The Don Beebe Award for Perseverance (#61)
Don Beebe was a wide receiver in the National Football League for the Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, and Green Bay Packers. As a pro, he played in six Super Bowls, winning one. He is currently the football coach for Aurora College, a Division III school in Illinois.
Beebe will be forever known for his perseverance. During Super Bowl XXVII (1993), between the Buffalo Bills and the Dallas Cowboys, Beebe made a play that I will never forget. In the fourth quarter, with the Bills behind by 35 points, the Bill’s quarterback, Frank Reich, was sacked. The ball came free and the Cowboy’s defensive tackle, Leon Lett, scooped the ball up and started running 60 yards to the end zone. Lett started celebrating at the 10-yard line. A sprinting Don Beebe chased Lett down and knocked the ball out of his hands, right before the goal line. The ball went out of the end zone and it was ruled a touchback. Buffalo got the ball back on the 20 yard line. For the incredible show of perseverance, even when down by five touchdowns, I think there should be a “Don Beebe Award for Perseverance.” If you don’t remember the play, watch it below (because the film is NFL property you have to go to YouTube to watch it.)
I know we can all use a little bit more perseverance these days. I wrote a little bit about my personal perseverance this summer in post #42 — Perseverance. I found that having a goal and a roadmap, a scoreboard, a culture, and the development of trust in yourself or the team through hardships was important in me persevering and riding over 1,100 miles on the bicycle. I think Don Beebe would agree that the four elements helped to build his personal perseverance.
This weekend was a huge sports weekend for perseverance. Here are my top three nominees for the “Don Beebe Award for Perseverance” from the weekend:
At #3 — During Army’s football game against Abilene Christian University, LJ McConnell, a running back for Abilene Christian broke free on a thirty yard run. With a clear path to the end zone, at the 10 yard line, he put his hand up in celebration. Army defensive back Julian McDuffie caught him from behind, tackled him, and prevented a touchdown. Army went on to win 55-23.
At #2 — The London Marathon was one of the few major road races to be held this year. Running 19.6 laps around St. James Park, which was closed to spectators, was a test of perseverance itself. American Sara Hall, who was as far back as 10th at one point, had a late kick and passed Kenya’s Ruth Chepngetich to finish second in 2:22:01. She was the first American woman to stand on the London Marathon’s podium since 2006.
And at #1 — Liege-Bastogne-Liege is a one-day, 160 mile professional bike race in the Ardennes Forest of Belgium. After 159 miles of racing, four riders were pedaling for glory — Julian Alaphillippe, Primoz Roglic, Tadej Pogačar, and Marc Hirschi. As they sprinted towards the finish line, Alaphillippe celebrated and threw his hands in the air about 3 yards before the line. However, Roglic was not done and kept pedaling, beating Alaphillippe to the line by less than the width of a tire. Roglic, as some of you recall, is the Slovenian cyclist who lost the Tour de France on the next to last day to Pogacar (Post #56 — Power of the Peloton). So, for this week I give the “Don Beebe Award for Perseverance” to Primoz Roglic.
The lesson from these examples of perseverance is, of course, to never quit until you are across the finish line. When has your organization celebrated before it got to the finish line? Or where was your organization able to beat a competitor as they took their foot off the gas too early?