this test. I tell them, I know what you're going to do. You're going to make the best grades you've ever made." And then, you know, same way with football players. Anyway, those of, and I could go on for days talking about what I learned from Coach Bill McGuire. I could go on even more days talking about what I learned from Bob Knight and more days yet talking about the influence of Coach Barcells that helped me. So, Scott, I don't know if you're interested in this or not or if anybody, an audience would be interested. But Scott, I think that there are four stages. And this is pure Parker philosophy. So, if you think it stinks blame me. But I think there are four stages in any employer, employee relationship, coach, player, you know, teacher student. I think the relationship has to begin with an element of fear. And to me, that meant Scott, you know, I've had people tell me, fear is overrated these days. I disagree. I've never got over to this day. I never got over my fear of Coach Barcells. But, you know, when players talk among themselves or students, it's a man that coach Smith, he doesn't play. I ain't getting on his bad side. And then second, that would be professional respect. That coach Smith now, I'm scared of that dude. But he's got me doing better than I've ever done. I'm going to listen to him and learn something from him. And then the third element, in my opinion, of a relationship is when the kid says himself to his buddy. And I coach Smith, he doesn't play. I ain't getting on, you know, I'm not crossing the am. He's already got me doing better than I've ever done. And that coach Smith believes in me. He thinks I can do something. Nobody has ever talked to me that way. I'm going to keep doing my best in his class or in his sport, because I don't want to let him die on. But Scott, ultimately, is I've liked the feeling of doing my best so much that I'm doing my best in all my classes. I'm doing my best in a sport. I'm doing the best as a son, a daughter, you know what? Because I don't want to let myself die on. That's still to me. You can almost see it in your student's eyes when they cross from one level of that form, tier relationship. You almost see it when they move on to a more mature relationship. And it's great to have them think that it won't let me down. It's a lot more important for them to not let themselves die on. Do you remember the first athlete that you ever coached that you felt that had that experience where you knew you had had that kind of impact on them? Well, I don't know if I had any impact with Scott in my classroom. It's got, you know, and from after the first year, you know, I was so all over the first year that, you know, they didn't learn anything. And I don't ever hear from any of them, but Scott, it was a bloody flat path in my classroom after that year. I remember the first day of school, my second year, you know, they have a bell to ring and you go to your class and then the second bell rings and that signals a start of that class. Well, I stood out in the hall in the first bell rang. I didn't say anything. I didn't greet into the kids. And when a second bell rang, I walked in and they were just sitting around, shooting the bull, you know, not even thinking about class. And Scott and I said, everybody shut up. Close your mouth. Go out in the hall. Then come back in here. Open your notebook and be ready to learn something. And Scott, they were shocked now because they heard that this old guy was a pushover, but Scott, it went on that way for, you know, for four years that I got to share this with you that. My ninth graders, you know, that was an age group. I tell always that when I left to join college coaching. They were now soft moments. And so one day the phone rang in my office and I picked it up and it was the English teacher, the soft morning, the teacher at the school that I had left a few months before. And she said, "Coast Parker, I just thought you'd want to know this." And I told my guys, I'm going to work, I've done stupid now. But she said, I had my four sections of sophomore grammar, write an essay on the person that said the biggest impact on my life. And Scott, I wondered if she hadn't told me that somebody would meet me. And Scott, she told me. And I tried to think I had, because she was saying I told those kids that there was no limitation. They could write on the book. the person who had the biggest impact on their life. Parents, siblings, teacher, preacher, coach, character in history, someone they knew a fictional character living dead, no restriction. What's whoever? And Scott, I got to think it. Is he gonna tell me that somebody wrote on me? And then I thought, you idiot, I didn't find a road on you. Well, I was wrong, Scott. She told me that I was 75, 56, road on Coast Parker. Scott, I was so stunned. I didn't know what to say. And finally I asked her, oh, Miss Holloway, what they say? And she said, if there was a thing it was, did he care enough about me to make me do my very best? And Scott, from then on, I swear I coached college athletes, pro athletes that next to Cindy Courtney, changing my life. This was the second most powerful event in my life. So I wouldn't trade that phone call for anything. Scott, I've got to, I see we're getting close to time here, but I've got to make a confession here. I was in the Cleveland Clinic the last six nights and I just got back a couple hours ago. And Scott, I bet you there wasn't a night that I got more than two hours sleep. And so, you know, I've been really struggling here. And then Scott, there was a medicine and I take just about every medicine you've ever heard of, but they changed one and part of the withdrawal symptoms from that medicine is it