An Army of Normal Folks - Serving The Quarterback Who Broke Your Records

Episode Date: August 16, 2024

For the latest "Shop Talk", Coach Bill's tribute to his late friend Steve Davis, an Oklahoma quarterback and true servant leader.Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey everybody, it's Bill Courtney with An Army Normal, folks. Welcome to Shop Talk number 20. I think we ought to have a bell, Alex. Shop Talk number 20. I got it on the free. I don't know. We need a bell. Shop Talk number 20.

We're going to talk about servant leadership and we're going to talk about it through the prism of a late friend of mine who actually played football for the University of Oklahoma. It's a great story and it's a great lesson. We'll be right back with servant leadership with my buddy Steve right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. Hi, I'm Molly Conger, host of Weird Little Guys, a new podcast from Cool Zone Media on iHeartRadio. I've spent almost a decade researching right-wing extremism, digging into the lives of people

you wouldn't be wrong to call monsters. But if Scooby-Doo taught us one thing, it's that there's a guy under that monster mask. I've collected the stories of hundreds of aspiring little Hitlers of the suburbs. From the Nazi cop who tried to join ISIS, to the National Guardsman plotting to assassinate the Supreme Court, to the Satanist soldier who tried to get his own unit blown up in Turkey. The monsters in our political closets aren't some unfathomable evil. They're just some weird guy. And you can laugh. Honestly, I think you have to. Seeing these guys for what they are doesn't mean they're not a threat.

It's a survival strategy. So join me every Thursday for a look under the mask at the weird little guys trying to destroy America. Listen to Weird Little Guys on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm David Eagleman from the podcast Inner Cosmos, which recently hit the number one science podcast in America. I'm a neuroscientist at Stanford and I've spent my career exploring the three pound universe in our heads. We're looking at a whole new series of episodes this season to understand why and how our lives look the way they do. Why does your memory drift so much? Why is it so hard to keep a secret? When should you not trust your intuition? Why do brains so easily fall for magic tricks? And why do they love conspiracy theories? I'm hitting these questions and hundreds more

because the more we know about what's running under the hood, better we can steer our lives. Join me weekly to explore the relationship between your brain and your life by digging into unexpected questions. Listen to Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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before they sell out at AXS.com. Hey everybody, welcome back to Shop Talk number 20, where I just want to briefly talk about servant leadership. And this is probably not going to be the only time I talk about servant leadership. Because I think there's lots of different ways to display servant leadership. But a guy named Steve Davis, who I was so fortunate to meet, displayed a kind of servant leadership as a mentor that I think is phenomenal, really. It's a great story.

It actually, Steve was highlighted in my book, Against the Grain, in one of the chapters that we call, How Leaders Are Def defined. You can read all about him if you've got the book and if you don't buy the book and you can read about him and other stuff. But I want to share his story as it pertains to servant leadership. Steve was the quarterback from the University of Oklahoma. I was, I am too young to have followed Steve as he played in the early 70s. In fact, when he introduced himself to me some years back, he mentioned that he played quote, a little football in college. I didn't really have any clue who he was, but afterwards I'd Googled him and looked up his stats and this guy who

played a little football was the MVP of the 1976 Orange Bowl. He ran for 33 touchdowns and passed for 21 on Oklahoma teams on their heyday that went 32 wins, one loss, and one tie. So not only did I find out that Steve was a dog, he was humble because he mentioned he played a little football the other thing about Steve is pretty incredible is he was number eight on the depth chart when he showed up at Oklahoma and ended up after the seventh guy got a broken arm being the starter for University of Oklahoma and ended up with the stats and the world that I told you about. Why I herald him as a servant leader is obviously he was a leader on the football team and at Oklahoma.

But I met him because he organized quarterly lunches for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes where he brought together X Division One coaches and players, prominent business leaders, high school coaches, and he had hundreds of people who forged meaningful relationships in this work. And this guy even in 1975 when he was still a quarterback at the University of Oklahoma, spoke on a nationally televised Billy Graham crusade in Lubbock, Texas. Just an amazing guy played for Barry Switzer on the field. He won and he inspired others. So when I met Steve at the Circle Cinema in Tulsa after a screening of Undefeated,

he asked me if I could speak at one of these events. And of course I said, you know, call me. I didn't think much about it. And a week later he called me. So I went and I spoke at the event in Tulsa and got to be buddies with him. After one event I flew back to Memphis with him and he talked about other stuff he had set up in Miami for the Orange Bowl and at Notre Dame in South Bend,

Indiana and when we parted I thought to myself how much fun we were gonna share and the future good work we could do together. Six days later I received a call Steve was dead. He and his friend Wesley Craves were killed when their small private plane the same exact plane I'd just been on with them crashed into some homes in northern Indiana actually going up to South Bend putting together some of the work that he and I talked about doing together. It was devastating.

