I am a pastor. This Holy Week the
world has seen yet another major attack by radical jihadists.
Naturally, my thoughts turn to Yogi Ferrell.
Yogi just finished a basketball career
that earns him a spot on the Indiana University Mt. Rushmore 2nd
Team*. The IU program lists him at six feet tall. If Yogi is six
feet tall I am Ernest Hemingway (though Yogi's biceps together might
measure 72 inches.) During his time in Bloomington he got into a
couple of common college scrapes. A false ID figured largely in one.
Yogi hung in there as teammates quit, got arrested for drunk
driving, left early for the NBA. It seems like Yogi has been at IU
since I was.
Yogi holds the all-time IU records for
games started and assists. Last night Yogi and his teammates lost
his final college game. His coach, the estimable Tom Crean, pulled
him with half a minute left. Though Yogi did NOT want to leave the
court, Crean understood that the fans needed the chance to thank him
for all that time and excellence. More importantly, Yogi needed to
hear them do so. Even fans of the other three teams playing there
joined in the unanimous standing ovation. Crean and Yogi hugged it
out. A reporter on the sidelines heard Coach telling Yogi, “Thank
you for all you've given us.”
An hour later in the locker room,
Yogi sat in front of his locker, still wearing his jersey. “I
might wear it to the hotel,” he said. “That's how much I don't
want to take it off.”
The kid is 22 years old. He plays
basketball. Why do I care so much? I just do. I am a native-born
Hoosier. I played basketball at Bloomington North high school. With
my wife Linda I played four years in the basketball pep band at IU.
We had to wear red turtlenecks with goofy white vests. The last time
I had to pull off that white vest I hesitated. I was in a hotel room
in Philadelphia, just as Yogi was last night. I looked in the
mirror. I cried. I cried like a baby.
Thank you, Yogi. Thank you Isiah, Ray,
Landon, Randy, Ted and all the rest who have worn that jersey. Thank
you Linda, Mary Sue, Tammy, Steve, Doug and all the rest who wore
that stupid white vest. It is a great privilege in a complicated,
frightening world to belong to something foolish that matters so
much.
* Mt. Rushmore Teams are a recent
phenomenon in which people argue endlessly over which four people
belong on top. Instead of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and T.
Rosie, my IU Mt. Rushmore 1st team is Calbert Cheney, Scott May, Steve Alford and Don Schlundt. My
IU Mt. Rushmore 2nd team is Yogi, Quinn
Buckner, Walt Bellamy and Mike Woodson. If you disagree, understand
two things: first, my rankings are limited only to those players who
completed their eligibility at IU and second, you're wrong.
