AN ANTHEM OF HOPE IN THE SHADOW OF DEATH

51 years ago today in Memphis, a shot rang out, it’s report echoing off the walls of downtown.  The bullet found its intended mark; a silver retort to the message and the messenger. Martin Luther King fell backward, splayed on the second floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel.  A teal blue door to room 306 stood silent behind him, his friends stood above the body and pointed in the direction of the gunman, cowarding in the bathroom of a flophouse 80 meters away.

Martin Luther King was dead.

The night before, April 3, at the Mason Temple, just a few miles from the Lorraine, Martin Luther King gave one of his most hopeful speeches.  With a thunderous storm booming overhead, a packed house heard the leader of the Civil Rights movement beckon them to the mountaintop, a figurative place he’d been to, a place from which one could see the Promised Land.  

Presciently he said he “may not get there with them,” as if he knew the unthinkable, as if he knew he would be dead inside 24 hours, lying prostrate just over there, around the corner, on that balcony in front of room 306.

“Like anybody, I’d like to live a long life, longevity has its place” he thundered in closing, seemingly matching the meteorological show and tell performance going on outside.  

He went on: “But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. … But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. So I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”

His voice tailed off, spent on the effort of emotion, of the movement.

It has been said that “a tree is best measured when its down.”  Perhaps that is true of great people too. History, time, they are the benchmarks by which we make sense of our heroes.

King was not a perfect man; he was not a saint.  In that, he reflects all of us in our collective broken humanity.  Historian Harvard Sitkoff notes that history would come to reveal King’s plagiarism, his infidelity, the way in which he’d use soaring oratory to mask his organization’s lack of strategy.  His campaign for justice wasn’t fully successful; maybe because he died early, maybe because the voices of unrest drowned it all out. Maybe we’ll never know.

But as we measure the fallen King, we also see more clearly how his message — up to his last spoken refrain — was an anthem of hope.  His effort to “redeem the soul” of America, if not wholly successful, at least drew attention to an atonement that could draw us home.

Redemption does that, you know. The alchemy of hope transforms the ugly past into a brighter tomorrow.  While the shadow of every blessing can form the shape of a curse, the reverse is true too. History reads that way.  For there to be redemption, there must first be a fall, an ignominious failing.

And maybe that’s what King’s anthem was all about. Like refugees of a war torn country, his audiences back then were sojourners snaking through the shards and detritus of injustice.  To give up would be normal. But to give up would also make impotent hope’s redemptive power.

If we listen well, we can hear that refrain echo through the halls of history, even 51 years on.  We would do well to listen, even to hum along. For the tortured path of that era is, in many ways, the same trail we trod today.  Scarred and hurting, pocked by the ravages of old and new injustices, we are not where we belong. And we all know it.

Still longing for home, still looking for that Promised Land, we cling to hope.  King would have it no other way, and neither should we.

Onward, upward, we march on.

THIS GLORIOUS APOCALYPSE: ADVERSITY AND TRIUMPH IN A YEAR OF SPORT

Written by Brad Peters
Photo by Jesse Gardner

When Retye Rash threw his chest across the finish line of Buchanan High School’s track in the 100th running of the California State Championship in Track and Field last weekend, he literally was the last athlete at King High to finish competing this year.  The girls softball team wrapped their CIF Runners-up campaign about six hours earlier in Irvine.

From August to June, 1,268 athletes competed in a King uniform; pushing themselves in hundreds of matches, races and games. There were 8 League Championships earned and numerous individual crowns bestowed. Wins were had and of course there were losses.  Such has been the narrative every season of King High’s history, which now spans 19 years.

Rash’s path to CIF Sectional and Masters titles was littered with hurdles.  That’s the nature of his event: Run as fast as you can with obstacles in your way.  In the 300 meter race, eight flights of hurdles stand like sentries in his way. Can’t go around them, can’t go under them. “Over” is the only way, and as any hurdler will tell you, clip one of them a little too hard on the way over and, well, your race is over.  

When Adrian Salgado earned his third CIF title in March, to win, he had to make moves on the mat that his opponent was well prepared to counter.  One does not wrestle alone.

When swimmers for Coach Clendenen suit up for their competition, they squeeze into hi-tech suits that are designed to cut down on one of the great unseen opponents of swimmers, fluid friction.  Eliminate that submarine tension and the swimmer gets from wall to wall just a little more quickly. Swimmers will pay a good sum to subdue their liquid adversary.

Martin Luther King Jr., once said, “that it doesn’t matter what you do when things are going well, it’s what you do when it hits the fan.”  OK, so maybe that wasn’t exactly how he said it, but you get the gist.

Adversity is the adversary.  It works hard, drips with sweat and takes no time outs. Sometimes it doesn’t play by the rules; it blindsides ... it comes out of left field. Like a sucker punch it drops us to our knees and leaves us wondering, “What just hit me?”

...

The dean of the coaching staff at King is John Corona who is in his 40th year in the business.  Reyte Rash’s success notwithstanding, Corona’s track team faced the challenge of being young and inexperienced.  The enemy, it seemed, lay just inside young bones and bodies draped with a King uniform.

Corona’s been around the block more than a few times in his long tenure at King and earlier, at Arlington. Let’s just say he’s seen it all.  Of this year’s young squad (both the boys and girls battled to second place in the league) he said, “they didn’t know how to behave, how to carry themselves.  They were little kids in a big kid’s world, especially in the Big 8.”

One only needs to watch a track meet against the league champion Mustangs of Roosevelt to know of what he speaks.  Roosevelt’s program runs with a subtle sway of swagger. It exudes confidence and a tenacity to win that exposes any flaw an opponent may have. Even if that flaw is the mistake of being young.  King lost to Roosevelt by large margins and never even got close enough to sniff at a win.

