|Peter Boettke|
I am a sucker for sports films, well basically anything sports. This is one of my favorite scenes from The Natural.
Last week -- Thursday May 20th 2021 -- I was inducted into my HS Hall of Fame. I was inducted under the heading of "accomplished professional", but in her introduction, Principal Feeley discussed my books, my teaching, and my coaching, as well as the institutions that I have attended and worked at, and the places I have been and awards I have won over the years.
Back in the fall of 1977, when they take your yearbook photo they asked us to write down something that was supposed to capture ourselves and our time at ALJ and our hopes for the future. In mine, I mention basketball, I mention Rosemary, and I quoted this passage -- Live as if you will die tomorrow, Learn as if you will live forever. My HS basketball coach gave us quotes to think about as we pursued our hoop dreams, and this one stuck with me.
Anyway, here were my remarks accepting my induction.
Thank you Principal Feeley for that kind introduction and to Billy Bell for nominating me, and for the Hall of Fame Committee for selecting me. I also want to congratulate the other inductees tonight, and congratulate the scholarship award winners from the senior class of ALJ.
I only wish my parents were still alive to be here with me tonight. They would have been both thrilled and surprised. Thrilled because they devoted their lives to building a loving and nurturing home for my brother Fred, sister Sue and myself here in Clark, NJ. And, it was that and Clark was a wonderful town to grow up in. Surprised because to be honest, I was a mediocre student and mediocre athlete in HS. BUT, I had extraordinary teachers and classmates that taught me how to learn, and I had extraordinary coaches and teammates that taught me how to compete. Life long learning and competing everyday to be better than you were yesterday have been two guiding principles ever since. Wherever my journey has taken me over the subsequent decades, I never forget that it began here in Clark, NJ and at Arthur L Johnson HS.
If I may I would like to acknowledge two other special people that are here with me tonight. First, my big brother Fred, thank you for being the best big brother anyone could ask for and teaching me so much, and being a role model for me as I was growing up and even as a adult in how to be a solid family man and husband and father. And, to Rosemary, my wife. Rosemary and I met after my junior year at ALJ and we have been together ever since. We went to college together, we got married 2 weeks after we graduated, and we have been on this journey together. She is my best friend, my life partner and the love of my life. I could not have accomplished any of whatever I have without her belief in me, support of all my endeavors, and her love. Thank you so much for everything.
Once again, thank you Principal Feeley and the Hall of Fame Committee for this great honor, and Congratulations to all the other award winners tonight.
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