I was recently watching one of my favorite sports movies, Hoosiers, for the umpteenth time. Gene Hackman, one of the great actors of our time, says he never met anyone who wanted to win as badly as he did. He was trying to convince the star player Jimmy Chitwood, played by Maris Valainis, to come out for the team.

Hackman played the part of a broken down coach, a hobo in his field, because he had actually been banned from coaching for striking a player at Ithaca College in New York, where he coached college ball.

"You have a special talent," explained Hackman, playing the part of Coach Norman Dale. "It's not the school's, it's not the town's, it's not the team's, it's not the teacher's, it's yours… and for that reason, I can tell you this: I don't care if you play on this team or not!"

Hackman reminded me a lot of some of the great coaches I have met and known in my own life. All of these noble men and women were first and foremost great teachers. One of the greatest of them all, Coach J. W. Ingram, looked more like a college professor than he did a football coach.

Coach Norman Dale taught his Hickory, Indiana team in the movie to always pass the ball four times before shooting, stressing team play. I recall, the late Ken Long, who coached basketball at Lexington for a number of years, also taught the same set of values. Long never played the sport, but he was a student of it and made sure that his players understood teamwork.

When I was Sports Editor of the Lexington Dispatch-News back in the seventies and eighties, I had the chance to cover Long's teams. They always stressed teamwork. I always loved when Lexington went to play at Ridge Spring-Monetta High School. They had a quaint little gym that looked a lot like the gym in the movie Hoosiers.

After one of his key players refused to pass the ball off in Hoosiers, Coach Norman Dale pulled the player out of the game, leaving only four players on the court to finish the game. They lost the game, but the coach made his point. Like Ken Long and his predecessor, Coach Carl Stegall, basketball to these great teachers was more about values than victories.

People questioned why Carl Stegall would even bother to come to Lexington, known mainly for its prowess on the football field when he arrived at the school in the early sixties. "I figure if they have great football players, they also have great basketball players," said Stegall to his critics.

The great coaches were first and foremost great teachers. One of my own great coaches was not a coach at all, but rather a humble teacher. His name was William Moses, and he worked closely with me to become a speaker, coaching me to the State Oratorical Speech Championship in high school. Like Hackman in Hoosiers, he challenged me that my speaking ability was my own talent that I could choose to use or lose.

I went on to win the World Championship of Public Speaking for Toastmasters International in 1978 because a great teacher cared enough to push me to the next level. Today, I make my living giving speeches and teaching others.

Millie, the teacher in the movie Hoosiers that tried to keep Jimmy from playing, was played by Barbara Seagull. "Basketball heroes are treated like gods around here," she said as she challenged Hackman to leave Jimmy alone. "Most people would kill to be treated like a god, if for only a moment," Hackman responded.

Hobos or heroes? I suspect that on any given day, we're only a half step away from either. As the old saying goes, the distance from the outhouse to the penthouse is ever so close. The great heroes in my life were great teachers who helped others to see the greatness within.