PEORIA — The Peoria Rivermen climbed the hilltop with Bradley University vice president of intercollegiate athletics Chris Reynolds in a stirring, one-of-a-kind moment Thursday at Carver Arena.
It was a stunning intersection of two major Peoria athletic entities not expected to be seen together, one a guest in support of the other in its pursuit of a hockey championship.
Reynolds, who oversees the Bradley men’s basketball team among the array of sports programs at the university, delivered a 26-minute, emotional speech to the Rivermen, seeded No. 1 in the SPHL playoffs and about to embark on a best-of-5 semifinals series.
One More Push. It was both a message from Reynolds, and a postseason theme chosen by the Rivermen and echoed on T-shirts worn by the team.
“The idea of One More Push is something that I have lived,” Reynolds said as players and coaching staff leaned in, riveted. “That P is persistence. All that matters is right now. And it has to be every day. And every day and every day and every day. There are no days off if we’re talking about trying to win a championship. It’s not just the game, it’s practice. It’s every moment when you leave the venue. What I’ve learned is that people that do things at an elite level, they don’t just love it. It’s what they do, it’s who they are, it’s what they breathe.
“… The P is Persistence. If we’re not serious about that, then like, what are we doing? We’re talking about one more push, one more push, well it’s not just pushing on Tuesday, it’s not just pushing on Thursday, it’s pushing every single day. And quite frankly, not everyone can do that.”
Reynolds talked about his days as a basketball player at Indiana playing for Bobby Knight. His driveway dream as a kid picturing playing in the Final Four, and how it was exactly how he dreamed it when it really happened and he was introduced in the lineup.
He talked about his wife giving birth to their daughter, and the doctor telling her “One more push.”
He talked about leadership, and how the other team had a T-shirt, too, and didn’t care how much the Rivermen had accomplished. They just wanted to win.
The players were locked in. Their playoff T-shirts read “20 Strong” on the front and “One More Push on the back.”
One More P.U.S.H.
These are words Chris Reynolds lives by. Push is an acronym he created: Persistence. Unique. Strong. Hunter.
He talked about each part, how it inspired him through his life, and how he realized it was more than a guardrail for sports.
“Many people don’t get there (in sports),” Reynolds said. “And the reason is they fail to give one more push. How many dreams are stillborn? One more push. How many dreams don’t come to fruition? Because they simply couldn’t give it One. More. PUSH.
“You guys have been working for how many months? Don’t get soft now, don’t get weak now, don’t get tired now. Now is the time to dig in and give it one more push. When you see your brother getting tired, because we get tired, we’re human beings, right? … pick your brother up and tell your brother, ‘Let’s give it one more push.’
“When you see your brother getting distracted, maybe in film session, look him in the eye and tell him, ‘Let’s give it one more push.’ When you feel like ‘I don’t have anything left,’ what I want you to say to yourself is, ‘I didn’t come this far, to only come this far. I got to give it one more push.’ And I believe if we can do this, I believe the rest of our lives can be the best of our lives.”
And then he paused, in the middle of the room, and screamed “LET’S GO GET ‘EM” and triggered a roar from the players.
Reynolds went around the room and greeted each player, then head coach Jean-Guy Trudel, then walked out of the locker room and headed back to the Hilltop.
How Chris Reynolds ended up with the Rivermen
Rivermen director of business development Andrew Cohen was in attendance March 12 at the annual 40 Leaders Under 40 banquet, where Reynolds was a speaker.
Reynolds spoke on leadership and mentioned his One More Push doctrine and Cohen was captivated.
The Rivermen, searching for a motivational playoff theme, put it on their players’ T-shirts. Trudel wanted Reynolds to speak to his veteran team.
The Rivermen reached out to Reynolds, the Bradley athletics leader and former chairman of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament selection committee.
On less than 24 hours notice, he said yes and arrived after practice Thursday. A humble character, Reynolds asked that no video of his talk be published. Some of what he said in his speech remains private, meant just for the team. But it was a captivating 26 minutes.
“That was just a sick performance,” Trudel said afterward. “Amazing. Inspiring. It’s a different voice delivering a big message, and that’s what we wanted for our players. Did you see how locked in they were? They got the message. We can’t thank Dr. Reynolds enough.”
Rivermen veteran winger JM Piotrowski said he found himself wanting to talk to Reynolds afterward. Peoria veteran captain Alec Baer found inspiration that struck hard.
“He accomplished getting his message to us, a different voice with an important message,” Baer said. “It wasn’t just about sports. It was about life.”
Dave Eminian is the Journal Star senior writer and sports columnist, and covers Bradley men’s basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: ‘One more push’: Bradley athletics chief delivers stirring message to Rivermen
Reporting by Dave Eminian, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
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