Hanging with Winners was the topic of our June 15, 2018 Lincoln South Rotary Club Meeting. We were honored to hear from Ray Cole President & Chief Operating Officer of Citadel Communications Company (and Kay's boss).
Ray Cole is a Hall of Fame broadcaster whose executive career spans five decades. Ray's “Hangin’ with Winners” experiences involving well-known figures from the worlds of television, sports, entertainment and politics. You can see some of the photos on his website (click here).
He started his presentation with a photo in front of the Nebraska Stadium, with the statue of Osborn and Barringer with the William Jennings Bryan quote in the background: "Destiny is not a matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved."
He entertained us with stories, pictures and videos about TV personalities, actors and athletes.
We enjoyed some video of Stephen Colbert first slamming Cole for his decision of how to cover stories (WOI-TV Channel 5), comparing awards, and later apologizing.
We spent most of the time talking about the ESPYs and the V Foundation. The ESPYs were started by ESPN. It is now a fundraiser for the V Foundation.
The V Foundation is a charity established by college basketball coach and TV personality Jim Valvano. He announced the creation of the charitable foundation during his acceptance of the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the first ESPY event in 1993. Valvano, known as "Jimmy V", Valvano had cancer. He said that we should all do three things each and every day - laugh, think and cry. He added that cancer may take his body but it will not take his soul. Live each day to the fullest - never give up.
"Jimmy V" died 2 months later. His acceptance speech is remembered by many yet today (click here).
Read Ray's account of Jimmy V and his speech (click here).
Cole also shared a story about famed high school football coach Ed Thomas of Aplington-Parkersburg in Iowa. He had a great career with many students going on to college football and a few in the NFL. The town was nearly wiped out by a tornado in 2008. Coach Thomas was the one that stood up and resolved to rebuild and help the community survive. The end of June 2009 a former student shot and killed Coach Thomas again sending a ripple of loss through the community. Ray nominated the family of Coach Ed Thomas for the Arthur Ashe Spirit of Courage award because of how they handled their loss - asking for prayers for the family of the shooter while dealing with their own loss.
Editor's note: it was difficult to write notes as I was enjoying his presentation along with everyone else!