Why Your Team Can’t Run Without You (And How to Fix It) | Episode 232 | James Vilade

How do top-tier leaders maintain a .748 career winning percentage while founding high-impact non-profit foundations? In this masterclass episode of The Uncommon Leader Podcast, host John Gallagher sits down with James Vilade—NCAA baseball coaching legend, former MLB scout under Derek Jeter, and founder of the Keeper of the Game Foundation.

James shares actionable frameworks on leadership development, lean thinking, and culture creation. Learn how to navigate high-stakes environments, eliminate friction within teams, and structure operations so that autonomous leaders emerge to run the system.

🚀 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮’𝐥𝐥 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧:

• Overcoming Bottlenecks: Navigating early learning disabilities to build a platform that serves thousands.
• The 3 Daily Operational States: Differentiating between Battle Days, Routine Days, and Click Days to optimize energy and focus.
• Defining Organizational Culture: Why culture comes down to two key factors—how you treat people and how they treat each other.
• Servant Leadership & Advocacy: Building Keeper of the Game from $600 into a national movement serving individuals with special needs.
• Allowing Failure Without Consequence: Creating a psychological safety net that encourages bold execution and eliminates organizational drag.

📌 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 James Vilade👇
➡️ LinkedIn (primary):  (3) James Vilade | LinkedIn
➡️ Website: James Vilade « Keeper of The Game
➡️ YouTube:  (1) VILADE BASEBALL - YouTube

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Transcript

Three Kinds Of Days

SPEAKER_01 0:00

There's only three kinds of days you're going to get on the baseball field, and it's the same three you're going to get in life. You're going to have a battle, and then you're going to have a routine day, and then there's going to be the flip day. Like we got this. And in life, a battle day, a routine day, or a flip day, and how you respond, how you get through it, how you decide to see the situation is going is going to make you who you are.

Baseball Cards And A Legendary Resume

SPEAKER_00 0:31

Hey Uncommon Leaders, welcome back. This is the Uncommon Leader Podcast. I'm your host, John Gallagher. Okay, so when I was a kid, I'll go ahead and share my age right off the bat here. I didn't have social media to scroll through. When I was a kid, one of the favorite things I had was the opportunity to days on end. I know I had over 7,000 baseball cards as a kid. And you look at the front of them, you see the players, but really the fun in terms of the social media scrolling was reading the back, the statistics and the stories about the players that were there. So I'm going to read the back of a baseball card for my guest today. This can be a lot of fun. He's one of the winniest coaches in NCAA baseball history, carrying a staggering 748 career winning percentage. So that had been on the back of his manager card, no doubt about it. He's built collegiate programs from the ground up, coached in the Texas Rangers organization, scouted under Derek Jeter for the Miami Marlins. And most recently, he's anchored a powerhouse culture at Prestwood Christian Academy, capturing his second Texas state championship just this past May. So those statistics go really good on the back of a baseball card, but some of the best stuff was in the comments and the bullet points down below on the baseball cards and what they really did. And if you ask me, his greatest impact isn't measured by the records in coaching or the hits that he had in his past or even Hall of Fame inductions, but it's measured by how the sport that he's been involved in has made a difference beyond the diamond. As a learning, uh disabled individual who once felt like the kid left behind, he turned his ultimate platform into a lifeline for others. He's the founder of Keeper of the Game Foundation. We're going to learn a lot about that, dedicating the last 30, really the last 30 years of his life advocating for those with special needs and disabilities. And the impact recently earned him the North Texas Autism Association Angel Award, uh, as well as previously the U.S. Presidential Gold Service Award. Two great uh trophies, if you will, in the baseball world to add to the back of that card. So he's an uncommon leader, father, and husband as well, of over 30 years, who believes deeply in taking care of each other through the game of baseball. Folks, that's the longest introduction I've done, and I apologize for that, but it was worthy. Welcome to the show. Hey, Jim Vallade, how are you today, man? It's good to see you.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

Good, John. Thank you for having me on. I appreciate it. And that was that was a great intro. I appreciate it. I'm glad to be recorded. Did you collect baseball cards as a kid? I certainly did. I grew up a diehard New York Yankee fan, living growing up in New Jersey. So it was the Bronx Bronx bombers for me. And yeah, I most of the cards I want to bring Yankee cards at the time.

