I really need to tell you about Mr. Mac. If you have been here before you have read a couple of posts that include Mr. Mac as part of the story. The main reason for that is because Mr. Mac was such a big part of my life. He came to Loop, Texas as a coach when I was still in elementary. As is the case with a lot of coaches he later became the high school principle, and when our Superintendent, Mr. Puyear retired, Mr. McDonald moved into that position. 

He was a man of intensity. A man who commanded respect. I know a lot of us were a little afraid of him when we first came to know him. I know some of the guys who played football for him didn’t like him, but I also know a lot of them did. I first started to get to know him better as a junior high basketball player. (That’s middle school for you pc folks.) He worked us hard, but I always knew he was doing it for us. He saw enough in this mighty mite of a kid to include me on the traveling squad. I’ll never forget not sleeping well the night before we were to find out who would get to travel to the games. When he called my name it was to me, an endorsement, a belief that I could play the game, that I had accomplished something. 

I’m sure you can find a few of the former Loop High School students who never really came to appreciate Mr. Mac the way I did. I had been taught discipline and respect at home, so when he ask for respect and self-discipline, I was ready to give it. Here’s the thing, Mr. Mac would do anything he possibly could to help us, if we were willing to help ourselves. He taught us how to conduct ourselves, and how to become young men of responsibility, and he reinforced the lessons we were being taught at home. Over time many of us came to the point of being friends with Mr. Mac, and that was great because now we could still respect him, and learn even better the kind of man he was. 

I keep wanting to get into some of the things that we did that involved him, but I will be doing that from time to time in my post. So, for now I’ll just tell you Mr. Mac was a fair man, if you tried, he helped you all he could. If you didn’t care, he still cared, but I don’t really think you got to know him the way some of us did. 

 He was and is an Aggie’s, Aggie. He took my son to show him around the A&M campus, and you could actually feel the emotion he carries for the school. I remember telling one too many aggie jokes one night as the emcee of a fundraiser. Throughout the evening we had been auctioning ourselves to the highest bidder in return for a day of work. As I delivered the punch line he came walking up from the back of the auditorium, proclaiming as he walked, “I’m buying Smith right now!”  I sure was glad the work day didn’t start right then because if it had, I might not be writing this post right now. 

Years later, I had the privilege of being one of the speakers at his retirement roast. It was a great evening, filled with stories and exaggerations, but I am quite sure I didn’t tell any aggie jokes. Once it came his turn to speak Mr. McDonald told the crowd, “All of Kent Smith’s life, he has struggled and worked hard to be the best at whatever he was involved in, and tonight, I want to announce to you that Kent Smith is the youngest ever President of the Texas Independent Ginner Association.”  

Now that’s my main man Mr. Fred McDonald. He had the chance to roast me well done, but instead he gave me honor. I’ll be sharing some tall tales that include Mr. Mac from time to time, but for now I want to finish with this.  Mr. Mac. whatever I have become, whatever I have accomplished, has been in part because you gave yourself to me. You were an example, a counselor, a motivator, and a confidant.  Thank you, and I don’t think I’ve ever told you this before, I love you friend. 

Till next time,

Grump

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009 at 9:43 am and is filed under Life Learned Lessons and Observations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.