Yeah.

I've been, I was te- And that's the reason I'm gonna let you say that, 'cause that's why God sent me there, to test me in my call to ministry.

And I went there, I stood toe to toe with him.

In a nice way, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't conform.

I didn't, I didn't lose my calling in any way.

I tried to bring kids together and the team together because the head coach, he was kind of a very unfair, and I used to pick, take up for the Black kids.

The Black kids at first got that they didn't really trust me because I understand 'cause the other, other Black coach, they, they fired him for some reason.

Mm-hmm

The head coach would give, uh, the, the other top assistant the best players and give me the worst players.

[laughs]

And then we'd go in, we'd go in the, and run in the c- in the coach's office after practice.

He said, "Well, Coach Blackmon, what do you think?" I said, "Well, Coach," I said, um, I said, "Both teams know the same offense, same defense, and they know e- they know everything." I said, I said, "Well, Coach," I said, "It's how you treat kids.

It's how you treat people." He said, "What do you mean?" I said, "Coach, it's not about X's and O's." I said, "It's how you treat people." I said, "They got a spirit in them." I said, "How you treat them, you either, if you can either nurture their spirit or encourage them in their spirit to do right, uh, and treat them fairly, you gonna get the best."