Joe Ehrmann
Joe Ehrmann
Former NFL star Joe Ehrmann’s coaching style still resonates with Zach Skipper, just as it did when he first read about the coach a decade ago.
For Ehrmann, sports are a vehicle to build young men and women into people of character and conviction, Skipper said, and that’s a message he’s excited for Ehrmann to share with Birmingham on Nov. 6.
Ehrmann will speak on “Building Men and Women for Others” at Samford University’s Wright Center starting at 7 p.m. that evening.
“We need more coaches who coach like this guy, who are worried not as much about wins and losses as much as the people [the athletes] are becoming,” said Skipper, who coaches football, basketball and tennis at Mountain Brook Junior High School. “Coaches are one of the loudest voices in the life of an athlete.”
Skipper emphasized that he would like to see school and recreational coaches, as well as what he calls “parent-coaches,” come out to the Wright Center on Nov. 6.
“Every parent in a lot of ways is a coach,” he said. “[Ehrmann] will speak not just to sports fanatics but also to anyone who works with students and children. They have a platform to shape a [youth’s] life into a person that shapes others.”
Coach Pat Sullivan is planning to bring his football players from Samford to hear Ehrmann that evening.
Ehrmann was an All-American football player at Syracuse University before playing for the Baltimore Colts in the NFL for 13 years.
Since his football career ended, he has dedicated his time to coaching young people, earning the title of “The Most Important Coach in America” by Parade magazine and becoming the subject of a New York Times best-seller on team building and coaching called Season of Life — the book that first introduced Skipper to Ehrmann. Ehrmann has also written a book of his own, InSideOut Coaching: How Sports Can Transform Lives.
The speaking event is sponsored by BigTime Ministries, which holds community interdenominational Bible studies in Mountain Brook and Chelsea. Skipper, who leads the organization, said its Bible study leaders are also involved in coaching in the community.
Tickets for the Ehrmann event are $10. For tickets, visit tickets.samford.edu or call 726-2853.
