Published: May 28, 2009 11:05 am      

Are You Somebody's Hero?

One Man's Journey, Entry 7

Bon Jovi was right. Who says you can't go home?

Last week, I wasn't the only person who found solace in returning home. Two other individuals - Mike and Dan D'Antoni - also returned home last week, which prompted the Mullens (W.Va.) Chamber of Commerce to host an "Evening with the D'Antoni Family" during their annual awards banquet last week.

If you're wondering who the D'Antoni boys are, let me fill you in. Mike D'Antoni is a former NBA player who went to Italy and played/coached for 21 years, winning a championship for his team and being the inspiration for Kobe Bryant to wear the No. 8. When Mike returned to the NBA in the 1990's, he became a head coach for the Denver Nuggets, the Phoenix Suns and currently for the New York Knicks.

Dan D'Antoni is Mike's brother. He's an assistant coach for the New York Knicks and has been a head coach for many years at the prep level where he won more than 500 basketball games. Neither he nor his brother, I think the introduction said, had been home for over a decade.

They, along with father Lewis and sister Karen, spoke during the awards banquet and took questions from the audience of more than 300 individuals.

For me, it was a magical moment. I was in the same room as a man I have followed for more than a decade now, a man from the same community where I grew up who has become a nationally-respected coach for a NBA team. I'm not sure he knew it, but I know him as my hero, my inspiration and example that people from small communities can accomplish big things on a local and national scene.

How could he have known he was my hero? Or, how would he have known I had driven more than 300 miles to attend this event? Or how would he have known that I would beg Mom to let me stay up late to watch Denver Nuggets games during a strike-shortened season in the late 1990's as a high school student?

Whether he knew he was a hero or not to people in attendance, he certainly played the part. He signed autographs for over an hour, signing anything and everything someone from his hometown asked him to sign. He took pictures with whole families. He smiled and did numerous interviews (all while signing autographs for the cameraman). He was everything you'd hope for from someone in his position: graceful, outspoken, and genuine. He was even humble.

His actions, his elegance made me stop and think: do we, the everyday person, forget that we are heroes also? Certainly, many of us will not win the NBA Coach of the Year award like Mike D'Antoni or accomplish the things he has in our lifetimes. But does that make us heroes nonetheless to someone else in our lives?

I say that because while on this journey, I have encountered numerous people who have cheered my successes with me. In addition to that, I have found others who have said they look to me for inspiration, knowing that if I can do this then they, too, can do it. Am I, in some form or fashion, their hero? Maybe.

I tell people all the time the thought of me in a fitness magazine, sharing my thoughts about health, is like putting Mary Poppins on the cover of Maxim: something just ain't right about that picture. As I told that to my former Pop Warner Football coach, he laughed.

Yet he quickly countered my logic. He had seen the first magazine I was in, and he said I was exactly the type of person who needed to be featured every month, showing people who feel hopeless about weight loss that it is possible with the right motivation and support system. He said I was indeed someone others could inspire to be and become.

I won't say I agree on all aspects. However, if I can provide inspiration to others with my personal journey and this journal, then I am more than willing to accept that task.

After all, I already have the perfect module to follow on how to live up to one's expectation as a hero.