Go Big Grad | Tom Osborne Commencement Address

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05/10/2021 Added

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Tom Osborne told the University of Nebraska–Lincoln’s largest-ever graduating class to begin with the end in mind, find meaning and purpose through service and look at adversity as an opportunity. The former Nebraska football coach, athletic director and congressman delivered the keynote address, “Begin with the End in Mind,” during the undergraduate commencement ceremonies May 8 at Memorial Stadium. https://news.unl.edu/newsrooms/today/article/tom-osborne-will-address-nebraska-s-may-graduates/

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[00:00:06.390]Ronnie Green: Today, our graduates are seated on Tom
[00:00:09.030]Osborne field, which was so named to honor the legacy of a
[00:00:13.170]man whose impact on our university and our state lives
[00:00:16.770]on long past his storied coaching career.
[00:00:22.730]A native of Hastings, he earned his bachelor's degree at
[00:00:26.300]Hastings College and enjoyed a brief Playing career in the
[00:00:29.780]National Football League. He earned his master's and doctoral
[00:00:33.680]degrees in educational psychology here at Nebraska,
[00:00:37.280]while serving as an assistant coach under the legendary Bob
[00:00:40.880]Devaney. Osborne was named head coach in 1973. And over the next
[00:00:46.280]25 years, established himself as one of the best coaches in
[00:00:50.270]college football history.
[00:00:52.160]Announcer: The career ending victory, only fitting that it
[00:00:55.040]would end with a victory in the national championship
[00:00:57.860]for Tom Osborne. He leaves us with 255 wins.
[00:01:03.170]Ronnie Green: He guided Nebraska to 13 conference titles and
[00:01:06.980]three national championships, and he helped Nebraska claim the
[00:01:11.060]most Academic All Americans in the nation. He was elected to
[00:01:15.800]the College Football Hall of Fame in 1999. Retired from
[00:01:20.930]coaching Tom taught graduate courses at Nebraska for two
[00:01:24.800]years before he was elected to represent Nebraska's third
[00:01:28.160]district in the US House of Representatives. It in 2007,
[00:01:33.320]Osborne returned to the university to serve as athletic
[00:01:36.410]director leading Husker athletics into the big 10
[00:01:39.890]conference, Dr. Osborne continues a lifelong commitment
[00:01:43.910]to education. The Teammates Program founded by Tom and his
[00:01:48.980]partner in life, Nancy today provides support and
[00:01:52.550]encouragement to more than 10,000 school aged youth in
[00:01:56.030]multiple states.
[00:01:58.490]Our very own Scott Frost played for Osborne on the 1995 and 97,
[00:02:04.550]national champion teams.
[00:02:06.230]Scott Frost: I think the legacy is the people that he's helped
[00:02:08.540]to change into mold. I'm one of those, if you talk to any player
[00:02:12.380]that's ever played for him, they'll talk to you about the
[00:02:14.720]impact that coach Osborne had on them. Teammates has impacted
[00:02:18.800]1000s of more people, both mentors and mentees. He really
[00:02:23.510]has dedicated his life to making the people of Nebraska better
[00:02:26.930]and the state of Nebraska better.
[00:02:30.320]Ronnie Green: Please welcome Dr. Tom Osborne to deliver the
[00:02:33.680]commencement address. His remarks today are titled: Begin
[00:02:37.850]With the End in Mind.
[00:02:53.450]Tom Osborne: Thank you very much. Appreciate it very much.
[00:02:57.860]Unknown: The introduction may exceed in value the actual
[00:03:02.090]speech. And first of all, I want to congratulate you graduates,
[00:03:08.840]big milestone for you. I want to congratulate your parents
[00:03:12.530]upon not having to play it pay as much tuition. And this, I've
[00:03:18.560]been in the stadium now several thousand times. And this is the
[00:03:22.490]first time I've looked like it. And I'm sure my players are very
[00:03:27.140]impressed.
