I wanted to wait for this story to age a little bit before talking about a rookie football player by the name of Jonathan Willard whose nickname is “Tig.” He is trying to make the Tennessee Titans as a linebacker, after a successful college career at Clemson. His story illustrates the power of ethical choices.
Actually, I wanted to wait until after he played in his first pre-season game against the Washington Redskins. This post isn’t about football analytics and it isn’t about depth charts or a fantasy league. I will say, that in reading the box score it looks as though Mr. Willard was in on a couple of tackles and as far as the depth chart is concerned; well, he is pretty far down right now. I hope he makes the team, but that isn’t the point of this story.
On July 21, 2013 Jonathan Willard became a hero. He was driving along I-40, the connecting route between his home in South Carolina to Nashville. He was scared and nervous; he was mentally preparing himself for the rigors of training camp. He had no delusions about his chances; he was an undrafted free agent. No one was throwing big piles of money at him; no shoe companies were lined up to offer him a mega-endorsement deal; none of the sports networks wanted to hear his philosophy of life or what he ate for breakfast. He was just a rookie invited to a training camp to take his chances.
Kind of day dreaming, kind of thinking about his opportunity, he was driving behind a car that started to spew black smoke. The driver was oblivious. Willard tried to get next to the car to indicate that she should pull over. She might have been pre-occupied as well; she had three children in the car along with the family dog. He finally caught her attention, frantically pointing at the flames now coming from the car.
In the kind of shock that overcomes most of us from time to time, when she realized that she and her family were about to be engulfed in fire, all she could do was pull over and panic. Willard pulled out the driver and then her infant, then he and another driver got out the remaining children and the family dog.
They shooed the family away from the vehicle just as the car exploded into a ball of flames. When he saw that she was all right, he got into his car and continued his trip to training camp.
When the lights are off
The local media, team media and the national media jumped all over the incident – and it is understandable. His coach, Mike Munchak, had nothing but kind words for him.
“We’re proud that he got involved,” said Mr. Munchak. “He saw something, reacted in a positive way and brought good to a tough situation. We’ll probably have him stand up in front of the team and explain when we get started, so we can start camp on a very positive note.”
There are clips of Jonathan Willard talking about his good deed. In a summer characterized by players such as Aaron Hernandez, a man like Jonathan Willard is a fresh breeze.
The real key to Jonathan Willard’s actions was his comment in describing his decision.
“I was thinking that I was just doing what everybody else would do, but there were cars just going past us and no one else was stopping…”
This is where ethics enters into the situation. It is not what a person says when the cameras are on; it is what a person does when the spotlights are turned off.
Willard left the scene without fanfare. There were no crowds cheering him on, no coaches patting his helmet and no marching bands playing the Clemson fight song. It was just a decision to save the lives of a family.
While we recall his actions, we must also appreciate that a rookie reporting for training camp is probably in the best shape of his life. One bad cut or bruise or burn might have ended his career right there. He did not care.
Not a coach
I am not a football coach but, perhaps, an ethical coach. I help people remember what they should have learned as children. In some cases, I am in time and in other cases it is too late. Jonathan Willard has no need to learn from me, but Jonathan Willard has a lot to teach.
I don’t know if he will make the roster. The NFL is a very high mountain and only a handful will ever reach its summit. It may not mean much to him, but I am exceptionally proud of this young man. I also don’t pretend to know why things happen the way they do. Was this rookie football prospect supposed to be traveling the same road as this woman and her family? Was the rescue the reason he was invited to training camp? I don’t know.
What I do know, is that if he makes the team, that there is one family who should buy the best tickets they can afford. Even if Willard is at the very bottom of the depth chart, they should cheer for him every time he steps out onto the field. I just hope they can sneak the dog into the stadium as well.
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