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Coach Mike Ditka Brings Wisdom, Laughs to Work Comp Audience
Author: | Thursday November 30, 2006
Famous coach was keynote speaker.
Mike Ditka Talks About Experiences
For "Da Coach" Life
Lessons to be Shared
It wasn't so much what he said, but how he said it, that kept the attention of Mike Ditka's audience at the annual Florida Workers' Compensation Institute conference held in Orlando.
Walking gingerly to the podium on two artificial knees (he has had them replaced twice) Ditka proceeded to talk about his experiences, football, family and the qualities that he believes make up a good life. He should know about all of those subjects because the former Chicago Bears football coach and Football Hall of Fame member lived a lifestyle that took a physical and emotional toll while at the same time taking him to the heights of sports fame.
Along the way he had mentors who not only taught him the game he loves, but also about values. Coaches George Halas, Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry all taught him about toughness and staying the course when times are challenging, but it was Landry who turned Ditka's life around.
"Tom Landry is one of the greatest men I have every known," Ditka told the audience, referring to his coach when Ditka played for the Dallas Cowboys. Ditka said he was living the "good life" and was just about out of football and building his restaurant business when Landry called and told him he had traded for Ditka, if he was up to the task. "I went to Dallas and got in the best shape I had ever been in at the start of a season," Ditka recalled.
He learned that life is more than fame and money. It is about what is inside a person that counts and that was the message he brought to Orlando. "Talent is wonderful, but give me a team that has players who are tough and never give up and I will take that over talent any day," Ditka said. He indicated that what is true on the playing field is also true in life and winners are those who take on challenges to the best of their ability, to make the most of talents they have.
Mike Ditka learned those lessons and today the rest is history as Ditka has gone on to coach a Super Bowl Champion in Chicago become a television sports commentator and, perhaps most important, a family man given a second chance. And "Da Coach" still has his restaurant business in Chicago. For Mike Ditka, life is good.
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