“As a coach, this calls for a lot of teaching and a lot of patience” Corona said, “and things may not go your way for awhile until the kids understand.  Basically, for a good period of time with a young and inexperienced group, they are battling themselves as well as their opponent.”

His words put a new spin on the old cliche, “We’ve met the enemy and they are us.”

When the word “apocalypse” comes to mind, we think of Marvel comic villains, zombies, or asteroids hurtling toward earth.  Or maybe its four dudes on horseback. Whatever, take your pick, any way you slice it, it’s ugly. The world is ending!

Sports can be apocalyptic at times too,  though it’s not just reserved for that feeling you get after losing Game 7.  Rather, in this context one might consider the meaning of the word in its original Greek definition:   An unveiling, an uncovering of what was once hidden.

In that sense then, adversity isn’t the end of the world.  Adversity is apocalyptic.

King’s head football coach, Pat McCarthy, in just his first season at the helm of the football program was dealt a blind side last August.  The long time coach at various schools was four days away from his players putting on the pads, when his heart practically gave out.

“I was working out in the gym and just didn’t feel right ….my heart rate was way up, like 180.”
It wasn’t a heart attack like the one that almost killed him back in 2010.  Instead, a coronary artery stent had shifted from where it had been placed and his doctors warned, “take care of this now or you’ll be dead by Christmas.”   

On the eve of his tenure, the veteran coach was sent to the bleachers. Watching became the game plan. “It was 12 weeks before I could even sleep normally.  It was really hard because I didn’t want to let the kids down.”

“Let down” could well have been the story line of the girls’ soccer season. Abby Najera, a Junior on the team, was one of many this past Winter who found their preseason  “Plan A” going decidedly off course.  It was so tough at one point it would have been a stretch to call what was happening by mid-season as even “Plan B”.

“Surprising!” she says of what transpired as the losses stacked up, an interim coach was hired and conflict tattooed itself into the season’s skin.  “We had a talented group of older and younger girls, we were excited to play together, but it just didn’t work out” she said of their season that ended with only one win in the league and three on the year. 

But the dark clouds that seemed to sit over their season actually had an outcome for Abby that may well have been just as surprising as the initial adversity did.  

“Overcoming all of it actually brought us together” she said with a half smile curling up from the corner of her mouth. “I was able to experience something hard, emotional, and I got through it.  In the end, a lot of girls felt better emotionally and were happy to be out there playing with each other.” Look into the dark pupils of Abby Najera and you’ll see the glitter of something best seen on a black backdrop: Hope.  

Today, McCarthy has that same feeling after enduring the nightmare of 2017.  “Adversity, I tell you, it reveals who you really are” he said, “both the good and the bad.”

“When I went out, we had only three guys that had played a varsity game in 2016, but we had some kids really step up in leadership.  Rich Martinez, [the interim head coach] was amazing.  He really shined.”

Pat laughed. “I joke with Rich now, tellin’ him, ‘look what I went through to make you a head coach.’”  But then he got serious, “Rich is really a quality individual and this gave him a chance to shine, and he did.”

Watch the eyes of Coach Sondra Lough when she talks and you’ll see them light up, shiny.  Her love for her players is evident in her eyes. She’s tough and demanding - which is a form of love in it’s own right - but the affection she has for her players is in those eyes.  And the smile that follows.

She and the boys she coached in volleyball this Spring had a rough road from start to finish.  Their record is not the sort that causes anyone to bust out grinning.

Lough reflected,  “Every year, in preparation for the season, it is my belief that they will compete for a league title, and not only make it into the CIF playoffs, but also have a run through CIF.  My goals this season were no different” she said of the season that ended on the last league game.

“It was tough dealing with the reality that we did not meet those goals.”

Her inflection changes though as she looks that disappointment square in the face.  “You know, when we fall short in life, whether it's in the classroom, at work, in competition, or in our relationships, the truest parts of who we are quickly become evident.”  

“The fight, character and determination that this set of young men showed this season was impactful and a testament to who they are." 

For there to be a resurrection, one first has to fall.

There’s an old adage describing one’s character as “who - or what - you are when no one is watching.” Maybe that’s true, maybe there in the silence and solitude the true self comes out.  Maybe the apocalypse is best seen in the middle of the darkened grind. Or from a hospital bed. The shadow proves the sunshine.

Was Martin Luther King right?  That conflict and controversy unmask us?  Are successful athletes the ones who implicitly understand this and therefore welcome the challenges knowing full well what they’ll bring?

King called it “redemptive suffering.”  Clearly, the context into which he spoke was much more grave than playing high school games, after all, lives were on the line.  Strongly he stated it in his most famous oration delivered in 1963. “Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution … You have been the veterans of creative suffering.  Continue to work the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.”  

That faith of which he speaks? Yea, more, please.  Because the redemptive part of adversity - especially the kind that comes hidden inside a Trojan Horse - takes a truck-load of faith to believe in.

But if this year of athletics says anything, it says this: If you play enough games, run enough races, you’ll come to see that adversity in sport is the price paid not to get into the game, but to get something out of it.   

One wonders, what did the King kids get out of this year?  What trophies -- both the ones that go in cabinets and the ones that stay tucked away in the recesses of their souls -- did this year’s athletes earn?

Rash, Salgado, the softball team ... they’ll likely display their hardware prominently for family and friends to admire.  But for those whose seasons never quite made it into the spotlight, or where circumstances left them with more bench time than playing time, one can only hope their seasons were gloriously apocalyptic, unveiling a strength of character they may not have seen before.  

The bright rays of triumph shine most brilliantly in the darkest of nights.

