Do you remember your first high school class? Perhaps you recall the subject, the teacher’s name, or a few people who sat around you as you nervously settled in to start your high school journey.
Well, I remember a lot more than that. Perhaps because I wasn’t sitting at all. I was standing in the Carmody Center gym as Coach Alvin Maddox, a 30+ year teaching and coaching veteran at Gonzaga, came striding in through the squeaky purple double doors to lead first period freshman PE.
Without mincing many words, Coach Maddox instructed us to line up on the sideline of the basketball court in alphabetical order by last name. First in line was Chase Belford, someone I didn’t know at the time, but who I quickly learned had the real name Peter.
“Chase Belford,” he started as we went down the line of freshmen calling out our names for roll call.
“WHO?” Coach Maddox barked back.
“Um... Chase... Belford,” Chase timidly replied.
“It says Peter.” Coach Maddox declared.
Remember in middle school how your teacher would take attendance on the first day of school and politely ask if you preferred your full name or some sort of abbreviation or nickname? Yeah, that didn’t happen with Coach Maddox. If his sheet of paper said Peter, you were Peter.
So from then on, for the rest of the school year, Coach Maddox’s roll call started with “Peter Belford” as we moved on down the line.
Aside from the daily reminder of Chase/Peter leading off roll call with a name he didn’t actually use, there was one other phrase that made it perfectly clear to this group of 14-year-old boys exactly who was in charge:
“Toes on the Line”
-Coach Alvin Maddox
For decades, Coach Maddox started every single PE class at Gonzaga the exact same way. Every student’s toes were on the line, everyone was facing forward, and only then did we begin the roll call.
Looking back, the lesson from Coach Maddox is about discipline.
There was a right way to start class, and we were going to do it that way every single time. It didn’t matter if you were tired, distracted ,chatting with the guy next to you, or just didn’t feel like paying attention that morning. Your toes were on the line facing forward.
At 14, I’m not sure any of us thought there was much more to it than Coach Maddox being Coach Maddox. That was part of what made him such an effective teacher and coach. He didn’t need a long speech about discipline, he simply built it into the daily routine.
There’s something I appreciate about that a lot more now than I did then. Discipline usually isn’t some big, dramatic act. More often, it’s doing the small things correctly and consistently, especially when nobody feels like doing them.
No matter what stage of your career you’re in, there’s real value in showing up, paying attention, doing it right. In other words:
“Toes on the line”
-Coach Alvin Maddox
P.S. - A common question at Gonzaga was "did you have Maddox or Jackson?" I was a Coach Maddox kid but I'd be remis to not mention his PE department partner Coach Jackson. He no doubt kept thousands of Toes on the Line as well.
