The Capacity to Care by Coach Grant Teaff

I learned so much about work ethic and values from my parents; and in high school I learned lessons from my coaches and teachers about character and winning on the field as well as off the field. There were so many people who made a positive difference in my life and prepared me for what was to come in my coaching career.

In today’s world of social media, peer pressure and single parent homes, our high school coaches stand even more importantly as a beacon to provide stability and hope to high school students.

In my book Beyond the Game, I laid out four pillars that have been instrumental to any success I may have achieved. They are Attitude, Effort, Self-discipline and the Capacity to Care. The first three are staples in any coach’s tool bag but the Capacity to Care has more influence on your athletes than anything they learn playing the sport. It requires a coach to model this attribute first, then nurture and instill it in each of your students. If they leave your school understanding the power of unconditional love that you showed them and they then share that through their community service, you have won more than any game played.

Last year, in celebration of my 90th birthday, my family and friends provided the initial endowed funds to launch the nonprofit Grant Teaff Foundation. With the support of the Texas High School Coaches Association, the Texas High School Athletic Directors Association and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, the foundation will annually fund The Grant Teaff Beyond the Game Team Award and will also provide support for the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.

The team award recognizes Texas high school teams that positively serve their communities and use their influence to go beyond the game. In April, we honored El Campo High School as the first recipient at the Texas Sports Hall of Fame Induction Banquet. It was a special part of the evening with coaches and players in attendance! Brad Sham recognized the team from the podium and a video of El Campo’s community service was shown and will run permanently on the new video screen in the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. We presented the school with a grant of $5,000 to support their athletics program.

It was always my goal to simply make a positive difference in the lives of others. I encourage you to engage your athletes in serving others as a team. They will grow and those they serve will benefit and see their team’s capacity to care in action.

Please visit www.grantteaff.org to submit your team’s community service projects and have the opportunity to experience what Coach Reeve and El Campo High School did this past year.

Coach Teaff started as an assistant at Lubbock High School in 1956. After a 37- year coaching career including 20 years as the head coach for Baylor University, Teaff was chosen to lead the American Football Coaches Association as Executive Director in 1994. Over the next 22 years, he transformed the Association into one of the most effective and powerful organizations in all of college sports. Coach Teaff’s outstanding career as a college coach has placed him in eight Halls of Fame, including the Texas Sports Hall of Fame (1995). He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame Class of 2001.