SPEAKER_00 2:57

Okay. Yeah, I was a pirate fan, so those are the ones that I watched and had and collected the most of or sorted the uh and I haven't had a whole lot to cheer about as much going back into those times, but 1979, I think I could still roll off the uh and the entire starting nine uh players on that team that they last won the their last World Series. So that was a lot of fun. And as a kid, you know, I don't know. I had again I had over 7,000 cards. I don't know if you'd still have yours or if they disappeared out of the family garage like mine did, but um, I don't know exactly what happened to them.

SPEAKER_01 3:27

Yeah, mine disappeared. They I started collecting some along the way when you know when I had the opportunity, but yeah, mine disappeared too. I wonder who's got I wonder who's sitting on millions of dollars in my old cards.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

Yeah, right. It's exactly that's the best thing. I had the chance I could have retired at 30 uh with all the baseball cards that I have. And I think every about every kid who collected cards has got that story with the disappearing ones. I don't know. They're sitting in a baseball card graveyard somewhere. Anyway, a lot of fun thinking about that as a kid, but a really hard-hitting question to start you out with right here, given that all those things that you've been involved in to career baseball, you spent a lifetime around the diamond at every level of the game, which is really cool.

Walk-Up Song And Family Roots

SPEAKER_00 4:05

Uh so what's your personal walk-up song, though? Uh, and what does it say about your mindset?

SPEAKER_01 4:10

I mean, you know, my personal walk-up song, when I actually when I go to home plate, uh they play Fortunate Sun by Crevens Clearwater Revival. And it's kind of a tribute to my dad. My dad's a Vietnam vet. He went and fought in the war. And, you know, he is somebody that taught me perseverance, taught me grit, taught me toughness, uh, taught me how to get through the day. And it's kind of a shout out to my dad. It really is. But uh, yeah, I'm very blessed. I am very fortunate uh to be where I am. But yeah, play me some credence and we get it rocking.

SPEAKER_00 4:40

All right, okay. I can handle a little CCR, make that happen, no doubt about it. We could do that. I don't know. I'd have to figure out. I mean, I played a little baseball in high school, uh or almost just to the whatever pony league days or whatever that was, but uh we didn't have the walk-up songs then. Uh but I appreciate you sharing that as a story. And it really probably feeds into uh what the first question is that I ask all my first-time guests. And that's to tell me a story from your childhood that still impacts who you are today uh as the leader that you are.

SPEAKER_01 5:07

Yeah, I think the story that impacts me the most, especially through the game, is uh the first time I was able to go out and play catch with my older brother, uh, you know, who's a couple years older than me, fell in love with the game and then really followed him along as an example of a leader. My brother John is um, you know, he's successful in business, he's successful in in life. Um he's somebody who I look up to. But as far as connecting to the game and connecting to a leader that you really respect and love, having that be my brother, yeah, the first day of catch and then watching him grow uh in his life.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

I love that. I love those memory stories. I mean, I could, again, I could point to that one right there as the video on the shelf, as the one baseball memory that I sit up there, my one and only home run ball from 1981 that I somehow still have. I don't know how that's hung with me over the years. I like it. But it sits there and it's got several different memories kind of tucked away inside of that baseball. But we remember those things as a kid, there's no doubt about it. And it, you know, it's you think about the impact as you've gone forward in this journey, it's really how it how it frames, just like you said, who you are today.

Dyslexia To Purpose Driven Service

SPEAKER_00 6:09

Um so let's let's really jump into probably the the big purpose behind what we're gonna talk about today. And that's the heart of the the keeper of the game organization that you founded. Tell me tell me the story behind behind founding keeper of the game and how it inspires you. Because I'm sure you got a pretty busy life as a coach, as a husband, as a dad, and all those different things, and now a foundation as well.

