People that inspire me - Kevin Lucas

Last week I wrote about a new idea for this blog and so here we go!

There are 50 weeks left in the year and once a week I will write about someone in my life that is inspiring or motivating to me.  Hopefully others will read it and gain a little bit of inspiration in their life as well.  There is no particular order to these writings, just a bunch of people I am fortunate enough to know.  So without further ado ….

Inspirational person #1 of 50 – Kevin Lucas

Kevin Lucas is someone I’ve called my best friend for most of my adult life.  I’m not sure if you still call it that when you’re 42 but he’s definitely one of the special people I’ve been lucky enough to be around.  We grew up and went to the same schools and are separated by around four years.  Even though that isn’t much of a difference now, we actually never attended the same school at the same time (when I was a senior he was in eighth grade).  I “dated” his older sister in junior high and Kevin was pretty much a little punk at the time.  We ended up growing closer because we were both fast sprinters and over time we ended up both running in college (Kevin ran at Wilmington, Ohio) and eventually both becoming college track coaches.

Now Kevin is one of the top coaches in the nation, leading the crew at Mt Union College in Alliance, Ohio.  A couple years ago their squad won the NCAA Division III National Championship and Kevin was named NCAA Coach of the Year.  Anyone who knows Kevin is aware of his sharp sense of humor – which you will see on display below.  I am fortunate to know another side of Kevin, however, that is motivated to be great.

I asked Kevin five questions, here are his responses …

Question 1:  If your life was a movie, what would the title be and who would play you?

Kevin:  I feel like there isn’t a movie but more like a sitcom.  My life developed very similar to that of Ross Gellar on Friends.  As for a title, I will use the quote from Red in Shawshank Redemption, “Crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side.”

Question 2:  What advice would you give the 15 year old version of yourself?

Kevin:  The only advice that I would share with my younger self would be to cherish the time you have with loved ones and friends because you never know when they might not be there.  I can honestly say I would not want to change too much for fear that I might not be where I am today without the mistakes and failures made along the way.

Question 3:  If money was no option, what would you do for the rest of your life?

Kevin:  I would still coach track and field!  It’s the greatest sport there is.  Although I have to admit I would travel a lot more.  Maybe I would run for President though because if money is truly no issue it seems like it’s pretty easy to win these days.

Question 4:  What has motivated or inspired you to be so successful in your career?

Kevin:  First off … I don’t like to lose so I think that never wanting to be second has been the main motivating factor.  However, I was also taught that whenever you do anything, you do it to the best of your abilities and put your all into it.  I figure as long as I work as hard as I can and instill that in our athletes then I will be successful.  I’ve been blessed to have parents, coaches and friends that share the same drive.

Question 5:  What is your definition of success?

Kevin:  My definition of success is to wake up everyday looking forward to going to work and enjoying what I do.  I think it’s important to be able to laugh, love and feel loved.  Success is feeling good about what you’ve done and how you’ve done it and knowing that even in failure there wasn’t more that you could do.

Final thoughts … Why do I choose to have Kevin in my life?

It’s pretty simple.  No matter if we don’t see or talk to each other as much as we’d like, I can always count on Kevin to be one of the best friends a guy could have.  We talk the most during the track season, giving each other recaps of our teams and being a sounding board for ideas on how to be better.  He also makes me laugh every time we chat.  I’ve been with Kevin through the highest of highs and the lowest of lows and I think we both have grown up to be better for it, whether it was watching him celebrate a NCAA title in track or surviving a road trip through the West Coast or a thousand memories along the way.  It’s pretty remarkable that two skinny kids from Eastern Brown High School grew up to earn significant coaching positions (and become not as skinny) in the highly competitive world of college track and field.  Thanks for everything Kevin.  You’re an inspiration to many, many people including me!