Here’s to a New Business for 2009
When I went to USC in 1991, my former boss (at WSU) and friend, George Raveling had planned on retiring from coaching after that season to become the Executive Director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). The year turned out to be magical (we finished the season 6th in one poll and 8th in another with George being named National Coach of the Year) and we were a #2 seed in the Midwest in the NCAA Tournament . Only a miracle shot with .8 seconds to play by Georgia Tech freshman, James Forrest, (the first three pointer of his career) cut our season short. It did, however, get George a new contract, which after long and careful deliberation with his wife, lawyer and staff, he decided to accept.
At our beginning of the year staff meeting, though, George was (more than) seriously talking about leaving the field of coaching and there were several ideas he had that would be occupying his mind once he was no longer running practices, patrolling the sidelines and conducting press conferences. He called this strategy, “Preparing for withdrawl.” Not only coaches, but any other industry in which an individual has spent a lifetime engrossed in the vocation, there have been numerous stories of that person simply dropping dead shortly after retirement.
One of the most famous was Paul “Bear” Bryant, who, I vaguely remember Tommy Bowden recently refer to as a 41-day period between Bear’s retirement as football coach at Alabama and the time he passed away. One not so famous one happened to a high school teacher of mine, Gertrude Patterson, who experienced an identical fate after she stopped teaching English after approximately 40 years. I’m certain everyone out there has a personal story similar to each of those.
Ever since I left the field of coaching (due to back pain issues), I’ve noticed that, as a teacher, I have a great deal more time on my hands (than I’d had in the previous 35 years). I get to my room at 7:00 am, teach all day (on Wednesday and Friday, I don’t start teaching until 10:00 am) and leave at 2:45 pm. Unless I bring home tests to grade, I’m finished until the following day. At 2:45 pm! Then there are the weekends, a week off at Thanksgiving, two weeks at Xmas, 10 days in the spring, all of those Monday government holidays and two months in the summer! Obviously, blogging has filled a good deal of the time void.
I’ve always had, in the back of my mind, a business of selling baby gifts. Since that seems out of synch with my work experience and personality, allow me to explain. In the 1980’s, I got a call from my mother one day, suggesting that if I needed to get a baby gift, a friend of hers (also from New Jersey) was doing something unique and quite popular. She (the artist) would draw the baby’s name in colorful “bubble” letters and next to, leaning on or curling around each letter was a symbol that began with that letter.
So, whenever someone I knew well, or another coach’s wife would have a baby, I’d get my mother to request one of these pieces of artwork for a gift. Without exception, I would be thanked profusely by the baby’s parents because it was something the baby didn’t get from anyone else nor was it a gift the baby wore, but quickly grew out of. It also wasn’t another type of gift like a mobile (a wonderful baby gift, but one friend confided in me that when his daughter was born, they received seven mobiles). In similar cases, the parents were forced to either return some to the store where the person got it (hoping, obviously, not to see that person - or couple - as they returned the gift they lovingly gave then) or, as an episode of Seinfeld was based on, “re-gift” it.
This baby gift (my partner and I have chosen to call the business C.U.T.E. Baby Gifts, the “C” standing for “colorful,” the “U” for “unique”, the “T” for “thoughtful” and the “E” for “educational”). Initially, the baby likes the gift because it’s colorful. Before too long, the baby has grown so that he or she will show you the artwork and they’ll say, “See that? That’s MY name.” As more time passes, the toddler realizes that, for example, the “E” in their name has an “Easter egg” at the beginning, just as the, say, the “D” has a dog attached to it, i.e. the first letter of the symbol was the same as the letter it was next to.
It’s a gift parents and babies will remember forever and, especially, with girls, tend to hang on to as a wonderful memory of their childhood. True story: Ron Zook, the current football coach at the University of Illinois, was a neighbor of mine when we were each assistants at the University of Tennessee. When his wife gave birth to their daughter, Jacqueline, I requested the New Jersey lady prepare one for the Zook baby and can recall how happy they were with it. A few years ago, I ran into Ron (who has rivaled me in the number of times he’s moved due to changing jobs - sometimes for a better one, sometimes out of necessity) and we started catching up on old times. As our conversation was about to end, Ron said, “Do you remember that baby gift you gave us when our daughter was born?”
Naturally, I did and told him so. Ron, who the UT players referred to as Coach Ber-Zook, thought his daughter looked like his Uncle Pete (boy, was she flattered) and, since he always wanted to have a boy (but was blessed with two beautiful girls), Ron called her “Pete.” He went on to tell me how every time they moved, Jacqueline reminded her, “Dad, don’t forget my Jacqueline.”
In conjunction with their latest move, she said to him from downstairs, “Dad, don’t forget my Jacqueline,” to which Ron yelled out, “Aw, c’mon, Pete, you’re twenty-two years old!” Girls get attached to certain things from their childhood and just love having momentos of it around.
Our website is, as of today, up and running (although there will be some changes to it, in style and keeping people up-to-date). Please feel free to check it out. I’ve had a colleague mention, although he loved the artwork and how professionally done it is, what he likes even more is there’s no shopping. The address of the website is www.CuteBabyNameGifts.com. Note we had to include the word “Name” because “cutebabygifts.com” was taken.
While I’m not planning to get rich from this venture, it fulfills me in many ways that I’ll need when I retire shortly (I turned 60 this past summer). I feel we’re providing a (necessary) service, it will keep me busy and force me to stay organized. I’ll still be interacting with people, in charge of putting out a quality product which the customers and those they give it to will thoroughly enjoy. I’ll be leading and, I hope, inspiring the artists to share the mission of our business and, since I’m unartistic, I’ll be in charge of filling out the orders, getting them shipped in a timely manner and will need to follow all the rules that govern a new business.
I’m not yet retired but am extremely rejuvenated regarding this new endeavor. Life is about serving people and making a positive difference in the lives you touch. As Will Rogers said:
“Lord, let me live until I’m dead.” �