SPEAKER_01 6:32

Yeah, for me, the inspiration to share the game with what I say those who need us most. That's kind of a tagline that I put on the foundation, serving those who need us most. My connection being somebody with a learning disability, um, you know, being diagnosed in middle school with dyslexia, and not necessarily growing up in a time where there were a lot of accommodations, maybe even a lot of patients for learning disabled. Um but being diagnosed with dyslexia, loving baseball, it's really all I ever wanted to do was play baseball. And you know, I got to a point where I was in high school, I was getting rejected from every college I had applied to. Um my SAT scores were not good. I couldn't get untimed tests or the test waived or whatever. Uh so I had to battle through it. And I really didn't think going to college was gonna be an option. I really didn't. Even sitting in the guidance counselor's office, you know, you talk to me about uh you know, about you know, serving our country in the military. And you know, my dad, Vietnam vet army, knew my passion for baseball. Yeah, he told me to just kind of hang with it, and my mom as well, uh, who was uh you know an art teacher and then went on to uh to law school later in life. But you know, again, i it it was something that when I finally dug through uh and I surfaced, you know, through the through the help of some mentors and some people that that cared about me and you know that helped me along the way. And I made the decision that when God gave me a platform to share the game and to serve those who need us most, I was gonna take everybody with me. And there have there have been some inspirations along the way that have have really brought this full circle. And it's been 12 amazing years, and uh our 13th year is gonna be even better.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Love that. And I think about that, and you know, I say this so often on this podcast because of the story, because of the story from childhood, because of the story of how we grew up at we're most powerfully positioned to help the person that we once were. Look, in that space of uh giving back your time, as an uncommon leader, you know, you find, and I've seen some of the videos about your organization, you've got to find others to give their time inside of a space like that, whether it's health high school kids on your baseball team or former baseball players and leaders in the organizations that you've worked in.

Advocacy And Leading Without Payback

SPEAKER_00 8:42

So tell me, you know, the feeling behind, and this is gonna sound odd, but ultimately leading an organization like that without the expectation of a monetary return like you do in a career and things like that. What does that mean to you?

SPEAKER_01 8:55

Yeah, it means everything because it's in its purest form of serving leadership. I mean, it really is, it's in its purest form. The one thing, John, that I've I've expressed to a lot of people through our foundation is I'm seeking advocates for others. That's one of my biggest jobs is not only serve the special needs community at the highest possible level, but to kind of bring in advocation, people that will understand community need, people that will be consistent in giving, people that can, you know, make somebody's day. You know, we have a huge event every year at the Frisco Rough Riders AA Stadium, home of the Texas Rangers AA team. And it's such an event. And you go out there and you see hundreds of kids, you see hundreds of volunteers. I mean, it really shows that there are some great things happening in this world. And the one great thing is the advancement of advocation. That really is one of the great things. And we're proud to be a part of it. And there's a lot of amazing men and women that serve our foundation on a daily basis and care. But uh, you know, my biggest word out there is advocate.

SPEAKER_00 9:57

As a leader inside of that space, realizing again, you got a full-time job as a high school coach, you're a husband of over 30 years, father of one that's going into college to play, you know, high-level baseball, and certainly one that's playing in the Marlins organization right now, hence your hat that you got going on there and doing and doing pretty well. And running an organization like this, how do you balance it, make sure it works for all the players

Balancing Coaching Family And Foundation

SPEAKER_00 10:19

involved?

