Jose, Arnold and the Code

Two wonderful men died Sunday: one young, one old.  Rory McIlroy probably said it best when he said of Arnold Palmer: “No one has ever done more for any sport than Arnold did for golf.”  We tried to think of what others have meant to their sports, Babe Ruth, for example, but had to agree with Rory. Arnold was a great champion and a great human being.  It is hard to think of a better role model, a more generous person, or a person who genuinely loved others more than Arnold.  People who do not remember as far back as the 60s will not realize how he revolutionized the popularity of golf, and unlike most sports heroes, became a person everyone loved.  Jose Fernandez was at the beginning of his career.   He was loved by all his teammates in a way that was contagious – everyone loved him because he played the game with such joy, and as so many have said, because he was “like a kid playing his favorite game.”  The passing of both of these men remind us that our time is limited, and that we can look to what these men meant to others, and let them be role models for us.  Invite your team to take a minute and reflect on what they can learn from these two lives.