The Big Three and Me

There are three men whom I look up to, not counting my Dad. Dad is in his own league in that regard.

But the others are not men I know, just men I look up to. I guess they’re my heroes. I’ve read about them, watched them in person when I’ve been able to and generally tried to appreciate what has made them stand out in their field. What has made them succeed in situations where others failed.

The three legends of whom I write are John Wayne, Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant and A.J. Foyt Jr. Wayne, aka The Duke, is Hollywood’s greatest actor. Bryant is the greatest football coach of all time. And A.J. is the greatest race driver the world has yet produced.

Not too long ago I was wrestling with an important matter, something of serious concern to me. This deal was of such monstrous import that I still get mad when I think about it. And, as hard as I tried, I failed to find a solution to my problem.

Well, I have a copy of a drawing of The Duke in costume as Rooster Cogburn hanging above my desk and, glancing at it, I asked out loud, “What would The Duke do?” The answer came quickly: The Duke would fire a straight right, drop the guy who was causing me such mental anguish, and continue about his business.

Okay, can’t do that.

The Bear was next, but he was no help either. Coach Bryant simply wasn’t fool enough to get himself into such a box.

That left A.J. Well, A.J. wouldn’t be against dropping the guy with a straight right (see The Duke above), but he’d more likely blow the guy’s doors off going into Turn 1 and flip the guy off while he was doing so. Then Foyt would go on to win the race and cuss the guy out during the winner’s interview.

But the question here is what The Big Three have in common and it’s probably more than you realize.

Two of the three played college football (Bear and The Duke) and I believe A.J. played high school ball. All three had strong family backgrounds and they were born in approximately the same central region of the country (Duke in Iowa, Bear in Arkansas and A.J. in Texas). All three are self-made. All lived with their successes on the national stage (except Duke, who lived with his on the national sound set) and did the same with their failures.

And all three had strong personalities that seemed to say that they knew where they were headed and, “You can walk with me, you can follow behind me or you can get the heck out of my way.”

Now go back to the problem I was wrestling with before I glanced at the framed sketch of The Duke on the wall. With all this iconic imagery for guidance, I made my decision and did what all rugged individualists do in times of stress: I called my sister. She’s a lawyer.

Thanks for reading!!