SPEAKER_01 10:19

You know, I think the one thing that's I always laugh about, and I tell people this, is when I got into coaching, uh, I was 23 years old. I was a head coach uh at the University of Dallas. I always say that I probably took a job that nobody wanted because I wasn't the first guy on the list in the interviews. I actually asked the athletic director who taught me a lot. Um, you know, he's in his 80s now and he's been a mentor, what uh, you know, why he hired me. And he said, I believed you had the passion to to do great things. Um and so everything I've done, I've done with passion, but I always joke, like I don't fish, I don't hunt, I don't play golf. I don't. And my time is, you know, in my current big position as a husband and a father, father to Trent, who's a Texas AM, father to McKenzie, who does hair uh in Oklahoma City now, and to my oldest son Ryan, who's in the major leagues with the Tampa Bay Rays, and you know, my wife Jennifer of 31 years this week. So trying to balance it out was it was just basically the priority is where you spend your time and trying to stay super organized with everything and doing everything you say you're gonna do. That's one of the that's one of the big things for me.

SPEAKER_00 11:23

Yeah, I think that you touch on that. It's a long season. I'm not talking about a baseball season, but a long season of servant leadership that you're in as a as the parent of growing children again and learning to get out on their own and shoot. It may turn into grandparents one of these days as well, God willing, in terms of understanding someone like something like that. But me living in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and I tell folks where I'm from, one of the first questions they generally ask me is, Oh, how good's your golf game? I said, I don't even own a set of golf clubs. Well, how can you live in Myrtle Beach and not have a set of golf clubs? There's a hundred golf courses here. Right. It's relatively easy for me because it just takes too much time to get good at this thinking game and to be excellent and how I want it to happen. So there's those seasons of, you know, maybe someday I will pick up a set of clubs, and maybe someday you will fish in terms of making that happen. But right now, you know, that that organization that you're with is very important. You've got the logo right there on

The Keeper Of The Game Logo Story

SPEAKER_00 12:14

your shirt. You kind of put that on before we got started. Tell me, tell me about the logo and how you came up with that as well.

SPEAKER_01 12:19

Well, the logo, um, when we started the foundation, we started it with $600. I had actually sold some baseball memorabilia that that I had gotten over the years from you know, players that I had coached and guys I had coached with. And I was like, you know, I had this passion to do it, but uh, you know, me being a coach and my wife being uh, you know, a special education teacher, we didn't, you know, we didn't have the money to just say, let's go start the foundation. So I took nine months, six hundred dollars in nine months, and I worked on it by myself. And I felt that if I could have some traction, I was gonna get other people involved. And that's how I met Brian Hofter, our executive director. Uh you know, he is he's our executive director going on year 13. And when I got with Brian, I had this, I had this logo, and uh, you know, he he I mean he loved it. I mean, he loved it. And it's a guy leaning up on against a baseball bat, or you know, it's I don't know who it is. I guess it's us. I guess it's everybody. But um the one thing I did when I and this is probably one of the most interesting things about this logo, is my kids were really little, and I designed the logo and I had I had brought it out and I showed it to you know some of the kids that were over at my house. I'm like, hey, you guys want to see a baseball logo, right? They're friends with friends of you know, Trent McKenzie and Ryan, and you know, and all of a sudden kids were trying to stand like the image, you know, because we had obviously we had some baseball bats at our house, and they're in my office, and we have we have baseball bats everywhere at our house. But and a little a little guy was trying to stand like it. I was like, that's pretty cool. And then one of my best friends in the world, his name is Mike Basso, who you know played professional baseball, managed professionally. Uh, he's been involved in Major League Baseball. And I went to Mike, who's been a mentor of mine, I mean, consistent for a long time, very consistent in my life. But and I love him for that. And I showed him the logo and he said, I know where that guy's been. And I was like, awesome. I said, So I have a five-year-old trying to imitate the logo, and you know, a guy that's been in baseball for 25, 30 years, he says, I know where that guy's been. I'm like, we have our logo, we have our logo. So yeah, and it's it's uh it's standing the test of time, and and we've we've branched into softball now. So we have we have a softball logo coming out, and we uh yeah, we launched an event up in Yorktown, New York with the Brown family, Kate Brown, who is uh a high school softball player out there who I knew her father pretty well, and they love keeper of the game, and we got softball involved. So we're we're excited about that.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