It's devastating for his family, obviously, and devastating for the Oklahoma community. But it was devastating to me personally. I'd started to make a friend and a guy who I really respected and thought of as a leader. Last August, not last August, August of that year, I went back to Tulsa to speak at a luncheon that was held in his honor. And I really couldn't stop thinking about him, his parents, his siblings, his children. But then I found out another piece of his story. At the time, Oklahoma

had another gifted quarterback that was named Landry Jones. You may have remembered him. Once Landry was criticized for really poor performance and a loss that Oklahoma had to Kansas State and Oklahoma doesn't like losing to Kansas State and he was getting blistered in the media. Steve reached out to him. Steve never had forgotten how much it hurt when he was booed by the fans in Normand and the only single game he lost as a starting quarterback for Oklahoma at 1975 when an unranked Kansas team beat them 23 to three. Steve said, it broke my heart. It made me feel like I'd let down every sooner fan. Privately, it was one of the lowest moments of my life and certainly the lowest moment in my career at Oklahoma. Steve went on to mention how the Sooners rallied after that loss

to beat Missouri and Nebraska, and then Michigan and the Orange Bowl to win their second straight national title with him under center. It was his quote. It was a wonderful vindication of that one November afternoon and the silencing of those booze that have forever galvanized our team and made us all respect and love each other and to find our team beyond our 32 all respect and love each other and to find our team beyond our 32 one-on-one record. With that experience, Steve knew what Landry Jones was going through.

So Landry was on the verge of breaking the old school records of 32 wins that Steve himself held. Steve didn't care. All he cared about was helping a man facing the same expectations and the same sadness that he once did when he was beat by Kansas. He wrote, Landry, you are a champion who has been blessed with indescribable athletic skill and an exemplary personal history. You will leave Norman owning virtually every passing record as well as being the winningest quarterback in the 117-year history of Oklahoma football.

You've made sacrifices and commitments that few OU quarterbacks have ever made, and you deserve that recognition and respect because of your discipline and determination. Steve didn't have to write that letter to Landry. He wrote it because he wanted to serve him as a leader through shared experiences as a mentor to let Landry know that it was going to be okay. Later that year, Landry did break Steve records. And the first person to stand up and applaud him was Steve himself. Y'all, we can serve in a number of different ways. You can serve as a mentor, you can serve as an advisor, but when you use your experience

and past life experiences to serve another young person who may be going through something just like you, you don't have to be part of a 501 c three, you don't have to be part of some big organization, you just see a need and you fill it. So, leadership and service can come in a number of different ways. Sure, you can be a leader of a national championship football team that's heralded as one of the best in the history of the game. But maybe Steve's greatest measure of leadership was not what he did on the field as young man, but what he did later in life mentoring another young man who had a similar experience to him. Servant leadership guys, it is really how we change lives and I can't imagine a better

example of how that works than the story of Steve Davis. Think about it. Where can you serve in order to lead? Where can you mentor? Where can you share experiences? Where can you be part of an army of normal folks just seeing areas of need and filling it? I'm Bill Courtney. That's Shop Talk number 20. If you enjoyed this episode, do me a favor and share it with friends and on social. Subscribe to our podcast, rate and review it. Join the army at normalfolks.us. Consider becoming a premium member.

Do all of these things that can help us grow. Guys, the more people we bring in, the more impact we can have. If you have ideas for shop talk, current events, old stories, tenants, any of it, and you'd like to drop them on me, email me, all you got to do is email me. And if I think I have something to add a value, we'll do a shop talk on it. I swear. Just send me ideas. Beyond that, thanks to our producer, Iron Light Labs. I'm Bill Courtney.

I'll see you next week. Hi, I'm Molly Conger, host of Weird Little Guys, a new podcast from Cool Zone Media on iHeartRadio. I've spent almost a decade researching right-wing extremism, digging into the lives of people you wouldn't be wrong to call monsters. But if Scooby-Doo taught us one thing, it's that there's a guy under that monster mask. The monsters in our political closets aren't some unfathomable evil. They're just some weird guy. So join me every Thursday for a look under the mask at the Weird Little Guys trying to destroy America. Listen to Weird Little Guys on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your

podcasts. Hi, I'm David Eagleman from the podcast Inner Cosmos, which recently hit the number one science podcast in America. I'm a neuroscientist at Stanford and I've spent my career exploring the three pound universe in our heads. Join me weekly to explore the relationship between your brain and your life because the more we know about what's running under the hood, the better we can steer our lives. Listen to Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or

wherever you get your podcasts. For decades, the mafia had New York City in a stranglehold with law enforcement seemingly powerless to intervene. It uses terror to extort people. But the murder of Carmichael Lonti marked the beginning of the end. It sent the message that we can prosecute these people. Listen to Law and Order Criminal Justice System

starting August 22nd on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenni Kaplan, host of Womanica, a daily podcast that introduces you to the fascinating lives of women history has forgotten. Who doesn't love a sports story? The rivalries, the feats of strength and stamina. But these tales go beyond the podium. There's the team table tennis champ, the ice skater who earned a medal and a medical degree, and the sprinter fighting for Aboriginal rights. Listen

to Wamanica on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, hello. Malcolm Gladwell here. I want to tell you about a new series we're launching at Pushkin Industries on the 1936 Olympic Games. Adolf Hitler's games. Fascism, anti-Semitism, racism, high Olympic ideals, craven self-interest, naked ambition, illusion, delusion, all collide in the long, contentious lead up to the most controversial Olympics in history. The Germans put on a propaganda show and America went along with all of it. Why?

Listen to this season of Revisionist History on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.