makes you very emotional. Now, first of all, Scott, if you can't be emotional about things that are important to you, you know, then they're not very important. But that medicine is made go, I can't do anything without, you know, she had some tears with this serious, stupid, you know, whatever. So I apologize for that and I apologize for drifting a little bit, but Scott, I ain't had any sleep now. So that's no excuse. But that's what happened to me. Well, you're fighting, you're fighting a battle right now. I understand. So, well, you know, I don't have to tell you. The important disopportunity was to be on your podcast. And you've got to have gotten a lot of people, rather than this gold medal in 100-yard dash. You've got a lot of people. And, you know, I just appreciate so much. And you know, as you know, I had a couple of screw ups and you said you stuck with me. And man, do I appreciate that. And that is, that makes this even more of an honor. That's a reason. It's an absolute honor to have you on the show and believe it or not, the people listening have probably been stuck to their headphones listening or their radio or whatever they're listening on to your stories. And what's beautiful about listening to you, sir, is that we haven't really talked about strength training or training football players or some of the incredible things you did. We understand the story of the humanity of who you are and what you've experienced and how it shaped you and how you shaped other people. And it's right to be emotional because you've had a significant impact and a lot of people, a lot of people you don't even know that you've impacted the, I mean, Matt Nichol reached out to me and said you need to have coach Parker on the podcast. And Mike Boyle says hello and all these different people who you've influenced over the year. So you should. I don't know how to say anything bad about anybody. So don't take what they said seriously, but they're both. And you know, Matt Nichol spent all week with us in San Francisco and in his tenure. I was embarrassed. He knew so much more than I did. And so finally, to cover my embarrassment during training camp, I'd put Matt to work. So I said, Matt, I want you to coach Nichol. I call him coach. Coach Nichol, I want you to coach the claims today and he'd go over there and I'm telling you, I would learn things. Then, you know, after the afternoon practice, hey coach, would you coach the squats for today? And I'd be over there learning things from him and Mike Boyle is when he came to visit me in New England, I put in the work. Because I could tell how much he knew and they both knew a lot more than I did or do now. Well, that's the story Mike told me when I, I remember, I can remember what I was chatting with him about one time and he told me about you and that he, you know, allowed you allowed him to work with his athletes at the time and that really struck him and really impressed him at the time that you would, you know, give him that space and that's the thing. Well, I see that time is up. Can I just say one thing in closing and that's that I have probably the world's worst inferiority complex. And when guys would come to visit and I say, gosh, boy, I do know some stuff now. I put them to work so they couldn't see what a poor coach I really was. So that was certainly true and Matt Nichol and Mike Boyle and I'm sure it'd be with you. You know, if we spent some time together, we were supposed to be coaching. Well, I think, I think there's the nuts and bolts of the industry and then there's the human connection part and it's clear to me that that's what you possess and own and why people speak so highly of you. Are you okay to spend a few more minutes with me or do you have to leave? Absolutely. I thought you were, I thought you were, I just get rid of me. No, I have no hard stops. So if you can keep talking, I'll talk to you for a little longer if you don't mind. Of course not. So, hey, the chance to talk to you is an absolute honor and it's fun to hear these stories. I don't want to get off of a phone call with your call with you. You mentioned coach parcels. What was the biggest, you know, you, my understanding is you were one of the first coaches of strength conditioning in U.S. college in the big 10 and then you did that for 10 years and then you got in the NFL. I'm assuming you were an early, one of the early people in the NFL as well when I wasn't, now I wasn't first generation. Okay. There were other guys there before you. I was so blessed. First of all, coach parcels in the spring, you know, before the whole season program start, he would say, it tells other coaches. Now, I don't want to see you down in the weight room talking to some, to one of your players about watching more tape or coming out on the field and doing some drills. I want them to get strong and in condition. So that helped right away. And then, I caught up at coach was Chris Palmer. He goes, I mean, it's central Connecticut. Anyway, he told Scott, I'm sorry, he told Chris in a staff meeting one day that Chris, I know you want to have some time with your quarterbacks and receivers. I understand that, but I'm telling you, if I don't see that stuff on the field, so he told Chris that I'm going to watch. And if I don't see a lot of that on the field during the season, I'm going to take that away from you. So again, they wanted them to be strong and in condition. and to him, you know, you kind of draft speed, but still, you know, you work to improve it because they'll lose it. If you don't, but to him that meant stamina. He wanted guys with stamina and it were, you know, it was pretty explosive. So just, a guy I could stay here for two months talking about things