So good. Jim, I remember as you shared

Coaching Your Kids And Letting Them Fail

SPEAKER_00 14:42

at the start about your dad and the impact that it has on you, perseverance, grit, and those types of things. You've had the opportunity to coach your son uh in high school and the state championship. And business leaders who listen in have the opportunity sometime to to work with their uh children inside of the business as well. I had the opportunity to coach my son in in basketball for a couple years uh in middle school, which was just really cool. But you know, what are some of the challenges of uh being coach and being dad in a high pressure situation like that?

SPEAKER_01 15:12

Well, I think, I mean, to me, it is always, and with all of my kids often, it's always been be dad first, be dad first, you know. And uh I always make the joke when I see parents that are having trouble coaching their kids or or you know, there's some disconnect between the sport and the family. And it it unfortunately it happens, but I always tell people you better remember that that's the person that might be picking out your jello in the nursing home one day. So you better make sure that they know what you like, and you know, because my kids know I don't like lemon. But that's so good. The one thing that I will tell you about, you know, coaching my kids is I've allowed them to fail, and I've allowed them to fail without consequence. And because failure is a part of it, and failure's temporary, so is success. They're both temporary, they come and go. I mean, I reiterate this to every team that I've ever coached. There's only three kinds of days you're gonna get on a baseball field, and it's the same three you're gonna get in life. You're gonna have a battle day where you're fighting for it. It doesn't feel right and it's hard. And then you're gonna have a routine day where, you know, how was it? You know, hey, lunch was pretty good and work was pretty good, and the car started fine, and I got a half a tank of gas left. Life's it's pretty routine day. We're good, and then there's gonna be the quick day. Like we got this, you know, we got this. And in life and coaching my kids and coaching other people's children, which is the advice my mom gave me was you're coaching other people's children, always respect that. My answer was yes, ma'am. You know, so so sage coaching advice from my mom. But you know, the one of those three days is gonna show up a battle day, a routine day, or a click day. And how you respond, how how you get through it, how you decide to see the situation is go is going to make you who you are. You know, my son hit a grand slam in the state championship. It was a great day. Yeah, that's a click for sure. That is a click day. But I've also seen him strike out, and I've seen him make great plays in the field and I've seen him make mistakes, and that's part of growth. That's everybody. But the thing that I could tell anybody with kids is to let them fail without consequence. Now, if the effort is bad, right? If you leave the milk on the counter for three days, that's a bad effort. You know, we know where the milk goes, right? We we know where the milk goes. I think by the time you hit five years old, we should know that the milk goes in the refrigerator. Uh, that's effort. That's big, that's a big difference between competition and sport. And we got to separate those. And I think that's so good.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

That the we know where the milk goes. Look, those simple things, Jim. And you do this in coaching, you've got to do that in coaching all the time. I want to ask you one more question, then, based on kind of your three types of days as it relates to uh the keeper of the game. So, you know, share with me a click day for you uh in keeper of the game and a memory that you have that was really Are you tired

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SPEAKER_00 17:53

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SPEAKER_01 18:24

Oh

Click Days Battle Days And 501c3 Win

SPEAKER_01 18:25

my gosh. Well, I already I have it. I am I already I shared with you that I am learning disabled. I have dyslexia, dysgraphia, and I don't do the numbers, right? Brian Hocker, our executive director, Greg Wakehorst, our vice president, those guys do the editing, those guys do the numbers. Uh, I do a lot of the programming creativity. Uh sometimes it's not that creative, but I gotta give myself a little credit once in a while. But uh but no, I think for me, we were applying for our 501c3 and obviously going through the state and the government paperwork, and it was taxing and it was hard, and it was requesting this and requesting this, and how this goes. And I remember turning to Brian Hofter, our executive director, and saying, Brian, I said, Man, I can't, this is too hard. Like, I can't, I don't get this. Like, this is hard. And he said, You know what? We're gonna push this over the goal line, and we only have to do this once. And he gave me like the motivation because we were working so hard and we knew we were doing good things, but there is a process to it, and you know, the government has their process and the state has their process. When we became a 501c3, it was a click day. To get that paperwork and to say you are a registered nonprofit recognized by the US government, recognized in the state of Texas, that was the click day. Love that. As far as really the big click days, is uh when we see our athletes walk through the door or walking through the gate for one of our events. That that's there's no feeling like it to watch everybody showing up. So yeah, I've seen some of the videos.

