A quote widely attributed to Vince Lombardi, but actually first used by UCLA coach Red Sanders in the 1930s, “Winning is not everything, it is the only thing,” became the mantra for athletic coaches in the United States beginning in the early 1960's. Lombardi did use the quote and due to his success as the head coach for the Green Bay Packers, the quote became widely accepted as a “coaching commandment”. It was used repeatedly on motivational locker room posters, at coaching clinics, in pregame speeches and during athletic banquets. Like many young coaches, I sang Lombardi's “hymn” and began to worship before that “most sacred” alter known as “Southern Football”. Over time I discovered that while winning is certainly important and much more fun and preferable to losing, the people that I crossed paths with had become more important than the wins and losses themselves. Lombardi, himself, back pedaled on the quote saying that what he meant to say was “Winning is not everything but making the effort to win is.” After forty one years, I find that this quote to be much more preferable than the first.If you are looking for a book about winning streaks or championship seasons this is not the book. While there are some stories about championship teams, his book is mainly about championship people. Forty one years of coaching and teaching yielded victories, both on the athletic field and in the classroom, but more importantly those years yielded many lifelong relationships with players, students and peers. These stories focus on relationships along with encounters that teachers and coaches confront eyeball to eyeball everyday. Some stories are also about the odd characters that we sometimes encounter as we go about the job we were called to do. Whether they were coaching or teaching colleagues, students and players, opponents or officials, most were or continue to be significant and important contributors to the communities where they live. Few are famous outside of their schools, districts or state where they served or performed. Most coached, taught or played the game not only for the accolades they received, but for the competition, the opportunity to serve and the friendships that developed. Sometimes poignant, sometimes humorous, these stories are about the people who impacted my life. They are the ones who wrote the stories and allowed me to share them with you.