If He Walked These Halls

We have gathered to observe a man on a day that has been set aside to honor his legacy.  Specifically, we have come to install a banner as a memorial to our school’s namesake, Martin Luther King.  We opened in 1999, so it’s high time that we freshen the artwork that visitors, students, staff and faculty are greeted to upon entering these doors.  It’s good and right and exciting that we do this.

The image you’ll see of Dr. King is one of resolve, contemplation, and focus.  It is not the face of distraction or fear.  He is intent, solemn and his face and eyes are fixed. 

Since we do this so often, I wonder if Dr. King were here with us today, would he do as we do and critique the “selfie?”  How many of us do that?  We see an image of ourselves and we curl up our noses and say, “oooh.  Not good.”  In a digital era it’s easy to hit delete and wait for a better hair day, better light, or a better face.  Would Dr. King like the image of him? I hope so….

But I think a better question would be this: Would Dr. King like the school we’ve named after him? Would he smile and say “Hey … not bad”  or would he curl up his face and say we could do better?

I really have often wondered this.  If he walked our halls, sat in our classrooms, watched our games and listened to our conversations,  how would he evaluate us? 

Evaluating schools is an issue that Sacramento, Districts and communities kick around all the time, asking and wondering by what standard do you judge a school?  What is the benchmark of excellence? This too, is good and right.

In 2007 I took our cross country teams to Birmingham and Montgomery Alabama to compete and also to see the sites in those cities made famous by Dr. King, Rosa Parks and others.  That experience captured my imagination not only of the past, but my hope for the present as well.  For 11 years now, I’ve been on a quest to understand Dr. King at a deeper level. Despite dozens of books read, I am not done, but this one thing I know: However complex King was, no matter how nuanced and layered his perspective on Civil Rights was, his life really can be reduced down to one thing, and I think that one thing is what he’d use to evaluate our school … If he walked our halls … if he listened to our conversations … if he sat and ate lunch with us.

In early 1956 as the Montgomery Bus Boycott was just getting on, Martin Luther King was worn down by weeks of death threats and admitted that he was nearing the end of his strength right there at the start of the battle. Unable to sleep, he made a pot of coffee and sat at his kitchen table in the middle of the night frightened, lonely, tired...  Later he would write about what happened:

The words I spoke to God that midnight are still vivid in my memory. He wrote. "I am here taking a stand for what I believe is right. But now I am afraid. … I am at the end of my powers. I have nothing left. I've come to the point where I can't face it alone."

At that moment, I experienced the presence of [God like never before]. It seemed as though I could hear the quiet assurance of an inner voice saying: "Stand up for justice, stand up for truth; and God will be at your side forever." Almost at once my fears began to go. My uncertainty disappeared. I was ready to face anything."

One thing we try to emphasize with our students is that their lives matter.  Each one, created in the Imago Dei, we greet on the doorstep of adulthood and try to usher them into maturity, equipped for the one life they get to live.  What will that one life look like?  What will be the pillars of belief and conviction upon which their lives will stand?  If Dr. King were here … how would he answer that question? What would he say his life was about if he spent time on this campus and … walked our halls, listened to our conversations, and sat down to eat lunch with us. What would he say?

It was just days after that moment at midnight there in his kitchen that a bomb with murderous intent exploded on the front porch of his home leaving a gaping hole and broken windows in its wake. While no one was hurt, everyone was angry. Police arrived and a barricade kept at bay a swirling crowd fixed on revenge. 

King stepped out onto the porch and into the jangling discord, saying: “We cannot solve this problem through retaliatory violence. Remember the words of Jesus, ‘He who lives by the sword will perish by the sword.’ No matter what they do to us, we must make them know that we love them. Jesus’ words echo across the centuries, “love your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that spitefully use you.’ This is what we must live by. We must meet hate with love.”

Today in South Africa, they are familiar with a Bantu word.  That word is Ubuntu. It comes from a saying that essentially says,  “A person is a person through other persons.” Ubuntu declares that we are not alone, that we are designed to connect with others, that Mankind is better off when we live in community with one another. The great South African leader, Nelson Mandela spoke of Ubuntu and practiced it.  Mandela described it this way: Ubuntu does not mean people should not address themselves, but the bigger question is this: Are you going to live in such a way that enables the community around you to improve?

In 1956, when the Montgomery Bus Boycott had been successfully completed, King spoke of what he called a Beloved Community and it resonates with Ubuntu.  “The end is redemption;” he said of the budding civil rights movement.  “the end is the creation of the beloved community.  It is this type of spirit and this type of love that can transform opposers [sic] into friends. It is this type of understanding that will transform the deep gloom of the old age into the exuberant gladness of the new age. It is this love which will bring about miracles in the hearts of men.”

What if he walked these halls, listened to our conversations, and sat to eat lunch with us?  What if Dr. King were alive and here today?  We might ask him many things about his views on civil rights, but really, I think he’d ask us just one question:

How well are you doing at loving one another?

You see, King had just one life, as do you and I.  He lived it well. He lived it with purpose, even if it took an encounter with God at his kitchen table to bring him to it.  But say what you want to say about that one life, his life really came down to one thing … love. From the Rock of Love flowed the rivers of justice, equality and reconciliation. The light of love, King argued, would dispel the dark shadows of hatred.

It’s been almost 19 years since we first opened these doors and on a day like today, it’s good to consider again the singular call King gave to each and every one of us.  A celebration like today should force us to reflect and ask ourselves how well we are living our one life, both as members of the King High School community and as Americans.

How well are we doing at loving one another? Do we love the camouflaged kid as much as we do the AP scholar with a 4.0?  Do the down and outers get loved as much as the up and comers?  Do we love those to the Left of us and to the Right?

Do we hear the echoes of Dr. King as we walk these halls?  He’s calling us!  Love each other! Love even your enemies.  Sacrifice for others. Live in community, seek ways to improve the community around you.