SPEAKER_00 19:59

I love kind of the lines you got. They got doing the high fives and just getting them into the batter's box and making stuff happen. Yeah, it's got to be fulfilling. And there have got to be battle days with that as well. I mean, there's no doubt about it. There are there are tough days too.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

There are tough days when you deal with those with special needs and disabilities. Um, there's different levels of disability, and everybody is different. And you know, showing the patience or you know, helping a special needs athlete, you know, have the best day that they can. And there's so many, there's so many great stories. Uh our volunteers are amazing, they're patient, they're kind, they're loving, they're giving. But yeah, there are some tough times on the field, but we get through it. We really do. We, you know, James 112 is my life's fifth group blessed is the man who perseveres, you know. I mean, that's it. So it's about the perseverance. It really is.

SPEAKER_00 20:46

Love that. And let's say a little bit of a shift into leadership too.

Culture Is How People Treat People

SPEAKER_00 20:50

I mean, again, in the space that you're in, both competitively, how your uh family has grown up, as well as as a coach. Uh, and then certainly, again, you still got to be competitive somewhat on that business space as well. You know, your winning percentage makes you one of the winning systems in uh NCAA baseball, the 748, which is phenomenal. You know, when you look back at that metric, uh, how much of that do you feel is, you know, kind of tactical with regards to, you know, how to run the bases and all those things? But how much of that is, you know, culture and purpose as well inside the organization?

SPEAKER_01 21:21

Yeah, I think it's all of it. People ask me about culture all the time, and I give a very simple answer about culture. Culture is how you treat people and how they treat each other. The order for the day is the order for the day. Um the task at hand is the task at hand, but again, how you treat people and how they treat each other is it it's a paramount portion of leadership. And that's how you get the best out of people, and that's what great leaders do. So, so starting with that, the one thing in leadership and in starting two college programs from zero and and being a a leader, a head coach for you know 16 of the years that I've coached, something has to happen every day that. Makes you better and that makes your organization better. And it could be as simple as organizing a closet. It could be as hard as organizing, you know, an alumni event. It could be as detailed as you know, preparing to go play a series on the road where you're in a must-win situation to keep the team, you know, alive for the year. So it is all of it. I mean, it is the tactical side, it is the daily, the daily goals. And, you know, the one thing that really stands out in in my career, going back to when I first started, the first athletic director who hired me, uh, Dick Strockbein at the University of Dallas, you know, he taught me something very important. He said, you know, he said, you can want anything in the world, but you better take care of what you have. And this was a model for me coaching and pouring into every single person in the organization, from coaching staff to the people that serve us on maybe even a non-daily basis. But everybody, everybody is important. And I tell our coaches this and our high school staff and the college coaches that I've been with, coach everybody like they're going to be the last one on the field. Coach everybody like they're going to be the last one on the field. And one of the things that I, you know, I tie to that is I tell our players everybody's allowed to have a great moment. Everybody is, you know, and that's what we work for, and that's what we trained for. And it's good. And you know what? This year, winning a state championship, there were so many great moments from so many players. It wasn't one person, and it never will be. And that's the best part of leadership is um, you know, I guess if you're in leadership, you got people. If it's you and one person, I guess we consider you a mentor who can lead. I guess that's the difference between leadership, a little more volume, and mentorship, maybe a little more one-on-one. So, but it's been fun over the years to see athletes, special needs athletes become their best. That's where I get the most joy.

