People that inspire me - Einars Tupuritis

There are 44 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 #7 of 50 – Einars Tupuritis

For those of you who don’t know, Einars Tupuritis is one of the greatest athletes in the history of Wichita State.  He was a two-time NCAA champion in the 800 meters, the NCAA meet record holder in the 800 meters and a 1996 Olympian for his home country of Latvia.  His PR in the 800m is 1:43!

I was in college when Einars was running and I vaguely remember seeing him win the 1996 NCAA title in Indianapolis (this is way before YouTube was a thing) but his famous picture at the finish line was one of the most memorable moments in NCAA history.  The look of excitement on his face said it all – NCAA Champion and NCAA record holder!  This photo now adorns the North end of our stadium and stands about 20 feet high!  Thousands of athletes who run in Cessna Stadium every year get inspiration from seeing Einars’ famous picture on the final curve.

So yeah, Einars is pretty much a stud.  He’s literally the poster child for WSU Track & Field.

Now he lives and works in New York and makes a yearly visit to Wichita State to either the KT Woodman Classic or MVC Championship meets.  And it is has been those times where I’ve gotten to know him and understand a little about what made him so successful.

More about him down below but first …

I asked Einars five questions, here are his responses …

Question 1:  If your life was a movie, what would the title be and who would play you?
Einars:  Climbing to the Top ...... maybe Vin Diesel but I would prefer to play myself!

Question 2:  Where is the best place you have ever traveled and why?
Einars:  I have traveled to many places and they are all the best to me. To pick just one would be impossible. Every place has its own unique atmosphere in regards to the culture and scenery and you don't have to look hard to find it.

Question 3:  What advice would you give the 15 year old version of yourself?
Einars:  You need to set a goal and continuously work toward achieving it even if it seems unreachable. In any situation you need to love what you are doing and enjoy the time spent there and the success that follows will be that much sweeter and you will appreciate it more. Don't allow roadblocks or obstacles to get you down for long. 

Question 4:  How do you manage stressful situations so well?

Einars:  Managing stress is a learning process and comes from experiences. Having a good support system around you and asking for help when needed is a good foundation for dealing with stress. Personally for me, jogging relives the most stress by clearing my head and keeping me grounded. Everyone has to find their own stress relief, which can be in any shape or form.

Question 5:  Who/what inspires you?

Einars:  Billy Mills wrote "follow your dreams" to me in my running journal and that was very meaningful to me. Also, my daily life inspires me to be continuously improving myself and striving to be a better-rounded and better human being. 

Final thoughts … Why is Einars Tupuritis inspirational to me?

Any Olympic athlete or national champion like Einars should be inspirational to most people but knowing how hard he worked for his accomplishments is even more impressive.

Einars was a good athlete in Latvia before he came to the United States, but by no means did anyone think he was going to become the fastest 800m runner in NCAA history.  As a freshman he was a solid contributor to the Shockers at the MVC level and only three years later was he on to the national and then international stage.

He put Wichita State on the map in Latvia (as well as Europe) and ever since he got here there have been Latvian athletes continue to make WSU their choice for track and field.  Current MVC Champion Ugis Jocis is just the latest countryman to make Wichita home.  All of these athletes who come from Latvia know who he is and come here to follow in his footsteps.  It’s a special connection between WSU T&F and Latvia and we have Einars to thank.

And even though his is one of the most famous and certainly most successful athletes in WSU history, you would never know it by meeting him.  He always seems to love taking a week out of his year to visit Wichita and the friends he made while on the team.  And I feel very lucky to have started a friendship with him because he is certainly a quality person who is very giving and unselfish with his time.

Thank you Einars for all you have done to promote Wichita State Track & Field from your time on the team to your time as an alum and thank you also for being a great friend.  Coach Wilson and I will make it out to New York sometime soon to hang out!

People that inspire me - Rob Beucler

There are 45 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 #6 of 50 – Rob Beucler

Rob Beucler was my high school track coach and, without a doubt, one of the most influential people in my life.

He was also my JV basketball coach as a freshman and my math teacher in junior high.  Rob graduated from Eastern High School in 1978 and then began to teach and coach.  He has coached junior high girls’ basketball, freshman, JV and Varsity boys’ basketball as well as track and cross country.  As a varsity basketball coach for the past 22 years he’s won an incredible 337 games.  As a track and cross country coach he had tremendous success for nearly two decades, winning countless league and district titles and sending many runners onto the next level of college running.

