Mitch Dorr
This past weekend, I was blessed with a chaotic schedule that included football, family, and friends. Theweekend was also a great reminder to me of the life-lasting relationships that are formed through the great game of football.
On Friday, June 26, my family left for Sartell, Minnesota at 7:00 a.m. Five and a half hours and 270 miles of driving later, I dropped off my wife and kids at my sisterin law’s, said a quick hello, and then headed to Golden Valley just outside of Minneapolis.
After another 90 miles of driving, I relaxed for a little while before meeting up with long-time high school friend Patrick Duffy. “Duff” as we used to call him, graduated with me in 1993. We have played football and basketball together since we were in elementary school.
Duffy has a beautiful family of four and is now the assistant principal at Edina High School. We talked for about ninety minutes and while our conversation wasn’t about the past, after leaving his place, I thought of countless memories Pat and I have had together…many of them on the football field.
Adam Dorr with his “hero” Miles Drake at the All-Star game. Photo by Mitch Dorr
I then got in the van and departed for Saint Peter, Minnesota to attend the recognition dinner for the Minnesota High School All- Star Football game. Cook County’s own Miles Drake was selected to the team this year.
75 miles later I arrived with ten minutes to spare. I met Miles and his mother Rachel, and enjoyed a great banquet that celebrated the 80 players that were selected for this year’s All-Star game.
Miles is a terrific young man and I am extremely proud of his success. More importantly, however, I am proud of the young man he has become. He is humble, good-natured, and always thinking of others. In addition, he is comfortable being himself and has never felt the need to try to impress others by being something he is not. At the dinner, he was an outstanding representative of Cook County High School.
Following the dinner at 9:30 p.m., my original intentions were to drive back to Sartell. I called my brother, a 1997 graduate of Cook County, on a whim and he was actually home in the Cities; back from his job in Oklahoma for just a few days. At 11:20 p.m. I was on his deck and we were talking high school football, life, and everything else you can think of.
The next morning, I drove back to Sartell and took my oldest son Adam to his firstever football clinic at St. Cloud State University. The All-Star game put on a free youth football camp before the All-Star Football game started. Adam was in heaven.
As I watched Adam go through the various drills, my brother showed up out of nowhere. I had once taken the basketball team to the Cities on a state tournament trip and we stayed at Rich’s place. My brother remembered Miles and thought he would come up to watch him in the game and see his nephew play some football.
When the camp finished, Viking Hall-of-famer Matt Blair spoke to the kids. I asked Adam if he wanted to get his picture taken with him. Adam was so excited to see his uncle that he told me, “No, I just want my picture with Miles after the game.”
After dinner, we walked into the game and met up with Sammy Warren, Tait Sande, and the Hommerding family who all made the trip for the game. Adam was excited to watch Miles’ game while sitting next to Sammy (class of 2009), Tait (2008), and Brock (2010).
Above us in the bleachers were former Cook County All-State football player Erik Anderson (2000) and his dad Lyle (Minnesota Hall-of-Fame football coach). When the game ended, we went down on the field to see Miles. With all kinds of people around congratulating him, his first response was to ask Adam how his football camp went. What kind of high school athlete continually thinks of others before himself? Miles Drake is one classy young man.
Adam got his picture with Miles and our two days of football had gradually come to an end. All of the relationships over the weekend had somehow been either formed or strengthened through the great game of football. While football isn’t the sole reason for any of those relationships, it is nonetheless an element of all of them.
When young men go through trials, tribulations, and successes together in their quest towards a common goal, they form life-lasting relationships. While culture likes to define success by wins on the field or money in the bank, the real measure of a man is the relationships he has in his life.
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