[00:03:28.310]And I want to want to do is talk to you a little bit about a few
[00:03:32.690]things that might, might help you away along the way of life
[00:03:37.040]journey. Because this is kind of a beginning and an end. It's the
[00:03:42.590]end for most of you of your formal education, but it's the
[00:03:47.540]beginning of your life as an adult, and the journey that's
[00:03:54.890]going to be very interesting for all of you. There was a book
[00:03:59.240]written by Stephen Covey several years ago, called the Seven
[00:04:03.380]Habits of Highly Effective People, not necessarily people
[00:04:07.070]who made the most money, but people who live their lives,
[00:04:10.820]especially in an especially effective way.
[00:04:15.050]And I'm not going to talk about all seven habits. I'm only gonna
[00:04:17.480]talk about one, and that was the second habit that he mentioned.
[00:04:22.790]And what he said was is he said most of those effective people
[00:04:27.860]began with the end in mind. And so he suggested that you sit
[00:04:33.020]down and think maybe this evening, about what would you
[00:04:36.920]want a family member to say about you, at the end of your
[00:04:41.210]life? What would you want a friend to say about you at the
[00:04:46.160]end of your life? What would you want a colleague somebody who'd
[00:04:49.760]worked with you, associated with you for a long time, say about
[00:04:54.860]you at the end of your life?
[00:04:57.740]And he said you had to really think about those things.
[00:05:00.830]Because at the end of your life, those will be the things
[00:05:04.730]probably that will be most important. And so this is kind
[00:05:10.850]of important because your lifetime is a one shot deal.
[00:05:16.910]There aren't any mulligan's. You know, in golf, if you hit a bad
[00:05:19.520]shot. And you say, Well, I want a mulligan, you hit another one,
[00:05:23.630]but you don't have any more chances to do a second take on
[00:05:29.000]your life.
[00:05:30.440]So we spent about 90 to 100 hours preparing over here for a
[00:05:36.140]football game. And every bit of that preparation was with the
[00:05:41.150]end in mind, the fourth quarter, the last few minutes. So that we
[00:05:47.000]would be the best condition, the strongest, the team with the
[00:05:51.290]fewest turnovers. The team with the fewest mental mistakes, best
[00:05:56.210]kicking game and so on. That's what we did on Monday and
[00:05:58.520]Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday, and Friday.
[00:06:02.450]And so I think the main point here is that sometimes the view
[00:06:09.230]from the end provides more clarity going forward. And so I
[00:06:15.500]know some of you eventually will be considering marriage. And of
[00:06:21.800]course, what you want to think about is, how's this going to be
[00:06:26.300]50 years from now?
[00:06:28.520]Love is an emotion. It's also a commitment. Will that life
[00:06:33.650]partner be with you 50 years from now? Will they be
[00:06:37.880]steadfast? Will they be there through thick and thin?
[00:06:43.290]Some of you have job offers. And you may have one that pays more
[00:06:48.660]than another. And yet, the one that pays the most may not be
[00:06:54.300]the one that aligns most clearly with your strengths. It may not
[00:06:59.670]be the one that you're most enthused about. And so 40, 50
[00:07:04.620]years down the road, which fork in the road, you take may may
[00:07:10.080]make a big difference in where things end up.
[00:07:14.520]So sometimes beginning with the end in mind, is very
[00:07:18.810]instructive. And very important.
[00:07:22.920]Second thing I want to mention is a survey that I read a few
[00:07:27.690]years ago, I think Gallup did this. And Connie works with
[00:07:33.060]Gallup, obviously, and a fairly large segment of the American
[00:07:37.830]population was surveyed. And the question was asked, Are you
[00:07:43.260]happy? And the answer came back for the most part, yes.
[00:07:48.380]And happiness was primarily defined in terms of having
[00:07:52.490]enough shelter, transportation, discretionary wealth, their
[00:07:58.580]needs were met. And so this had to do primarily with getting
[00:08:04.370]receiving, sometimes taking. And then the question was asked,
[00:08:09.260]Does your life have meaning and purpose? Does it have
[00:08:12.620]significance? And the answer came back. Well, really not so
[00:08:17.990]much. And meaning and purpose really has to do more with
[00:08:23.930]giving, and serving and sometimes sacrificing. And so
[00:08:30.710]the issue of happiness is transitory.
