Not everyone gets to eat lunch with the GOAT.
I did.
In fact, my old friend Stephen Pate and I did to be exact.
Last week, Stephen – a LA Tech graduate and bigwig with the New Orleans Saints and Pelicans – and I met at Soul Food Kitchen in Choudrant and had lunch with legendary Hall of Fame Coach Leon Barmore.
Coach, as we still call him obviously, made time out of his schedule to break bread with us. And we did it at one of his favorite out-of-the-way establishments.
I had fried pork chops, cabbage, lima beans, and candied yams. Not the best menu for my cholesterol level, but boy it was good.
What was better was the conversation.
I have known of Coach Barmore since I was in elementary school. His daughter Shannon and I were in the same class at AE Phillips Laboratory School and then through Ruston High. And of course, I was a big Lady Techster fan … even back then.
I became more familiar with him when I worked as a student worker in the Tech Sports Information office during college. His office was right across from the SID offices.
I will never forget when he caught me in the hallway one day and complimented me on a column I had written in The Tech Talk about what that year’s Lady Techster team needed to do to make a run for the national championship. Coach Barmore said I was spot on. Meant a lot to hear those words from that man.
He also called me the day my sister was killed in a car wreck. I had not seen Coach for a few years after graduating from Tech, but yet he reached out to me in one of the worst times of my life. Those are the things you never forget.
Stephen and I met my second year working at Tech when he became a manager for the women’s basketball program. We became great friends during those years and have remained close since moving on in life.
Getting an opportunity to catch up with both Coach Barmore and Stephen last week was surreal in some ways.
We told stories. We laughed. We reminisced.
It is amazing to realize the impact that Coach had on both Stephen and I, all these years later.
To say we were a little intimidated by the man 25 years ago would be an understatement. He was demanding to say the least. He expected – and demanded – the absolute best from everyone who was associated with the Lady Techster program.
The coaches. The players. The support staff. The administration.
It is one of the reasons he is, in my opinion, the greatest to ever coach the game. He would not settle for just good. You do not win 85 percent of your games as a head coach by being okay with mediocre, or even good.
Although Coach Barmore did not remember some of the stories that Stephen and I relived in between bites of that fried pork chop, we do. We remember them like they were yesterday.
Why?
Because they had such a profound impact on our lives and our careers. Neither one of us realized it at the time – we were probably mad in the moment – but Coach Barmore’s expectations and demands would help mold both of us into who we are today.
And I promise that if you run into former players of his, they will echo the sentiment. It was not always pleasant in that moment, but it was lasting.
When Tech unveiled a statue for Coach Barmore on the front steps of the Thomas Assembly Center a few years ago, so many of his former players, assistant coaches, support staff and others attended the event.
So many Coach Barmore stories were shared, and most had a similar theme to them: how the man shaped the lives of those around him.
It’s funny.
As we were talking, I thought about how in this day and age of college athletics, coaches like Coach Barmore would struggle. Not because they don’t match up to the top coaches of today, but because most of today’s players couldn’t handle the demand and accountability component.
The same moments that we were sharing and admitting had helped shape us are the types of moments that today’s players enter the transfer portal and leave programs. Tough love isn’t welcomed in this day and age.
It’s sad really.
The man’s resume includes numerous Halls of Fame, national championship titles, All-American players, and records upon records. He is the elite of the elite.
But to those of us who were fortunate enough to be a part of the Lady Techster program, his biggest accomplishment was the impact he had on our lives.
Thanks, Coach. You are truly the GOAT.
