A young man, who had just been named the new head coach of a major division 1 football program was on the road in the middle of nowhere America looking for a prospect who was supposed to be a pretty good player.
Getting hungry and looking for a bite, he spotted an old cinderblock building standing alone with a small sign out front that simply said “Restaurant.” The young ball coach pulled up, parked and went in. As he opened the door, every head in the place turned. The young, white, ball coach was the only white person in the restaurant.
The coach grabs a seat at the bar and is approached by a big fella in a tee shirt and cap who says, “What do you need?”
The ball coach replies, “I’m looking for some food, what is good?”
The big fella replies, “You probably won’t like it here. Today we’re having chitlins, collard greens, and black eyed peas with cornbread. I’ll bet you don’t even know what chitlins are?”
The new head coach looked the man dead in his eyes and said “I’m from the south and have probably eaten a miles worth of chitlins. Sounds like I’m in the right place.”
The man replies, “You may be from the South, but you aren’t from around here are you?”
The coach explains he is on the road recruiting and is looking for a school so he can check out a player. The man gives him directions and after he is done eating, asks him if he has a photo to hang up in the restaurant. The coach, so green on the job, didn’t, but takes a napkin and asks the man for his name and address and tells him he’ll send him a photo. Sure enough, as soon as the coach got back on campus later that evening, he grabbed a photo and wrote, “Thanks for the best lunch I’ve ever had.”
Fast forward, years later and the ball coach has built a very strong football program and is back down in the same area he ate at so many years ago recruiting an elite offensive lineman. A player the coach desperately wanted and the team desperately needed. Problem was, word on the recruiting trail had the kid going to a rival school. In fact the kid told the head coach this.
Disappointed, back in his office a couple days later, the coach’s phone rings. On the other end, it’s the kid, the top recruit, he says, “Coach, you still want me?”
The Coach says, “You bet I do.” He asks, “What changed your mind?”
The kid replies, “When my grandpa found out that I had the chance to play for you and said no, he pitched a fit and told me I wasn’t going to play for anyone else. He said he thinks a whole lot of you and has ever since ya’ll met.”
The coach was floored, but confused, “Who is your grandaddy?”
The kid says, “You probably don’t remember him, but you ate at his restaurant your first year at Alabama and you sent him a picture that he’s had hung in his place ever since. That picture is his pride and joy and he still tells everybody about the day that Bear Bryant came in and had chitlins with him.” #bekind #lawyerkind