SPEAKER_00 23:47

Coach Villade, I'm reading the book here. Clint Hurdles, Hurdle Isms. You've probably heard of that guy before inside of baseball. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Wit wit and wisdom from a lifetime in baseball. It's got, I don't know, it's got I think it's got 20 of his isms to coach as many years as you have, and to be as successful as you have, you got to have some Vallade isms. Give me your top Vallade ism that they're like, Yeah, I know, Coach. You say that every day. I got I gotcha. What is it that you're keeping them going with uh that gets it?

SPEAKER_01 24:12

I have it's a this year, especially. Uh it's all good. All good. I I will

All Good Mindset And Daily Standards

SPEAKER_01 24:18

use the term all good in you know, in in success or in failure. All good was kind of the catchphrase this year because the guys hung on to it. I said it a bunch, but said as a validism that you know, if it's going hard, hey, all good. If it's going great, hey, all good. You'll keep going. So again, I've modeled a lot of my life on perseverance. And that is that's big in any situation in life. I mean, it really is that mindset.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

Absolutely. Every opportunity is that learning moment. Again, I love going back to your three types of days, whether it's a battle day, a routine day, or click day. It's all good. Sure. It's all good.

SPEAKER_01 24:51

Yeah, it's all good.

SPEAKER_00 24:52

It is every one of those things. Because it can be uh you can become a victim when you have a battle day, no doubt about it. And I know in baseball, you string together a few battle days, uh, get yourself into a slump, and it feels like you couldn't you couldn't hit a baseball, you know. I think somebody says I couldn't hit water if I jumped out of the boat or something like that.

SPEAKER_01 25:12

Yeah, yeah, I've heard that one too. I've heard that, I've heard that one too. Yeah. It is the ebb and flow. It is the ebb and flow.

SPEAKER_00 25:19

Absolutely.

Number Retired And Legacy Through Players

SPEAKER_00 25:20

Hey, this is this has uh been a lot of fun. One more question for you. So again, from a leadership and probably from an impact standpoint. So you're the only person in UT Tyler Athletics to have your number retired. Was that your 32 that we saw before we record hit the record?

SPEAKER_01 25:34

The 32 was the number that I wore in professional baseball.

SPEAKER_00 25:38

Okay, in professional baseball.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

But it was it was it was number 12. So it was retired at UT Tyler. And since then, they've actually retired number six in honor of Bob Irwin, who who donated uh the funding for the field and was a great, great believer in what UT Tyler baseball is today. I mean, Irwin Field is it is one of my favorites. It's one of my favorites because it's got the word win in it. I R W I N. So anytime you go to Irwin Field, the first thing you see is the name, and then you're like the win stands out. So yeah, so we competed hard out there, but yeah, amazing honor.

SPEAKER_00 26:11

When you see the 12 jersey kind of hanging up or wherever they have that, or on the ring of honor, what's the dominant emotion or story that comes to mind for you?

SPEAKER_01 26:19

It's all the young men that I coach. It really is. The things that they were able to do together on the field and me getting to watch them grow and watch them lead, watch them become you know great men, great leaders. That's really what it's all about. I go back in and I, you know, I went to the stadium this year, was back at the stadium this year, and they had another phenomenal year. And you know, I did look look at the number, and then I started seeing the faces, all the guys that I coached, all the young men that you know still in touch with today, and you know, watching them grow and have families and have you know great success in life. So, yeah, that's it. Robbie's Flocum will probably tell you the same thing. I was really close to all the players out there. Yeah, Robbie from Robbie from the Boys and Girls Club and Tyler. He knows he knows a lot about me. And but yeah, he he probably could have answered that one for me.