50 years ago this April, Martin Luther King’s life tragically ended too early, his Beloved Community not yet realized.  A half century later, there is much to be done both here, and in the country he loved.  But while Ubuntu, American style, may still be a way off, and while there’s still a mountain to climb, this fact should not deter us from striving on toward that distant land. 

May our resolve be strengthened.

May we not be distracted or fearful.

May our eyes be fixed and hearts convicted.

And every time we see this mural, may we be reminded of that call of Dr. King’s that our one life is best lived when it’s lived in service and love toward those we are inextricably bound together with.

If and when that day comes, on that day … if we could imagine Dr King walking these halls, listening to our conversations and sitting down to eat lunch with us, then I’m sure he’d say,

Well done!

Finding Hope in the Mountain of Despair

Like a Matterhorn in Kansas, a mountain of despair towered in the middle of the last century, casting a dark shadow on African Americans across the US. Its jagged features were chiseled through centuries of racism. From the first slaves who arrived in the colonies manacled to the ships of the Middle Passage to their 20th century descendants who were chained to the lowlands of social, political and economic discrimination, the monolith menaced and for decades it seemed insurmountable.

Racial discrimination was Everest before Sir Edmund Hillary. It was the four minute mile before Bannister, flight before the Wright brothers, portable light before Edison. Overcoming racism and its twin peak of discrimination was, in the minds of most who lived then, not possible.

Obstacles of mountainous size know no color line. We all face them. But to describe the daily hurdles we cross as equal to scaling the towering cliffs of centuries-old institutional racism is to be either ignorant of history or callous of heart. A measure of empathy for that generation of African Americans would offer a pass if they concluded the mountain was too high.

Into that story a young preacher man rose up. Inspired by the challenge and the moment in history, Martin Luther King passionately called his listeners to overcome the temptation to retreat. Brandishing the weapon of love and harnessing the impatience of millions of African Americans who had grown weary of living in the shadows, he challenged them to “hew out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope.”

Those words were one of the capstone phrases of his most famous address, the one delivered fifty years ago today on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. When one has hope, one has the freedom to dream. When one is undaunted by the “difficulty of the moment”, one has the ability to see that “it is not an end, but a beginning.” The “fierce urgency” of the moment compelled Dr. King to beckon Negroes of the early Sixties to “rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.”

The speech soared; not only on the airwaves of that sacred ground, but on into history. Today, 50 years on from that August day, we hear the echoes still. But not all was good that day, or the ones before and after.

The city of Washington DC was on high alert leading up to “the first ever Negro led public gathering in the nation’s capital”. President Kennedy had positioned nearby almost 20,000 military troops in the event a riot had to be quelled. Liquor sales were halted in the District. Some store owners deposited their inventory in warehouses in the event of looting. Even the Washington Senators postponed two ball games until the week following the March. While it all proved to be unnecessary, clearly the prejudice of White Americans was present and accounted for.

Racism didn't end that day. Three weeks after the March, down in Birmingham, the KKK threw some TNT at the 16th St. Baptist church and killed four young black girls as they prepared for Sunday school. A riot broke out. By ’64, legislation addressing Civil Rights had been passed, but the nation remained on the edge of a seeming apocalypse. The “jangling discords” of the nation were incessant, brassy and everywhere. Even a Dream described with eloquence was not enough to end the nightmare.

Into the middle of that chaos a simple song drifted lightly up, then like a phoenix rose on the crescendo of works much mightier than its simple score. Coupled with Dr. King’s soaring rhetoric, it formed a duet that inspired millions to march. From ditty to anthem, a theme song was born.

We Shall Overcome

Written in 1900 as a gospel song and first used as a protest chorus by Food and Tobacco union workers in 1947, by the time the civil rights movement was gaining speed in the late 1950’s, the song’s moral clarity had caught hold of protesters at lunch counters and behind jail bars. Marchers on Main street and Marchers on Washington held it aloft on a cappela shields of soul force. Folk singer Joan Baez sang the hymn as an invocation to the proceedings that led to King’s great sermon in DC.

We Shall Overcome | we shall overcome someday | Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe | we shall overcome someday.

The remaining verses take us on an emphatic journey: … we shall all be free … we are not afraid … we are not alone … we shall overcome. The destination is nothing short of victory.

But of course, the dogmatic and overtly optimistic “shall” -- as if there were no alternatives but overcoming – can give rise to cynics. “Just put a happy face on it” seems a bit contrived when you've got a two-fisted grip on jail bars. It’s hard to think there’s only one outcome to the battle when you’ve got a German shepherd tearing at you and racist cops are swinging their clubs and looking to score. Is there a song for the mountain of despair? Couldn’t we adapt the lyrics to read “We might overcome?”

King was fond of saying that if you don’t have something you’re willing to die for, then you've got nothing to live for. While that reads a pinch pessimistically, it’s in that paradox that the hope of the Civil Rights Movement is found. Doubt is switched with certainty. “Maybe” becomes “will.” How can you lose if “redemptive suffering” and even death isn't a deterrent? Emboldened by their faith, the marchers belted out the lyrics and soldiered on.

We shall overcome … they became three words that formed the soundtrack of a movement that changed the course of history.

The night before he died, King put this truth to words. It’s a chilling last paragraph to his last speech:

“I've been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know that we as a people will get to the Promised Land. And I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything; I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” 

Death has lost its sting when the stones of hope are found scattered in the shadows of the valley of death. If evil doesn't scare you, any mountain can be overcome.

Even the one named Despair.

Treble White, Bass Black and the Imago Dei ~ Reflections on Martin Luther King Day

Last July while vacationing in Washington DC, I woke for an early morning run. The mid-week streets were not yet crammed with commuters, and the memorials on the mall were equally absent of pedestrians and sightseers.