I learned from Coast Bar sales and Scott, he, first of all, let me share this. When we went to New England, they had won something like eight games in the last three years. Well, when we went there, they were, you know, we were desperate for everything. And he brought two boys into the weight rooms, sometime right close to the beginning of the season program. And one of them was six, three, three, fifteen. Turns out later he could run, change direction. He knew a lot of our plays. Then he had to ask the other guys by six, three, three and a quarter. And he said, I'm both nine. He said, if you guys want to have any chance of making this team, you better be in this all season program every day. Now, the taller of the two, you know, told him, if you don't have any chance of making this team, you can't miss a day of this all season program. You have circle some children do it. Well, after about six weeks of perfect attendance, a kid whose name escapes me, you'll see one in a minute. He came to me and said, coach, I need to go home and check on my McDonald's for a minute. And he said, I won't be gone with a minute. You know, that's me. I can mean anything and throw football. And I said, you better tell Coach Barcells. And he said, well, he's busy. He won't have time. I said, he'll be in a room. What are we doing to talk to you? And then he looked at his watch. Oh, man, I'm about to miss my flight. I'm going to go to the airport. You'll tell him for me, won't you? I said, hey, now I ain't telling him. That's your job. So the first day of, and he never came back until camp started. And our first day of camp was physicals and then the conditioning test. And the conditioning test was 300 yard shuttles in 60 seconds with two minutes resting between. So you run back, 50 and back, 50 and back. And by making them change direction, you know, they never got up to top speed and we weren't going to have any poor muscles doing it. So I went into watch this kid and see if maybe he had the self-discipline to get in shape. Well, the first 300, I mean, he looked like Ben Johnson or Carl Lewis or somebody. He was flying. Coach, on the first 300, I was just picturing that in my mind. In the first 300, first 50, flying. He got on an Olympic medal, second 50, flying third, fourth, fifth. And on the fifth one, it looked like he kind of stumbled a little bit. And as he turned around, you think the whole team had a meeting on his back. And he just fell on the stagger and he just fell out and then zone. Our trainer was named Ronald Neill and Coach Parcells yelled and Coach Parcells whisper to carry calls to states. He said, "Hell Neill, when he wakes up, tell him he's cut." And Scott, I just happened to see about four players when Coach Parcells said that. And I saw, again, about four guys visibly flinch because there's a new sheriff in town and that coach did not play. He told him the conditioning test was very important to him and he got flew in to Boston, say, on Monday and flew back home on Tuesday. Because he couldn't flunk in the conditioning test. Now, if you got time for one more of those two guys or not. Sure. Yeah. Well, I've got plenty of time. I'm glad to see you. One kid had been drafted in the second round the year before by the Philadelphia Eagles. Now he had forked out of college so he had to go into the draft. Well, the Eagles drafted him in the second round and he had some ability. Now, he was a part of this. You know, he needed to go home for a minute and coach Parcells told him, "No." And there was a phone right outside my office in the weight room and you could see, you know, or hear whatever somebody was saying. And so he came down there and got on the phone. After a while, I could tell he was crying. And then he came over and said, "Thost Parcell, my mom wants to talk to you." Oh, there goes, say, in the microwave and she said, "Thost Parcell, I heard what y'all told my son." And I said, "Hey, Walker, I didn't tell you that per se, but I supported 100 percent." And she said, "Well, he's my fourth son, he's my last son." And he didn't get raised like the rest of them. And Terry Donahy was the coach at UCLA then. And she said, "He's sat in my living room and lied to me." I asked him, "Coach, are you going to take care of my son?" And then you go to class and get a degree. And the whole, "Yes, ma'am, I'm sure I'm going to do it." And she said, "Well, he lied." She said, "I just want to thank you for what y'all are doing for my son." And you know, coach, I just, you know, I didn't have anything to say because Coast Parcells was learning the show, but I supported them again. And she said, "I heard what you told my son." And I just said, "Oh, yes, ma'am, Miss Walker, that was not me saying it, but I supported 100 percent." So finally, after talking about Terry Donahy, he had lied to her. She said, you know, he flunked out of college, he had to go and draft. And I just want you to know, and this is Miss Walker, coach, I appreciate what y'all are doing for my son. And I thought she was going to shoot me or something, but now she wanted to thank us for what we were doing for her son. And here's how the conversation ended. I just said, "Miss Walker, Coach Parcells, what's love to hear that?" So I just said, "Miss Walker, why don't you tell Coach Parcells that he'd love to hear that?" And I said, "Oh no, I'm scared to death, I'm scared to death." There's the fear factor again. There's the fear factor, but if it was, "God, I hope this has been something that you might think has some benefit to you." Oh, yes, been you. There's some guys, so I don't know that. Can I ask you two more questions? You sure can. I would be remiss if I didn't like you worked with numerous Hall of Fame