Where I grew up, basketball pretty much rules the roost and all other sports seem not as important.  Even though Coach Beucler coached basketball he made sure that track and cross country felt just as important to the kids on the team.  He wasn’t a natural running coach but he worked very hard to push us to be as good as we could.  By my senior year we had one of the best track and field/cross country programs in all of Southern Ohio, culminating in beating every Division II school in Cincinnati for a district championship.  All of this without a track.  We had a grass field, one starting block and three hurdles.  But we never complained about what we didn’t have.  Rob wouldn’t let us.  We simply worked harder and smarter than our opponents and Coach Beucler made sure we more prepared than anyone we came up against. 

As a basketball coach, he was very hard-nosed and demanding of his players.  I remember playing out of fear from time to time but also remembering playing as hard as I could so I wouldn’t let him down.  I was taught not to take anything personal from a coach giving me a butt-chewing, and Coach Beucler certainly did plenty of that, but his yelling at me or my teammates was always for a reason.  When we did something good he was also quick to give a compliment and enthusiastic affirmation.  Without a doubt, he got the most out of his players on the court because of his relentless passion and competitiveness.

Everyone who played or ran for Rob can tell countless stories.  Some are funny and some are tales of horror.  I remember one Saturday morning after a bad loss in basketball the night before. I walked into the gym for practice and usually grabbed a basketball to shoot around to get warmed up but there were no balls anywhere.  When Rob and Coach Lewis walked out I asked if I could get a ball.  I can still remember Rob saying, “We won’t be needing any basketballs today.”  And then we proceeded to run the entire practice for every point we lost by.  We didn’t lose a game after that for lack of effort – point made.

As a track coach he was definitely more laid back.  But that doesn’t mean he wasn’t demanding or tough.  It didn’t matter if it was basketball, track or checkers – if you were involved with Coach Beucler you knew he wanted to win.  And he usually did.

More about Rob down below but first …

I asked Rob five questions, here are his responses …

Question 1:  What drives you to be successful?

Rob:  What drives me is the want to be successful and the hard work in doing it.  I don’t want to be outworked.

Question 2: How do you spend the majority your free time these days?

Rob:  I usually spend it with my grandchildren and family as well as working with athletes to help them follow their dreams.

Question 3:  What comes to mind when you think of your childhood?

Rob:  Memories.  Farm life and the different things we did growing up.  Tobacco, carpenter work with my dad and the family get togethers while learning to enjoy sports.  Especially basketball in the fifth grade, introduced and created an interest by a guy named Dale Bunn.

Question 4:  What does success mean to you?

Rob:  Success used to mean winning but the idea has developed into knowing that you have given your best to accomplish something and knowing you did your best to reach your potential.

Question 5:  Who inspires you?

Rob:  My parents for instilling a work ethic that you do the best at whatever you are doing.  My wife for keeping me balanced in life with the important things and not going OCD on one.  The different people that have made my life have meaning – coaches, friends, family members, grandchildren that have become successful over the years.  My accomplishments are seen in how the people I have come in contact with have done.  Then I can know I was successful.  Changing lives for the better.  I try to look at the successful programs around – football/basketball/baseball/business and see what they have in common and use that to help me and our kids.  Coaching in the school system has given me many opportunities to touch many lives and it has been rewarding to see the success of those people.

Final thoughts … Why is Rob Beucler inspirational to me?

Now that I’ve been a coach for almost 20 years myself it’s easy to see the influence Rob Beucler had on me.  As a coach, I’m a combination of him and my current boss Steve Rainbolt.  Bolt is known for being the ultimate “players coach” so to speak while Rob often drove players crazy with his demanding style.  Rob expects your best effort and will let you know about it if you don’t give it.  I see a lot of that in myself with my current athletes and I feel so lucky to have been coached by Rob in high school.

I didn’t know anything about coaching or training when I was in high school so whatever workouts Rob gave us I did as well as I could without questioning.  I believed in him and he could make you believe you could do anything.  As a junior I qualified for the state track meet for the first time and I was pretty nervous running in Ohio State’s 100,000 seat stadium.  But my confidence that Rob had prepared me the best that he could gave me all the focus I needed and I proceeded to win a state title in the 400m dash.  I had always dreamed of doing great things in sports and that day was the first time I felt like I ever really started to accomplish some of those dreams and I have Rob to thank for it.

