Ole Pappy
I was in the interview room when Justin Morris, Lyle/Pacelli coach shed a few tears with the reporters because he was coaching his team to his last games — which ended with a state championship.
Minnesota High School League reporter John Millea, in his column John’s Journal wrote, “Morris has been the head coach at Lyle/Pacelli since 2012 and this will be his final season with the team, which is a cooperative effort between Lyle High School and Pacelli Catholic in Austin.”
“The coach’s reason for moving from Austin to Omaha last summer sprang from an encounter after the 2015 state tournament.
At a welcome home rally for the team, Morris was interviewed by a reporter from KAAL TV in Rochester. Her name is Megan Stewart; they ended up dating, are now engaged and they will be married in her hometown of Lakeville this summer,” wrote Millea in an earlier article.
After Stewart took a job at KMTV in Omaha early last year, Justin followed; he works as a senior vice president of a banking company.
In the postgame press conference Thursday, Justin opened by saying, “Last time I was here, I met my future wife. True story.”
Millea also wrote, “Morris wanted to finish the story this season with the team’s three seniors: Brooke Walter, Kristi Fett and Kendal Truckenmiller. Fett, the 6-foot-5 center who has signed with Minnesota State Mankato, had a game-high 25 points and 18 rebounds Thursday and scored 17 points with 14 rebounds against Minneota.”
“Playing without their coach at some practices and games meant the athletes had to take more responsibility, Kristi Fett said.”
“It made us step up more. It brought us extremely close as a team because we knew that we had the responsibility, the whole team together. Most people probably think, ‘How can that work? You’re how far away and you’re the head coach?’ ” Oh it worked. Morris has added up the miles he has driven during this basketball season.
The grand total is right around 23,000 miles on the road between his home in Omaha, Nebraska, and the team he coaches in southern Minnesota.
— Thanks John Millea for the information you provided.
LAUGH A LITTLE: Tell or interrupt Middle age couple went on a two week vacation. Few days after they returned some friends invited them over. First question was, “How was the vacation?”
The husband looked to his wife and asked, “You want to do the telling or interrupting?” Pain in the teeth! The same husband asks his wife why she never gets mad when they have a disagreement.
He asks how she controls her stress. She said, “I go clean the toilet with your tooth brush”.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: As my Ole Pappy used to say, “Love is like a fire. It can warm your heart — just don’t let it burn down your house.”
Ole Pappy had this fantastic love for his family, his friends and mostly his Lord. And he didn’t waste it, but passed it on.
Thanks Ole Pappy!