[00:08:33.860]I got a new car recently, it's gonna get old pretty quick,
[00:08:38.180]because I drive pretty hard. And, and then you're on to the
[00:08:42.740]next thing. So you're happy for a while, and then you're seeking
[00:08:47.300]something else. And so it's transitory and is temporary. But
[00:08:51.890]meaning and purpose is enduring. Something that's with you all
[00:08:57.410]the time.
[00:08:59.420]And it has to do with a spiritual journey. We're all on
[00:09:03.650]such a thing. Spirituality is really defined primarily as
[00:09:09.140]dedication to a cause or a purpose that's as important or
[00:09:13.130]more important than you are. And so, one thing that we're
[00:09:17.690]involved with is mentoring.
[00:09:20.200]There's a young woman named Isabel out here among you today.
[00:09:26.980]And my wife started mentoring Isabel in the third grade. And
[00:09:32.770]so they were together for 12, 13 years. We're very proud of her
[00:09:37.480]and all that she's accomplished. But the reason I want to mention
[00:09:40.570]this, is that most of our mentors will say, you know, this
[00:09:43.750]is one of the most meaningful things that I've done in my
[00:09:46.840]life, giving my time, my interest, my devotion to this
[00:09:52.720]one person. And so there's lots of ways to enhance meaning and
[00:09:58.180]purpose in your life but always involves serving and giving, and
[00:10:02.560]so on.
[00:10:04.200]And lastly, let me just mention there's a statue over here on
[00:10:07.710]the north end of the building. There's an older guy with a
[00:10:12.960]baseball cap, and he's not very impressive. But there's a guy
[00:10:16.770]with him, in a football uniform. And that young guy's name was
[00:10:25.620]Brook. His number was 18. And so I'll tell you a quick story
[00:10:32.490]about him.
[00:10:34.140]He was a quarterback. And in 1994 season, long time ago, we
[00:10:40.020]had a great quarterback here named yTommie Frazier. He started
[00:10:43.830]the season really well. 1994, won three straight. And Tommie
[00:10:48.450]had an injury. And they said, he's done. Probably won't play
[00:10:52.200]again this year.
[00:10:53.960]So Brook was the number two quarterback and he stepped up.
[00:10:58.250]He's from a little town Goodland, Kansas, probably never
[00:11:01.460]played in front of more than 300 people before and we didn't know
[00:11:04.340]how he'd react.
[00:11:05.780]Played well, first game we won it. We were kind of surprised at
[00:11:08.630]how well he played. And then in the second game, he played well,
[00:11:12.590]and we were ahead. Towards the end of the game, he said he's a
[00:11:16.010]little bit short of breath. We won the game. Took him over to
[00:11:20.030]student health, found he had a collapsed lung. So they stuck
[00:11:24.320]a needle in there and inflated like a basketball. Said, well,
[00:11:28.100]we hope you'll be okay.
[00:11:30.290]And the next week, played again. Against Oklahoma State right out
[00:11:34.670]here about the 30 yard line toward the end of the game got
[00:11:37.970]hit again and was short of breath. And that lung had
[00:11:41.270]collapsed again, stuck another needle in there, inlated it. And
[00:11:46.910]they said well, if this happens again, he can't play anymore his
[00:11:50.000]year.
[00:11:51.380]And so we kind of held our breath. We won next game the
[00:11:54.710]next and the next. We won eight straight under Brook, went down
[00:11:58.790]to Miami, played Miami in the Orange Bowl for the national
[00:12:02.990]championship.
[00:12:05.010]Tommie had recovered, Tommie Frazier recovered and he played,
[00:12:08.100]Brook played. They both played well. Tommie was in there at the
[00:12:11.550]end. But the key part of the story was 1995, the next year,
[00:12:18.330]because they both came back.
[00:12:21.230]And both of them deserved to start . Wasn't their fault,
[00:12:25.400]Tommie's fault that he got hurt. And Brook did everything he
[00:12:29.270]could. And so we had players that favored Tommie and we had
[00:12:33.350]players who favored Brook and fans who favored one or the
[00:12:36.920]other. And so we said well, what we'll do is we'll grade fall
[00:12:42.260]camp, every snap and fall camp we're going to grade it and
[00:12:45.770]whoever has the best grade is going to end up being the
[00:12:49.520]starting quarterback.