My run wandered by monuments of the past ... each standing as present testimonies to national greatness and tragedy. I made a lap around the obelisk to Washington; over and around the tidal basin where Jefferson stood still beneath his immortal words that "all men are created equal".  The four rooms of FDR’s memorial were empty except the sound of rushing water. FDR sat in his chair and watched me go by, his carved countenance seeming to match the mood of the time in which he served.

Empty too were the steps that lead to Lincoln's great memorial. They were bathed in the gold of a rising sun. I climbed them slowly, selfishly enjoying the solitude and the calm before a mid-summer DC day. Interestingly, my thoughts didn't go to the days of Lincoln, nor the year of 1863 when the Great Emancipator called for the freedom of slaves and a renewed resolve to sustain the great American experiment.

No, instead, my thoughts were triggered by the words etched into the granite steps midway to Lincoln's shrine. On the spot where in 1963 Martin Luther King delivered his opus, the "I Have a Dream" speech, it’s title is chiseled into the granite, a permanent reminders of a grand moment in which the preacher called for a renewed resolve to carry out  liberty and justice for all. For a moment, sweat dripping from my brow, I was transported back to another time, a catalyst for the age in which I live

Martin Luther King's youth was spent in the oppressive heat of Southern Jim Crow. Raised by his preacher father and challenged by his mother to never think of himself as less than anyone else, the theology of his later social activism, (not to mention his sermons) was crystallized at the very steps of that Lincoln Memorial.

It was Easter Sunday of 1939. At the Constitution Hall, Washington DC's largest concert venue at the time, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) were holding a concert. Barred from performing due to the color of her skin, Marion Anderson (widely renowned as the nation's greatest contralto) was relegated to a "lesser" spot, in the "auditorium under the sky" as Harold Ickes called it. She would hold stage on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial before an audience of both blacks and whites that numbered in the thousands.  Offering a mix of operatic classics, she finished her set with a hint of protest by singing "My Country Tis' of Thee." Standing in front of a Steinway grand, with the gaze of Lincoln off her shoulder, Anderson offered a subtle demurral.  Lifted on the notes of a gifted voice she switched the words "of thee I sing", to "of thee we sing."

Had Lincoln been able to hear it, I wonder if he would have smiled.

In the audience that day was a ten year old boy, Martin Luther King Jr, who did hear it and may have grasped right then the power of the words that end the first stanza,

"From ev'ry mountainside, Let freedom ring!"

Well, five years later, young Martin King gave one of his first recorded speeches titled "The Negro and the Constitution." He said, “She (Marion Anderson) sang as never before, with tears in her eyes. When the words of ‘America’ and ‘Nobody Knows de Trouble I Seen’ rang out over that great gathering, there was a hush on the sea of uplifted faces, black and white, and a new baptism of liberty, equality, and fraternity. That was a touching tribute, but Miss Anderson may not as yet spend the night in any good hotel in America.”

24 years after that speech, in August of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. would stand in the same spot that Miss Anderson did, and belt out on soaring rhetoric a dream that one day America would "let freedom ring from every mountainside."

But from where does this freedom come? What would give such a young preacher-man from the South, immersed in a cultural context of state-sanctioned racism, the audacity to proclaim such a dream?

The answer is found in the concept of the Imago Dei, or "the image of God." It was a concept deeply rooted in not only King's thinking, but in the "American Dream" as well, as King reminded his audience at the start of his oration that August day. It emanates too from Jefferson's preamble to the Declaration of Independence. It’s a understanding that states that every man, woman, child, no matter the race, is "endowed by our Creator with certain, unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Certain privileges -- rights -- come with being made in the image of God. The Imago Dei.

In a sermon King once preached he said: "You see, the founding fathers were really influenced by the Bible. The whole concept of the imago dei, as it is expressed in Latin, the "image of God" is the idea that all men have something within them that God injected ... this gives him worth. There are no gradations in the image of God, Every man from a treble white to a bass black is significant on God's keyboard. ... One day we will learn that. We will know one day that God made us to live together as brothers and to respect the dignity and worth of every man."

While post-modern sensibilities and some revisionists may recoil from the thought of King's Christianity or simply dismiss it as a minor irritant to the civic leader's greater secular impact, there is no escaping the bedrock of Christian theology from which King preached and moved America to action. King’s faith was woven into the fabric of the civil rights movement and is an integral part of what made the "I Have a Dream" address hit home. It resonates, because it connects with the deepest longing of every human being: Justice.

In his dream address, King ascended from the foundation of justice to the pinnacle of brotherhood. Equating the lack of justice to “quicksand” he warned America that “the whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.”  Then, in an echo of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, King quickly followed his admonition with the reminder that the outcome of freedom demands a non-violent approach to justice. “In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds.” The sunlight of justice falls equally on white and black people. The Imago Dei is in all and justice must not be bought with the coin of hatred and at the expense of brotherhood.

King’s theology stems from the Old Testament prophets.  Timothy Keller has written a superb study on the practice of social justice and notes that the Hebrew term for “justice” is “Mishpat”. Used over 200 times in the Old Testament, its basic meaning is to treat people equitably, especially the widow, the orphan, the immigrant and the poor. (Zechariah 7)  King, stating the obvious that blacks had received a raw deal from the promises of the Declaration and the Constitution, warned America using the words of one of those Old Testament prophets, that “we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.” (Amos 5:24)

America was a crooked place back then, thirsty for the waters of righteousness.  Bent by racism, hatred and injustice, America needed a modern day prophet to challenge Americans to “transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood”.  The prophet-preacher King quoted from Isaiah to proclaim his own vision for America: “One day, every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places shall be made plain, and the crooked places shall be made straight and the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.” (Isaiah 40) Then came the obvious:  If we are not all created in the Imago Dei, should we not judge each other by the content of our character?

