ESPN Feature on Elliot Uzelac and Benton Harbor
You'll remember this story from last fall, but ESPN posted a great feature today on Elliot Uzelac, the 74-year-old former Bo assistant (and WMU head coach) who came out of retirement and led downtrodden Benton Harbor to a playoff win last season.
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=15651799
Great story, and it's narrated by Courtney B. Vance. I'm thinking this should be a movie.
What a great story on so many levels. It shows what football can do for a community, and also how you are never too old to pursue your passion.
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Here--in the town where I was born, just recently named the second poorest community in the country--the football team of my father's high school did something remarkable, with the help of a remarkable man.
Why can't we do this in every community where it would make so much of a difference?
Thanks so much for linking this story. Absolutely loved it. Inspiring story. Brought a tear to the corner of my eye. I really hope success continues for this team.
...getting a little dusty in here.
but it was so worth it.
This is a story that I know we've seen covered in some respects on the board before, but not quite like that. Uzelac lived the nomadic coordinator / assistant life with a smattering of head coaching jobs and then comes back the state of Michigan, where he got his first notable breaks under Bo and then as WMU's coach. There, he takes a team that had been on a 4-68 run before he got there, had not had a winning record in over 20 years and a team that had never been to the playoffs to heights long forgotten in his first year. It really is a great, feel good story in an era that seems to lack such stories - I hope they can continue this newfound success.
This kind of visibility might bring some wealth to the area, too. Lord knows they need it.
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Speaking of Benton Harbor, there's a pretty good book out there about the divide between St Joe's and Benton Harbor called The Other Side of the River, written by NYT journalist Alex Kotlowitz.
I'm from SE Michigan, so I don't have a good read on the factual accuracy of the book like locals would, but it does a good job exploring race relations generally through the lense of a single small-town murder.
I've always liked Uzelac since he was an assistant with Bo. His no nonsense attitude toward coaching has been inspiring at every one of his coaching stops and this, probably his last job before really retiring is at the top of the list.