On Monday night, Clemson University won its second football national championship. They avenged their loss in the championship game last year by winning a rematch with the University of Alabama.
Aside from enjoying the postgame comments from coach Dabo Swinney, quarterback Deshaun Watson, and linebacker Ben Boulware, I remembered a long, pleasant conversation I had while flying from Salt Lake City to Detroit back in November 2015. On this flight, I was sitting next to an older gentleman--Tom--who was traveling with his wife and another couple.
In talking with Tom, I learned that he was a big Clemson fan. As we watched multiple games of college football simultaneously on the airplane monitors, I found out that he had played years ago with a Division II program. In fact, Tom was the starting quarterback and his friend across the aisle was one of the starting wide receivers. Tom also met his wife at this college. He did mention that his wife was a fan of another university's football team. I should note that, in looking up Tom's information online, it turns out that their son got to play football at this other university that his wife liked.
Tom, his wife, and their friends were very nice people to spend time with on this flight. They had some good encouraging words for me and wished me well. It was pretty cool to find out after the fact that Tom was a big time multi-sport athlete growing up and eventually became a successful businessman. Despite his high profile, he still came across as very down to earth and treated me like an equal.
Needless to say, I haven't forgotten this conversation. I learned quite a bit from Tom, his wife, and their friends. Among these lessons were:
1) Always be open to getting to know people around you.
2) Chivalry, good manners, and kindness are not dead.
3) Successful people work hard to become successful.
4) The great ones have great talents and do great things, yet they don't act like they are more important than other people.
5) Some friendships really do last a lifetime.
Thanks for the encouraging words and inspiration, Tom! I hope you enjoyed watching Clemson win the championship!