Near the end, his voice rising on the winds of inspiration, King proclaimed that “From the mountain of despair would come a stone of hope,” and that one day all of those made in the Image of God, would be able to sing with new meaning “my country tis of thee, sweet land of liberty of thee I sing; land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride; from every mountain side, let freedom ring.”

In the audience was Marion Anderson and I’m sure she must have smiled.

Last July on those very steps, in silence and alone, I was connected by understanding and place with both the present and the past.  I soaked it in, relishing my moment there on that historic spot. In time, I descended and continued on my run, reflecting on the greats who had passed this way so long ago, people who in words that soared and actions that roared changed the way we live.

Their echoes reverberated in the quiet of the morning, and I couldn’t help but smile.

2010 Mammoth skit by King High cross country

By far, the most hilarious and uniquely creative Mammoth skit we've ever had! Chris Miller's "Black Bear Grylls" was awesome!

NikeCrossNationals.com - Nike Cross Nationals Official Site - NXN

NikeCrossNationals.com - Nike Cross Nationals Official Site - NXN

What it takes to be a Great Cross Country Runner

Check out this video of the University of Colorado coach who talks about what it takes to be a great cross country runner.

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack

Friday Before Finals ... Find a Way

"If you really want something, you'll find a way. If you really don't, you'll find an excuse."

Tomorrow is the day. How bad do you want success tomorrow? Find a way.

Thursday Before Finals ... Flexibility

Sometimes you just gotta flex. Bend. Move. Adapt.

Game plans and strategies are good, but successful athletes always have a Plan B in place and go into any competition willing to flex. Rigidity is the death of accomplishment. Life throws you a curve, and you're not ready for it, you'll be swinging and missing or frozen in your tracks.

With an incoming storm, "the best-laid plans of mice and men" as it was once written are threatened to be washed out. We planned to run the traditional course. Our minds were wrapped around hills and dirt. But the clouds of heaven might make us move to flat and concrete.

Are you ready to be flexible? Are you ready to turn your mind off from "Plan A" and fully embrace "Plan B" as if that backup had been your primary all along?

Successful athletes will find a way to do that.

Wednesday before Finals ... "The Drive"

I received a letter today from the Trupp family, which they gave me the permission to post.  It says the following:

Dear cross country team, coaches and Coach Peters

Wow! We are so grateful for the time and generosity that you all have given to support our family. Rebecca is slowly recovering, although she still has daily headaches. She has therapy 4 days a week in Loma Linda. However, she works hard everyday and uses the drive she learned from cross country, track and DECA. Thank you again for all your support and prayers.

Fondly, The Trupp Family --

"Once a Wolf, Always a Wolf."

Neat letter, (Thanks Trupps!)  and more so another reminder of what's important in life. While CIF Finals is a great and tremendous achievement for any high school cross country runner, it pales compared to life itself. We're grateful for the life that's been granted to Rebecca; even to all of us.

But the letter reminded me too what always inspired us about Rebecca, and what I hope will be a characteristic of your races on Saturday. The Drive.  Rebecca was unceasing in her pursuit of improvement and excellence. She was, and is still, a driven person.

I want to encourage you to head into the CIF Finals determined to drive toward your goal. Drive into the hills.  When it gets tough, when the pain mounts, drive through it. Don't give up. Don't surrender just because it's hard. Drive to the finish line.

Being driven in life can have it's drawbacks, but in my opinion, it is more often the path to success than it is the path to defeat. 

Rebecca Trupp has shown us how its done. Let's show her we've been paying attention.

Tuesday before Finals ... Three needed blocks of the Pyramid

We last talked about Wooden's Pyramid a couple of weeks ago now. Not wanting it's wisdom to disappear, we brought it back into the discussion today. Overlooking the pinnacle, "competitive greatness" as something that will be reserved for Saturday, I challenged each of you to revisit and think about three of the key blocks that support the peak, and more to the point, how you could implement what you've learned about yourself in those categories as you head into the race.

Mental Confidence.  Are you ready? Are you ready to perform at a high level? Of course you are! You've trained. Go back and look at your miles for the season. Remind yourself of those break through races and workouts where you proved your fitness to yourself. Remind yourself of the sacrifices you've made to be good this year.  All of those things, coupled with the realization that you qualified for this race should build your confidence.

Poise.  This is such a hard thing for athletes your age to master, but we're not the kind of coaches to let athletes slide because you're sixteen. We expect you to show poise. Why? Because first of all, it's needed. You can't perform in big competitions without it. But also because poise is a byproduct of the work, the races and the preparation that has gone into this race. All 16 teams on the line Saturday are talented. All are fit. All are prepared and well coached. You don't get this far without that. So what will separate you from your opponents? What will allow King to excel?  One thing. Poise.

Team Spirit.  Sometimes team spirit is easy in August, and it's much tougher in November. Sometimes teams thrive on team spirit all season long, it never lags. Other teams never seem to get it. The whole season is a dirge.  But often, by November, it's tough to maintain. Why? Cuz folks are tired. Folks are "used" to each other and we let our gaurd down.  This is not the time to let that go. I challenge you to keep building bridges between yourself and your teammates. Guard your tongue. Find ways to build each other up. Find ways to stoke the fires of enthusiasm. When we race on Saturday, we have to race as much for each other as we do for a crown, a spot or a time.

Monday before Finals -- Opportunities

With CIF Finals upon us this Saturday, I got thinking about how the race represents an opportunity or more. Certainly, on the sport's grandest stage, it's an opportunity to achieve excellence in cross country racing. The course, the weather, the fans, the competition, it'll all bring it out of you.  It's an opportunity to put into practice what you've trained all year to do.  It's an opportunity for some individuals and teams to qualify and move on to State.