SPEAKER_00 27:03

You know, I love that. And I think about this, often talk about it as the greatest story ever told. You know, when somebody writes your name on their list as someone who's made a difference in their life, and I'm gonna guarantee, Coach Villade, you made the difference uh in a lot of uh young men's lives uh as they've grown up through uh coaching and a lot of lives uh in your organization

How To Support Keeper Of The Game

SPEAKER_00 27:24

as well. Uh speaking of, how can folks learn more about you and about keeper of the game?

SPEAKER_01 27:31

Yeah, best thing is to go to our website. It's easy. It's keeperofegame.org. You'll go in there and recognize a lot of faces. There's a lot of great people that support us. If you're a pirate fan, Ryan O'Hearn, who's drilled in 10. Ryan O'Hearn.

SPEAKER_00 27:48

That was a click day, I think.

SPEAKER_01 27:49

That was a click day for we call him Bro Hearn. Bro had a click day.

SPEAKER_00 27:53

But guys like that's right. He came from we got him from the rays, right? He was in the rays for a little while.

SPEAKER_01 27:58

He was actually, he came over, he was with San Diego most recently, and then he was with Baltimore, but he's and Kansas City before that. But uh Ryan O'Hearn's. I'm so glad to have him. Yeah, right. Ryan O'Hearn is a leader in our organization. He is he is he has mentored some of our athletes. He won the keeper of the game award last year uh and was presented with an award that's that was won by you know a lot of amazing people Elvis Andrews, Chris Davis, uh Jose Trevino, and I'll announce it on the show today. Our keeper of the game with two winners next year. One is Jonathan Heasley, who is who's on the Rays roster, and the other is Bobby Witt, Bobby Witt Jr. from the Kansas City Royals. So Bobby, I know you're watching this. Congratulations.

SPEAKER_00 28:42

Oh yeah, he better be watching, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 28:43

And big John and Big John. We love you, big John.

SPEAKER_00 28:46

So good. Hey, that's that's really cool getting that getting that announcement on here. And I'll make sure we put the links in the show notes as well when this comes out so that they uh they get a hold of that. It is so good. Hey, Coach Valade, this has been a fun conversation. I know it could go on a lot more, especially talking to old baseball stories. Uh, ones from me, you know, watching more than anything else. But I've appreciated you sharing with the listeners of the Uncomment Leader podcast, and I know they're gonna find some value in what you had to say. I'll give you the last word in it, you know, whether it's one of those isms or not, but it might be something I you you put up on the scoreboard at your park or whatever it is. But I'm gonna give you that scoreboard, it's gonna be up forever. What's

The Scoreboard Message And Farewell

SPEAKER_00 29:22

the message that you would put on that scoreboard for everybody to see? And why would you put that message on there?

SPEAKER_01 29:26

The message that I would put up for everybody to see is what I tell my boys before they play every game. And the message is simple: I love you, play winning baseball, share the game, take God with you. That's the message I want to put up. And you can relate that to the person that has nothing to do with baseball or to the person that has everything to do with baseball. You can take that and you can craft it up to impact your own life. And uh, I love you, play winning baseball, share the game, take God with you. That's going on the board.

SPEAKER_00 29:54

Amen. Love that on the board. Thank you, brother.

SPEAKER_01 29:57

I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 29:57

Been a lot of fun. I wish you the best, okay?

SPEAKER_01 30:00

Yep. John Rosson, thanks for doing what you do.

SPEAKER_00 30:02

Yeah, thank you for the time. It was a great conversation.

SPEAKER_01 30:04

All right, be well, brother. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 30:05

So much to be learned in the sport. Uh, so much to be learned from the game of baseball, so much to be learned from great leaders like Coach Villade and what he does not only on the baseball field, but outside the diamond as a servant leader running that volunteer organization. What a great story. What a story of inspiration, perseverance, and grit. Love the conversation they had. Especially loved his discussion about the three types of days that we have and how we have to push through each one of those. Hey, you I know that you like that conversation and you know someone who needs to hear it. Please share this episode with them so that we can get this in the hands of more folks. Until next time, Uncommon Leaders, go and grow champions. Until next time, go and grow champions.