Eventually I got recruited and given a scholarship to run at Kent State and have been living out my dreams ever since.  I’m confident none of that would have been possible without the help of Rob Beucler.  As you read above, and I can attest to now, your sense of accomplishment as a coach rests with what you see athletes achieve.  You don’t get a lot of recognition and you don’t get tons of thank you’s – especially from the athletes you coach.

Rob could have gone onto coach at the collegiate level and would have been just as successful if he did.  But his loyalty to Eastern High School, his family and the people of Brown County show what kind of person his really is.  Rob always knew the right time to soften his stance so that his players could reach their potential.  It’s a delicate balance that is termed the “art of coaching” and Rob was definitely an artist with how he could motivate everyone he worked with.

If the term “a method to his madness” was ever meant for one person, it would definitely be for Rob Beucler.  I didn’t know it at the time, and I didn’t even know it after I had left Eastern, but now I understand that “madness” in my teenage years was all worth it and has helped me be successful, not only in athletics, but in all walks of my life.

This winter I had a chance to go back to Eastern and chat with Rob before a basketball game.  I saw the kids run onto the court like I used to and play as hard as they could in another Warrior victory and it made me feel good that so many other kids before, during and since my time at Eastern has had the privilege to be coached by Rob.  In life sometimes you work hard for what you get and sometimes you get lucky.  Rob helped me learn what it meant to work hard to get what I wanted and I was the luckiest guy in the world for being able to learn from one of the best.

Rob – congratulations for a career full of accomplishments and achievements and thank you for what you have done for hundreds of young people through the years.  I know I speak for many, many people who would not be where they are without you.

People that inspire me - Brooke Rasnick (Demo)

There are 46 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 #5 of 50 – Brooke Rasnick

Brooke Rasnick (Demo) is the second former Wichita State athlete I’ve written about already and I think that shows the quality of people that our program produces year in and year out.  Brooke is from El Dorado, Kansas, and came to WSU to be a Pole Vaulter.  She actually got here before I arrived (in 2006) and I never really coached her but I always admired her enthusiasm for being the best vaulter she could be.

Brooke got as much out of her talent as any athlete I’ve seen.  She wasn’t the fastest, or most athletic, or most naturally gifted athlete in the world but every time she lined up to compete the competition was in a for a fierce battle.  This has carried over to her current career as a track and field coach at the University of Louisville as well.

It was pretty obvious she would be a good track coach.  When I first came to WSU I started the Intersquad Meet where we draft athletes onto three different teams (Gold, Black, White) and then have a competition in December to kick off the indoor season.  That first year I recruited a couple of the upperclassmen, including Brooke, to draft from the entire team of around 120 athletes.  I knew Brooke would be a good choice, but what I didn’t know was that she would be so competitive that she would spend every waking minute (including several academic classes) strategizing how to draft her team.  Needless to say her Gold squad had a great draft and they won the first ever Intersquad Meet.  To this day she still asks me how the Gold squad does every December (they’ve won more than any other team by the way).

On her way to her current job at Louisville, she’s had short stops at the University of Oregon and my alma mater, Kent State University.  I thought that was pretty cool that she was at my former school and, obviously, she did a great job to get hired away quickly into the ACC.

More about Brooke down below but first …

I asked Brooke five questions, here are her responses …

Question 1:  What advice would you give the 15 year old version of yourself?
Brooke:  When I was 15 I was extremely competitive. I wouldn't change that at all but I'd tell myself to handle defeat differently. We'd lose a high school basketball game on Tuesday and I'd be mad and disgruntled until the next game day morning on Friday. I missed out on a lot of opportunities to build relationships with people because I was caught up in my own pity party. I think I believed that's how competitors were supposed to act. 

So I'd tell myself to take a step back after a loss, access how myself and team could move forward, and then wake up the next morning focusing more on serving others than being upset about the loss.  Real champions don't have pity parties. Get over yourself. 

Question 2:  What have you yet to accomplish that you very much want to happen?
Brooke:  Our team at Louisville to battle for ACC titles year in and year out. We've made a lot of progress since we've moved into this conference the last few years and are headed in the right direction. I want the athletes at Louisville to have the experience of battling for titles with their teammates. Our cross country teams have experienced those moments but we haven't put it together indoor or outdoor yet.  We are on our way and I'm excited for our program to get there and stay in the position. 

