#Steady May 13

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STEADY is not the approach many take to a new endeavor.

It seems most people want to discount STEADY and just hastily jump into an activity, job, or new habit. I have written before about Aesop and his fables. One of the more recognizable stories is The Tortoise and the Hare.

One of my higher education friends and former colleague is Dr. Ken Kitts. He served as Provost from 2011 to 2015 at UNC Pembroke and then went on to become President of University of North Alabama where he is still at today. He loves to tell a story about what happens when you don’t approach life with a STEADY approach.

One of the many ways Ken and I connected was by sharing “Life Lesson” stories. Shortly after Ken arrived at UNC Pembroke we got talking about his hometown being Waynesville, NC located in the western part of North Carolina in the mountains in Haywood County. I lived in Cullowhee, NC from 1980-1985 working at Western Carolina University. Cullowhee is located in adjacent Jackson County.

One day early in Ken’s tenure as provost we talked about road racing and I shared with him my knowledge about a long-standing 8K race called the Maggie Valley Moonlight Run that was run just outside of Waynesville, NC. It was then that Ken told me a story that was not only funny but had a great leadership lesson in it. Ken knew a student from his high school named Tony Antonio who ran in that race.

In the late 1970’s a race began in the tiny town of Maggie Valley, NC called the Maggie Valley Moonlight Race. It was always held in late August and the distance was 8K(4.8 mile for those that are metrically challenged). In 1980 I became the cross-country coach at Western Carolina which was located about 20 miles from Maggie Valley. When we started practice in August a couple of my runners wanted to participate in the run so we gave them permission to go and compete as individuals.

It was a race in the early 1980’s that my friend Ken Kitts shared with me. Ken has a friend named Greg Cook who keeps up with all things involving Tuscola HS in Waynesville, NC. That high school is Tuscola HS and they had a track and field runner enrolled named Tony Antonio.

n 1979 ESPN came on the air billing itself as the 24 hour sports station. Well they needed programming to fill in all those hours. The ESPN of the 1980’s was different from today. ESPN did not have MLB-NFL-NBA games to air they had to show grass root sports like bowling-college basketball-and running. In 1982 they decided to cover the popular Maggie Valley Moonlight Road Race. It was a big event in Haywood County NC to have a sporting event aired on National TV. Tony Antonio was not going to pass up this chance to grab the spotlight.

The race drew over 2300 runners from around the country especially Kenya runners who were there for Maggie Valley’s cash prizes. The ESPN announcers had their cheat sheets on the top runners and profiled them before the start of the 8K. One of those non-profiled runners was Tony Antonio sporting his Tuscola HS singlet and when the gun went off he took off in a dead sprint. The ESPN crew had the camera poised for the leaders and it was one Tony Antonio in the lead.

The announcers scrambled for details on him but they didn’t have to go too long because after about 1000 yards Tony Antonio was spent and the runners from Kenya took over. The race is run on what called an out and back course. You leave the starting line and run 2.4 miles and turn around and head back to the finish line. Well on the way back to the finish line some 1000 yards from the end of the race the camera pans in on a pack of 5 Kenya runners all getting ready to make their move. In that one moment on the screen if you look real close you will see Tony Antonio on the shoulder of the road doubled over still throwing up.

Tony was that bright supernova that had its one shining moment and now had crashed and burned.

I like to think of my friend Ken Kitts as the complete opposite of the runner who races out to the front he is slow, STEADY, and focused. He has no interest in being in the limelight.

I have always found it funny that leaders like Ken Kitts often get to the finish line ahead of those that are only looking for the notoriety.

Proud to call you a friend Ken Kitts and thanks for the Life Lesson about being STEADY.