football players. I'm sure Lawrence Taylor and Harry Carson, and I don't know if you worked with Montana and Rice, but I know you weren't in that sense. Coach, I posted against them. Okay. And my nine years of retirement, back then the division winners played each other the next year. Right. But we played them all lot. And then it seemed like every year we had a night game out there against them. Well, no, I didn't coach Joe Montana and Jerry Rice, but Coach, I was looking to coach so many great players with Coach. You know, a player just had an talent. That's not enough. Yeah, well that was gonna that was gonna be my question what What's the the ingredient that you look back in your career when you watched Hall of Famers become all of Famers What differentiated those men? Okay, there's first of all your talent is just having the physical ability to perform the task needed true position skill is the ability to actually do those things and In the weight room you can uncover talent you can develop a lot of talent But skill is only developed by working on the field with their position coach and And we had a lot of guys that Developed a lot of skill with their coaches and made me look better and I really was but It was you know, it was a perfect combination. You know my little Trying to do a little stuff to help those players, but then the coaches taking that and you know and Drawing all of the ability that they had out of them coach I learned that difference between talent and skill We had a player named Andy Hedden from Cromson and he was our nickel-lime biker because he wrote any back Well one day and also if he wasn't real strong and so just one day He could power clean 330 and I was a record for Andy and I Couldn't wait to tell coach Barcell's I Said coach Andy Hedden claim 330 And coach from I'm dying coach Barcell said yeah, well, is he gonna play better? And I finally learned I find that learned I just and next time that out with the kid I said well coach He's got the best coach in the world and you I just soon he would naturally play better because you were coaching him It was kind of murder and Mumbling exactly it didn't know how to take it so Anyway, I always remember watching an NFL films with Bill parcells when the head trainer I guess the kicker for the Giants was sick or something like that and the Trainer came out and said said the kicker can't play sick and Bill said to him He doesn't need to play he just needs to kick It was it was the our team orthopedist that he was walking out on the field with and I could just see me The world met on the whole it is face and Coach Barcell said that Well, you know that if you put the one ingredient That the great players seemed to have Is that they have an Insatiable desire to get better They don't ever get enough of getting better And that is so very important to them You know Like some it might be needing to get stronger others and my many to be getting faster And they would put in work till Sims now Barcell just to tell him it feels like quarterback they tell him Sims you couldn't run out of sight in a day Phil took that to heart and we would go out after you know practice after the weight workouts and he and I You know with practice on insurance and he got a little faster but He was never gonna be real fast Not ever but anyway If you have time for one more story, I know please please yes, absolutely I have played you know Scott When you go to a new place All the players will try to you know impress you for the first three weeks And then after three weeks the phonies are gonna start looking for cracks in the name Well our first group in San Francisco was at six o'clock and I would get there, you know five after five or you know something like that and The Dwayne call how it was a wonderful coach and he better person He would come in a little after me and he said Coach you know it's raining. I said no it wasn't raining when I got here. He said well, what do you want to do if it's raining and it's six o'clock? So if it's not lighting and thunder we're going out and I said but look I want you to go check every five or ten minutes And tell me because we might have an Insurrection or rebellion These players will say I ain't going out there running that rain So I as I told wine We're just you know let me know what it's doing, but And players ask you what we don't do is tell him You know you should don't know it's up to me and It goes fine at about five to six Because Carl came in and had a spawn look on his face. He just said Because it's you know it's still raining out there and I said it's not lighting in the thunder. No, I said we're going out But we might have a revolt. This might be my last day to coach here You know they might just go up to the head coach and say we ain't working for that crazy. Yeah, so I Went back in and Every one of them was sitting in front of his locker with his rain gear on I knew they had drunk the Kuwait One of the last surviving Nazis just walked in and no it's he's You know, I've got a straightener out and teacher a few things but anyway, she's a director of nursing Scott Thank you for having me. It's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you for being with me Today appreciate it. You take care of yourself Johnny Scott take care you say it. Thank you again. Again. Bye. Bye Thanks for joining us today on leave your mark I hope we've left a mark on you today And we wish only that you pay it forward by sharing this story Taking the time to read and comment on this podcast Please follow us at Twitter at bill by Scott and Instagram at King. Okay, and become a member of this community at Scott You will be sent on Facebook have a great day music by Cedric this Saint Rome