Question 3:  What one thing would you change about society?
Brooke:  The value of fulfilling commitments.  The individualistic mindset of living for instant happiness which leads people to not fulfill duties they've committed to really bothers me.  Not keeping your word isn't frowned upon in most realms of our society.  People are taught to do whatever makes them happy.  I'm all about living a joy filled life, but there are times where things are tough or we have committed to obligations and walking away from them isn't the answer.  When there are college students that can't even fathom this thought process it blows me away.  

Question 4:  What is your favorite non-professional thing to do?
Brooke:  I really enjoy playing golf.  It's active, can be competitive, and you still have the ability to socialize with the people you're playing with. You can also step on a golf course and not think or talk anything else for hours besides the actual golf game you're in. It's a great outlet for me.  I also don't play enough to expect much from myself on the course so I can stay pretty level headed on a bad day.  Even when Dylan Schmidt destroys me in a game it doesn't ruin the rest of my day.   

Question 5:  Who/what inspires you and why?
Brooke:  People who pursue excellence have always inspired me. My family members, teammates, friends, and coaches who always want to improve and are dedicated to becoming better at whatever realm they have passion in inspires me. 

I've been around some great people in athletics. People who are committed to achievement but not at the sacrifice of growing athletes and staff members in who they are as people. That approach inspires me and has completely shaped how I coach and interact with my athletes.  Results and athletic achievement are important and helping athletes accomplish great things is part of providing them a great experience, but I never want to be in a situation where I have to sacrifice opportunities to grow them as people for a result. Life is bigger than that.  I love being at Louisville because I whole-heartedly believe we can do both here.

Final thoughts … Why is Brooke Rasnick inspirational to me?

As an athlete and a young coach, Brooke Rasnick was one of the most competitive people I’ve ever met.  As you can tell from her answers she’s a no-nonsense and direct to the point person.  She’s the kind of person you love having on your side but probably hate to compete against.  Luckily I never had to compete against her and the Louisville/Wichita State recruiting battles aren’t too frequent.

As I watch her develop into an older and mature coach in our profession, I can’t help but always be impressed, motivated and inspired.  We don’t get to talk all the time but when our paths cross our conversations are always very stimulating and productive.  I feel very lucky I was able to establish a connection with her before she left Wichita so that our personal and professional relationship could continue to grow.  Every time I talk to her it makes me think about how I can be a better coach and how I can serve the people I’m around better on a daily basis.

I half-joked with her when she first got into coaching that she would be a head coach before me and that I wanted to stay on her good side so if I ever needed a job she could hire me someday!  Well she has quickly risen through the ranks and my half-joke is absolutely serious now.  She would be an incredible head coach someday and the athletic director that hires her will be a very smart person.

But what I admire most about Brooke is that she has an amazing ability to be totally focused, hardworking and principled while never letting her competitiveness get in the way of her amazingly large heart that cares for her athletes and the school she works for.  You hear about athletes who make their teammates around them better.  Well that’s Brooke Rasnick in all walks of life.  If I ever get to feeling lazy, I think about how hard Brooke is probably working at that moment and that I better get my stuff together immediately.  I want to make sure to impress her for when I need that job!

Brooke, in the short time I’ve known you, you’ve been an inspiration to so many people both in the track and field arena as well as off.  Thanks for being a person who I can always count on for a straight answer and an honest opinion on any topic.  I follow your career with a smile knowing you are doing a great job and positively affecting many, many young people the same way you’ve always positively affected me.

People that inspire me - Rocky Doering

There are 47 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 #4 of 50 – Rocky Doering

Rocky (Ralph) Doering is my uncle.  Most of my life he has been known to everyone I know as “Uncle Rock.”  And the name Rock couldn’t be more fitting for multiple reasons.

My nephew Colton, brother Jim and uncle Rocky

He’s the younger brother of my mom and has always been in fixture in my life since the day I was born.  I grew up way out in the country about an hour east of Cincinnati while Rocky always lived in the city of Cincinnati but whenever I had a basketball game, track meet, go-kart race, just about any activity, he would often be there supporting me.  If you grew up with me and played sports you probably either knew Rocky or saw him often.

He’s always been a very self-disciplined guy but also one that loves to laugh and have a lot of fun.  Currently he’s the Vice President at Fund Evaluation Group LLC in Cincinnati and is a pretty darn good tennis player.  It’s probably the only sport he can beat me at and that’s always bothered me haha.

Generally you have the closest relationships with your immediate family members and sometimes your aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. go in and out of your life at various times.  Rocky has always been part of our immediate family and I imagine there are many others of us that feel the same way.  He loves to give his nephews a hard time (especially Jim haha) but it’s all in good fun and usually has a smile and laugh behind it.