[00:12:51.530]Well, Brook had one interception in fall camp and Tommy had none.
[00:12:55.910]And that was the difference. We handed Tommie the ball. He was
[00:13:00.260]surrounded by some really good players. And nobody came close
[00:13:04.520]to us all year. And Brook stood on the sidelines. He played some
[00:13:08.960]toward the end the game when we were way ahead. And it hurt him.
[00:13:14.240]I was in all the quarterback meetings and I know how he felt.
[00:13:17.840]And he was very disappointed. And so it was really difficult
[00:13:22.280]for him. But that's not really where the story ended.
[00:13:26.240]Because about this time of year. The end of that season, end of
[00:13:32.060]that year. He was about to graduate like you are about to
[00:13:36.380]be drafted in the NFL but to be married. He went out gotten a
[00:13:40.520]little Piper Cub that he'd been flying.
[00:13:42.420]I didn't even know he was flying, he had a pilot's
[00:13:44.070]license. Got up about 1500 feet. It was a windy day like today
[00:13:50.520]And the plane went down like a kite and it crashed and burned.
[00:13:50.700]and the engine quit. He could have lowered the nose. He could
[00:13:57.000]have glideded it in and landed a about 35 miles an hour and wou
[00:14:01.050]d have damaged the plane but he probably would have walke
[00:14:04.110]away. But he wanted to get ack to that little airstrip, did
[00:14:08.250]'t want to damage the plane. He los
[00:14:18.570]And the hardest phone call ever had to make was to his mother.
[00:14:23.070]And so the point is, is that Brook lost his life. And we went
[00:14:29.400]to that funeral out in Goodland, Kansas. There were five busloads
[00:14:33.390]of players. Nobody was required to go.
[00:14:37.410]But all five are filled with players every player went. And
[00:14:42.600]all along that road, there were people holding up signs and
[00:14:48.870]flowers dedicated to Brook. And so the reason he's on that
[00:14:54.090]statue is that he had more impact on our team and fans and
[00:15:00.720]other people, than any player that I coached. And so that's
[00:15:07.170]why he's there.
[00:15:09.170]But the point, the thing I want to get across, Brook encounters
[00:15:13.580]some adversity. And when adversity hits, you can handle
[00:15:18.710]it in one of three ways. One, you can quit, could have quit
[00:15:22.430]the team, or her could shut it down, he could have just kind of
[00:15:26.780]drifted on out, done what he had to do. But he prepared every
[00:15:31.460]game. And he served. He talked at innumerable elementary
[00:15:41.240]schools, middle schools, high schools, he visited people in
[00:15:46.190]hospitals. He answered every letter that was written to him,
[00:15:50.750]he signed autographs. And throughout that last year, he
[00:15:55.730]supported Tommie. He supported his teammates. He did everything
[00:16:00.500]he could. And so he served and he sacrificed. And I think as a
[00:16:05.690]result, he made the greatest impact.
[00:16:10.100]And so the thing that I want to point out too, is that how you
[00:16:14.120]handle adversity, you're going to have a lot to do with what
[00:16:19.010]you end up with at the end of your life. Because you can quit,
[00:16:23.150]you can blame. Or you can see it as an opportunity, an
[00:16:26.570]opportunity to learn something an opportunity to get better.
[00:16:29.510]And so I just want to leave you with those thoughts that you
[00:16:33.410]might want to think about beginning with the end in mind.
[00:16:37.400]Find meaning and purpose through serving. And then lastly, look
[00:16:43.190]at adversity as an opportunity.
[00:16:45.680]I want to cry congratulate you again, and all you've
[00:16:48.170]accomplished.
[00:16:48.890]I wish you the very best for the rest of your life.
[00:16:52.790]It's been a real honor for me to have this opportunity to speak
[00:16:55.460]to you today. Thank you very much.

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Go Big Grad | Tom Osborne Commencement Address

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