SOUTH BEND —No compendium of famous quotations from public figures over the past half-century would be complete without a healthy dose of Lou Holtz.
The former Notre Dame football coach from 1986-96, who died March 4 in Orlando, Fla., at age 89, was a lifelong font of wisdom, humorous quips and motivational stories.
It’s no surprise that along the way he walked with presidents, military leaders, captains of industry and even entertainers such as Bob Hope, Regis Philbin and others. Such was his gift of pithy, self-deprecating jokes and thought-provoking observations.
Here’s a sampling from across the decades:
On his appearance
“You’ll notice I stand 5-feet-10, weigh 152 pounds, wear glasses, speak with a lisp and have a physique that appears like I’ve been afflicted with beriberi and scurvy most of my life. I didn’t have an awful lot of talent then. I don’t have an awful lot now.”
On his summer job at William & Mary in 1963
“I said to my wife, ‘Honey, I’ve got a job. I’m going to sell cemetery plots.’ She said, ‘You won’t sell anything.’ I made up my mind I was going to prove her wrong. That summer I sold our car, our stereo, our TV. I sold everything we owned, but I’ve yet to sell a single cemetery plot.”
On bluntness
“I didn’t realize that I offended people. I just think you say what’s on your heart and you try to find out what people are going to react to, but what’s really amazing is the great competitors always respond very positively.”
On humility
“A guy introduced me one time, he said, ‘I want to introduce Lou Holtz, the greatest coach in the country.’ He said, ‘Now if you go in the city, you can find a lot of ‘em better than he is, but if you stay in the country, he’s not a bad football coach.’ “
“When I was at Arkansas, we beat Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl and they put me in the Hall of Fame, made a commemorative stamp honoring Lou Holtz. Put my picture on the stamp. That was impressive. The next year we had to do away with the stamp after Texas beat us. People kept spitting on the wrong side of it.”
On the media
“If I had one life to give, it would probably be someone in the news media.”
On being underpaid at Notre Dame
“(Former Notre Dame athletic director) Dick Rosenthal, when we signed that contract, he said to me, ‘Now Lou, I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t say anything about salary at the press conference.’ I said, ‘Don’t worry about that, Dick. I’m as embarrassed about it as you are. I won’t say anything.’ “
On salesmanship
“You’re not selling automobiles. You’re not selling anything in this world. There’s nobody that sells anything. You’re answering the needs of other people. You’re helping other people solve a problem. We are trying to help other people get what they want. If we help them get what they want, we in turn will get anything in this world we want. I’ve tried to follow that philosophy … and it has never failed me.”
On air travel
“There’s not a business in operation today that isn’t in it to help other people — with the possible exception of the airlines that I fly regularly. I went up to the lady, I said, ‘I’d like this bag to go to New York, that one to Los Angeles and this bag to Chicago.’ She said, ‘Oh, we can’t do that.’ I said, ‘You did it last week when I flew with your airline.’ “
On dreams
“I’m a teacher and I love to get people to dream. I think if we don’t dream, we don’t live. I think you’ve got to have dreams. I don’t care whether you’re 15 or whether you’re 60. We have to dream. Martin Luther King didn’t stand up and say, ‘I’ve got a strategic plan.’ “
On ribbing his players
“To Jerome Bettis … I’ve always felt you had a brain like just like Einstein. Been dead since 1955.”
“(Former Irish kicker) Craig Hentrich said, ‘We’re the only school in America that travels with one kicker and two priests.’ Every other team in America traveled with two kickers. We had to travel with two priests. I said, ‘If you’d kick better, we’d only need one priest.’ “
On pregame instructions before toppling No. 1 Miami in 1988
“I want to see a class operation. Now, after we win the game, if Miami wants to fight, fine. We’ll meet ‘em in the alley. And if they do, you save Jimmy Johnson’s ass for me.”
On his final resting place
“When they get ready to bury me, I hope they’ll bury me here at Notre Dame like the alumni have been doing every Saturday.”
On goals
“Not to know where you want to go is just as difficult as to come back from a place you’ve never been. You’ve got to know where you want to go, you have to set a goal, write it down and believe it. Goals cure boredom in life. If you’re bored with life, you just haven’t set your goals high enough.”
On self-discipline
“Success is obtained by uncommon people. It’s obtained by uncommon people willing to do the things a common person won’t do. Because a common person is basically lazy. The ability to achieve a goal is the ability to say no to things you know you should not be doing. The things that you have a tendency to put off, you’ve got to make action and you’ve got to do it now.”
“Life is nothing more than a matter of choices. Wherever you are, good or bad, it’s because of choices you make.”
On leadership
“The one thing I never want an athlete to say is, ‘If Coach Holtz only believed in us, if he only knew how good we wanted to be or what price we were willing to pay, we could’ve been great.’ “
On self-limitation
“The biggest mistake we make is to undersell ourselves. The world is filled with people that aren’t willing to pay the price from time to time. Not enough of us believe in ourselves.”
“So many times we let what we don’t have keep us from using what we do have. You can do anything in this world you want if you’re willing to pay the price.”
On personality
“You’ve got to be agreeable with people. It’s easy to be argumentative with people, especially when you don’t feel well. But you can never win if you get in an argument and become disagreeable with people.”
On commitment
“We need to be involved. We need to be committed. I don’t want the Kamikaze pilot that flew 54 different missions. That means, ‘I couldn’t find anything, but I’ll try again tomorrow.’ A commitment isn’t, ‘I’m going to try.’ A commitment is, ‘I’ll get it done.’ “
On listening
“Remember the Lord gave you two ears and one mouth because you should listen twice as much as you speak. Communication is liking somebody enough to give them your time and attention, to listen to them. What do people want? People want to feel important. And you make people feel important when you give them your time, when you listen to them.”
On positive impact
“Make other people feel better for having been around you. Let them know that you really care about them personally.”
On enthusiasm
“You’re either going to be enthusiastic or you’re going to be filled with self-pity. You are not going to have both. Enthusiasm will turn fatigue into energy; it will turn average into greatness. And self-pity will destroy any potential you have.”
“Be enthusiastic in whatever you do. Whatever you’re doing, have fun, enjoy it. People say, ‘You have fun doing TV.’ Not necessarily. I may have a headache. I’m going to have fun once they turn that light on. I always had fun coaching. I had fun recruiting. If you have fun doing something, people will be a part of that.
On personal growth
“You’re either growing or you’re dying. A tree is either growing or it’s dying. So is a person, so is a business. You get comfortable … and you say, ‘Let’s keep it here. Let’s not take any risks, let’s not jeopardize. Let’s maintain it.’ And anytime you try to maintain any phase of your life, you’re dying.”
“When I left Notre Dame I thought I was tired of coaching. I wasn’t. I was tired of maintaining. And when I got out, I had that same empty feeling because you have to have something to hope for.”
“I always say this: ‘I’m not what I ought to be, I’m not what I’m going to be and I’m not what I can be. But thank God I’m not what I used to be.’ “
On authenticity
“You need to be you. You just can’t be anybody else but be yourself. You need to keep improving yourself, but don’t try to impersonate anybody else.”
On purpose
“The two most important days of your life are the day you’re born and the other is the day you discover why you’re born.”
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: The wit and wisdom of late Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz
Reporting by Mike Berardino, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