Even though he’s a fun-loving guy, he’s also a very deep thinker so I was curious what his answers to the following questions would be.

I asked Rocky five questions, here are his responses …

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

Rocky:  The title would be the same as my favorite movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.”  Not sure who would play my part.  I’ll leave that to you, since you are current regarding movies and actors.  Though it would have to be someone supremely handsome, infinitely intelligent and extremely personable…lol.  I first viewed this movie as a fourteen-year-old, eighth grader.  During the winter, our junior/senior high school administrators would gather all the kids into the auditorium and show a movie once a month.  This movie left a lasting impression on me.  It challenges you to think about how the world would be different had you never been born.  During the course of your lifetime, you will cross paths with many people.  For some people that enter your life, it will go on to be a life-long connection.  For others, it may seem like a fleeting moment in time.  You have the ability to leave a lasting impression on others.  What will your impact be?  Will it be constructive and positive?  Or something else?  I live my life treating others with courtesy, dignity and respect, striving to help others achieve their goals and leave positive impressions.  And it has been returned to me many times over during the course of my life.

(Note – I think Rocky could be played by Burt Reynolds around the Smoky and the Bandit years.  Or possibly John Schneider from the Dukes of Hazzard) 

Question 2:  If money was no option, what would you do for the rest of your life?

Rocky:  This is a really good question and one that is much more complex than it appears on the surface.  On one hand, one may be satisfied to move to a beach/island, lay out in the sun all day and drink exotic cocktails.  While I may be tempted to or even participate in this situation, I suspect it may become boring after a relatively short period of time.  Others may feel differently.  I believe in being physically active and intellectually curious to the best of my ability.  Therefore, I think laying around all day in the above scenario would quickly become monotonous and unfulfilling.  First, I would like to travel to meet new people, experience new cultures and destinations.  Next, being committed to life-long learning, I would attempt to add new skills and/or enhance existing skills.  Finally, I would find a way to use my talents and skills to benefit others.

Question 3:  What comes to mind when you think of your childhood?  

Rocky:  One word, “joyful.”  I had a wonderful support system growing up.  My parents, sister and brother-in-law, and aunts and uncles provided a fertile environment for the kids in our family.  In the city (suburbs), we played street baseball, basketball, football and kick-the-can just about every day.  We rode our bikes with great freedom around the surrounding neighborhoods and to the local swim club in the summer.   On school vacations and during the summer, I was lucky enough to visit my sister’s farm(s) and have fun with my nephews, riding horses, then dirt bikes, catching fish and frogs from the ponds and salamanders and crawdads from the creeks.  It was a great experience for a kid growing up and I still have very fond memories of that time in my life.

Question 4:  What have you yet to accomplish that you would very much like to happen?

Rocky:  To be a change agent for my family and to leave a positive legacy.

Question 5:  What does being successful mean to you?  

Rocky:  Doing your best every day in the service of others.

Final thoughts … Why is Rocky Doering inspirational to me?

As you can tell Rocky is an unselfish person in all walks of his life.  Knowing him, all the answers above are totally genuine.  Some people “talk the talk”, Rocky definitely “walks the walk.”  There are so many things I have looked up to him for throughout my own life and am very thankful that I had such a positive and supportive uncle that looked after me, encouraged me and sometimes kept me in check.

He’s also one of the first people I can ever remember that was very happy and single.  When I was a young person I looked up to my parents (who were happily married for over 50 years) as the model for how you should live a life.  But eventually I realized there wasn’t just one way to live a happy life and seeing Rocky as a happy, well-adjusted and all-around great person helped me think of things differently.  So to every female that wonders how I can be so happy single … blame Rocky.  Haha.

He cared for my grandmother (his mom) for a long time until her passing and even took her in to his home so he could provide as much assistance as he could while also working from home for a large portion of the time.  This was not a “couple weeks” sort of thing, this was for years.  He put much of the rest of his life on hold to make sure my grandmother was taken care of.  He wouldn’t have had it any other way.  That’s just the way he is.

Sometimes you get to choose friends in life that make a difference in who you are and sometimes you get lucky and have family members that do the same.  I’ve been very fortunate to have the best uncle anyone could ever ask for.  I don’t say it enough to most of the people in my life but, Uncle Rock, you have been an inspiration to so many people through the years.  Thank you for being my “Rock” in life!