Opportunity abounds.

One of the railroad millionaries of the 1800's was once asked by someone, "How'd you get so rich?" His answer was simple. "I seen my opportunities and I took 'em". 

So simple, yet so true. I ask you, will you see the race this Saturday as an opportunity to succeed? Will you "take it?"

Going the Distance ... Nick Rini

It's not hard to notice Nick Rini.  His persona stands out from the crowd.  He's the one adorned in a mane of somewhat unkempt hair, proverbial t-shirt and cutoffs; the threads from which hang like stalactites.  Nick Rini is a simple guy ... he's got his style and it fits him.  Pay no heed to fashionistas who surround him.  Unpretentious to the core, he responds to the moniker "homeless boy" with a smile and a pleasant, "how ya doing?"  Life seems to move in slow motion for Nick. He moves through time unhurried, content with the tune in his head -- probably a Led Zeppelin song -- and the friends he's surrounded himself with. He's an easy guy to like.

He's an easy guy to fall in love with when it comes to racing. That quiet demeanor in his day-to-day is a roaring lion between the start and finish lines. Watching him outside of the race, you'd swear it can't be the same guy ... but then you notice the hair, flowing off the back of his head like tongues of flame from a rocket.  Tenacious, determined, competitive, he's as tough as the course, even tougher. Simply put, he's a guy you WANT wearing your uniform, as you know beyond a doubt that he'll give everything he has, every step of the race.

Cross country is the epitome of team sport.  It takes all types to make the team and all types need to do what they do to bring success. What Nick has brought to the team of King High cross country has been a quiet form of leadership. He models the ethic of the runner. He preaches by practicing. He races without fear. He accepts with humility the occasional defeat, but more often than not, his style of racing has brought his team victory.  Over the course of four years, he has improved tremendously. As a freshman, his marks were usually at the high end of 19:00 ... today that's slower than a threshold for him. This season, he's been consistently King's #3 man, a roll that unenviably could be lost in the shadows of the leaders and bypassed as folks strain to find the 5th scorer. Nick just may like it that way. Let me do my job, the glory can go to others...

The days of his wearing the King uniform will soon come to an end. In his gracious, gentle spirit, he'll hang it up and drape himself again with cut-offs and t-shirts emblazoned with bands of his liking. Having arrived quietly, we suspect he'll retreat from the sport in similar fashion. We're ok with that, as long as he knows of the tremendous impact he's had on our program and the lives around him. King High XC is better because at least once a week for the past four years, the long-haired wonder wore the red white and blue.

Wooden's Secret of Success - Competive Greatness

Congratulations King Cross Country! For most, you have reached the end of the season and with that, we discuss the last secret to success- Competitive Greatness.

It is always a difficult time of year for many athletes. On some levels you are relieved that the daily grind is done, the long miles in the heat are over and the sore and tired legs are feeling refreshed and energized. I would assume for many, however, you are replaying the season in your head recognizing how quickly it all went by and wishing you had more time to improve or run a race over again to prove your hard work was worth it. Hopefully you don’t have any regrets, but if you do, use it as a learning tool and strive- really strive-to do more and be more next season.

No matter what, you have accomplished something. For each of you it is different. Perhaps finishing three miles is a huge triumph- perhaps breaking 20 minutes was a success- perhaps winning a race was a first. You know what you have done right and you know what you have done well. Enjoy that feeling and know that you deserve it.

What you have all been a part of is a team. You have had to achieve and sacrifice for the sake of a team. It is a unique honor to be part of something special and hopefully you would never let your team down. You want to be better for your team and you should absolutely refuse to let your team down. When we do things for a higher purpose, when we recognize we are willing and wanting to be more successful for the sake of others then we are working towards success. When we are truly EAGER to do things for a higher purpose, you are a success.

You will be a part of a team the rest of your life. Your family is a team, your community is a team, your workplace is a team, and your country is a team. There is a spirit in a team that is unshakable and when you commit yourself to it, you accept the responsibility of the human experience. You must give to receive and you must be at your best and prepared to be at your best even in times of uncertainty, sadness, and difficulty. You should always want to contribute to your teams in life. Think of the greatest relays of all time. The energy, the spirit of the crowd, the intensity, the unwillingness to let a teammate down- the athlete always seems to compete at his or her best.

Carry the spirit of the relay with you when you are faced with pain, when you want to give up, when you don’t think you can give any more. You can’t control the actions of others, but you can control your own. You must remain EAGER to do your best for the sake of the team.

Be great. Make each day your masterpiece. Have faith, have patience. It is not easy, it will not come to you. You must eagerly work to attain it. Your work will pay off. You might not know this now, but you will.

Wooden says that “true competitors know it’s EXHILIRATING to be involved in something that is very challenging. They don’t fear it. They seek it. Is it fun to do that which is ordinary, easy, simple, something anyone can do? Not at all.”

I challenge you tonight to go home and concentrate. Do not just show up tomorrow without direction and a plan. Focus on what you want and not on what you don’t want for your upcoming race. Create a personal statement and write about your goals. Write on what you want to dedicate to your team. Create something that will inspire you tomorrow and the rest of your life. If you have the courage, share it with someone else, you never know how your words can inspire others. OWN IT.
The Great Competitor


Beyond the winning and the goal, beyond the glory and the fame,


He feels the flame within his soul, born of the spirit of the game.


And where the barriers may wait, built up by the opposing Gods,


He finds a thrill in bucking fate and riding down the endless odds.


Where others wither in the fire or fall below some raw mishap,


Where others lag behind or tire and break beneath the handicap,


He finds a new and deeper thrill to take him on the uphill spin,


Because the test is greater still, and something he can revel in.


