Charlie Adams: The Day Billy Brewer Shook My Hand

I can still vividly remember Ole Miss football coach Billy Brewer coming across the room to shake my hand.

Billy Brewer  File photo. 

The football banquet for the 1992 Rebels season had just finished. David Kellum, the radio voice of the team, would have emceed the event as usual but something significant had come up causing him to miss the event, so he asked me to fill in. As a broadcast journalist and speaker, I was glad to do it. Especially since I was an Ole Miss alumnus and had covered Coach Brewer’s 1983 arrival to Ole Miss back when I was a student journalist.

I put in a lot of prep work and the night went very well. That would have been the senior season of the late, the legendary Chucky Mullins. I still remember being at the 1992 Liberty Bowl and the clock stopping at :38 (Chucky’s number) in the final minute for a stop in action. There was an aura of extra significance for the banquet after that season because of it having been his senior season, so I did everything I could to do as well as I could and fill in for the always professional Kellum.

I didn’t really know Brewer that well. He probably did not remember me from covering him as a student in 1983 and 1984 before graduating. He could have put on his jacket and just left once the evening was over, but he made a straight line for me afterwards, shook my hand firmly, looked me right in the eyes and said, “That was a really good job, son.” He paused. “Really good. Thank you.”

And he left.

To this day I remember the sincerity of it. It gave me confidence in the future when I became a professional inspirational speaker, but more importantly it made me feel good because he appreciated the effort I put into that night.

As busy as you get in your life, never underestimate the power of taking the time to personally thank someone for a job well done. When you mean it sincerely, and they know they are being appreciated for having put forth effort to whatever their performance has been, it will bean SO much to them.

Charlie Adams was born in Oxford in 1962. He was a 1980 graduate of Lafayette High School and a 1985 graduate of Ole Miss. Following a television news career, Charlie has focused on delivering inspirational keynotes, seminars and writings. He can be reached at charlie@stokethefirewithin.com.