---Grantland Rice

Written by Leisha Clendenen

Going the Distance ... Daniel Balcazar

I think Daniel is a mystery to most of his teammates, and sometimes is to his coaches. Quiet and reserved, always with a shy smile, he followed in the footsteps of his older sister Tatiana, a quality runner herself, and showed early on in his freshman year that he was destined to be a varsity runner. He still holds a top-5 time for freshman on the Mt. SAC course at a very impressive 17:19 and was close to earning a varsity spot that year, something few freshman boys ever dream of doing. His long stride combined with a fierce desire to compete led us to see great things in his future.


By his sophomore year, he had improved enough to cement his position on the varsity team and have a spot on the CIF team that ran during the raging wildfires of 2008 on a shortened Mt. SAC course. He improved his Mt. SAC Invite time to an impressive 16:45 and looked ready to have a breakout year in 2009. As coaches we had high expectations, but instead of a breakout junior year, it turned out to be a time of trials and questions.

He returned to the summer of his junior year out of shape and not ready for the summer camp in Mammoth, something that frustrated his coaches who wondered what had happened to the talented young runner. As coaches, we have come to expect that many runners will drop out of cross country between their sophomore and junior year after seeing that they are not destined ever to see a varsity race. But Daniel had already made it to the varsity level, so we were left wondering if he had lost the passion for running.

Despite missing Mammoth, Daniel eventually showed the talent made the varsity team, but his season was again curtailed when poor grades made him ineligible at the end of the season. Despite having the skills necessary for both running and being successful at school, Daniel seemed to have lost the industriousness and discipline needed to do either at a successful level. I am certain that this was a frustrating lesson for Daniel, who despite his quiet persona has always shown that he is a very competitive person. Still, we wondered if he would even return for his senior season. Too often we have seen many runners give up when faced with adversity instead of recommitting to the hard work that it takes to be successful.

To his credit, Daniel’s started by getting his grades back in order and up to a B average by the end of the semester, and he maintained those grades for the rest of the year. Certainly as coaches we always stress academics before athletics, but when he showed up this summer fit and ready to run, we were happy that he had made it through a difficult time and committed to having a great final season of cross country. As we ready for league finals and CIF to follow, Daniel has shown that he is ready for the challenge.

As John Wooden has said, adversity is often an asset. Though none of us openly choose to make poor decisions or seek out hard times, most of us will experience it at some point in our lives. Often, we have to look to our family, friends, coaches and teammates to support us along the often difficult paths that life leads us down and find strength from them to grow and learn from life’s hard times, and I am certain that Daniel would say the same. As coaches, we know that high school is just the beginning of a long path through life, and we wish Daniel well as he continues on.

Going the Distance ... Samantha Enriquez

One of the first experiences that I remember with Samantha Enriquez was pulling her off the course at the Great American meet in Alabama because she was too injured to go any further. Tears of sadness of course followed, but not so much from the pain that Sam was experiencing, but the pain of what could be- what should be.
Sam was dubbed early on as a competitor. She was going to make her mark on our team early leading her coaches to believe she would be a freshman starting varsity. What became obvious as her freshman season and each season progressed after was that running for Sam was not going to be marked with the varsity experience we had hoped. Instead, it was going to be marked with enduring pain plagued with injuries and frustrations over what she should be achieving.

The battles and adversities a cross country runner faces are present even when there is no injury to report. The searing heat of August , September and October never make the sport all too appealing to most. The effort it takes to train for three miles is what some would assume is more like training for a marathon. The long hours, early mornings and Saturday meets would be sure to knock anyone down who is constantly working through injury and illness.

But not Sam.

Through it all, Sam remains steadfast in her efforts to improve, to run faster- heck, just to finish a season healthy is considered a success. In her senior year her personality has shown that it is the smiles she provides for others, her willingness to improve and her desire to remain a part of a team that makes her a true success story in our program.

Going the Distance ... Kasey Tippets

What do you do when you follow a successful older sibling? That's the dilemma a lot of kids have to face their whole lives, putting up with comments from teachers like, "oh, you're so-and-so's sister"  or "your brother was a great athlete" or "why can't you be more like your sister?"  Ok, maybe the last question doesn't get voiced very often, but I think you get my drift. Being the next in line isn't always what it may seem. 

Kasey Tippets had the task of following in Kelsi's footsteps, and despite Kelsi's diminutive size, she left big prints. Her cross country career was one that littered the record books.  For many, following such an example would cause them to find an even darker shadow to hide in, not wanting to be compared. For others, the best option is to go competely the opposite -- where "big brother" found success, "little brother" finds rebellion or apathy.

Kasey found the middle road and has smiled the whole way through. She was never driven to match her big sister's athletic accomplishments ... being a contributing member of the pack was more to her liking than leading the pack.  Kasey has cheerfully divided her time between running and soccer.  Her marks have been good enough to earn her a varsity letter each of the previous three seasons.  Through it all, she's kept her sense of humor, never taking herself too seriously, always one to quickly crack a joke or play a prank. We could always count on Kasey keeping things light and loose.  Whether it was at the race course or colliding with fire hydrants and tripping over cracks in the sidewalks in practice, laughter accompanied her almost every mile of the way.

Kasey will graduate having gone all four years, just like her big sis'.  But that's where the comparison ends.  She never tried to mimic or match her big sister, she just cheerfully went her own direction, making the path uniquely and successfully hers. 

Given the option many of the younger siblings in sports take, this one wasn't bad. 

Homecoming, 2010

Two of King XC's own, Carrie Soholt and Lane Werley were selected to be part of the 2010 Homecoming court! It was a fun night, Carrie was crowned "Princess".  Here are are few images from the night.