A Friend Named Sue
By Bobby Simpson
Higher Ground
www.highergroundsoftball.com
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At 4:00 pm on September 26, Sue Enquist met with her staff and players and announced her retirement from UCLA Softball, effective January 2007. At that time, she will become UCLA’s Director of Major Gifts for UCLA Development (in the athletic department). She was UCLA’s first All-American, graduated in 1980, and has coached there since that time. She was part of a boocoodle of National Championships and her career record of 887-175-1 (.835) is absolutely phenomenal considering the competition provided by their schedules. |
I first met Sue in the mid-1980’s and I think our first clinic together was in Olympia, Washington in 1985. I was then serving as the National Chairman for ASA Junior Olympic Softball and we had begun to conduct National Coaching Schools throughout the country. I still remember three things about that weekend (1) the guy who helped us with pitching was a fine man from the Northwest named John Gay – he is still teaching (2) the Washington state legislature was considering naming Louie Louie as their state song and (3) WOW…what an amazing classy lady Sue Enquist was!!!!
Every time that I could make it workable, I asked Sue to help at clinics and my respect just grew and grew. After I left ASA in the late 80’s and began my own business, I decided to begin developing instructional videos. Sue was the instructor for eight items and we filmed all of them, plus two others with the late Stacy Winsberg, assisted by Olympian Sheila Douty, at the UCLA stadium. She was fantastic to work with and amazed the producer with her ability to only require one take on almost all occasions. She definitely knew her stuff and was superbly organized. But, if you know Sue, you already knew that, didn’t you?
At her practices and at many clinics at which we both spoke all over the US, I was always impressed, even though I knew her very well, with just how well she did things. Her practices were amazingly conceived, well conducted, and extremely effective in developing complete players. She was a superb teacher, but more importantly she was a superb coach. Yes, she knew her stuff, but she also knew her people and they were so much more important to her than the stuff could ever be.
A few years ago, as schedules got crazier and time more restricted, I began to see Sue less often. We still bumped into each other about once every year or two, speaking at the same clinic somewhere or at some national meeting, but it was far too infrequent.
At one clinic in California a couple of years ago, she informed the audience that they could email her and she would be glad to respond. Can you imagine just how busy she is? She gets tons of emails, but she was not just willing to respond to everyday coaches and parents…she strongly encouraged them to email her. She stood in hotels halls or lobbies for several hours after speaking, patiently answering questions as long as anyone wanted to talk. This was not just a one-time offer…this was an everyday policy. She cared about the game and she cared about the people.
At one of our last clinics together, not very long ago, maybe 2-3 years, she informed everyone that she had changed how she taught hitting. She said she had been wrong. She proceeded with a Power Point version of the nuances of her current mechanics and drills. Imagine a coach with her record and a personal career batting average of over .400 saying she was wrong. It takes a real giant of a person to do that. It is not necessarily important if we actually totally agree with what she said (after all, she and many others have been very successful with other mechanics). I just know that I have unbelievable respect for her willingness to question what she taught, decide she was wrong, admit it publicly, and change it. That is far too rare among today’s leaders in any field. It just ain’t done very often.
Despite infrequent personal contact, we have frequently shared some very meaningful emails. Meaningful because of content and meaningful because of timing.
We have shared personal thoughts and personal emotions almost in real time during NCAA World Series or just after them, when softball when voted out of the 2012 Olympics, and at other times when the emotions were still being sorted and teaching points were still being formed.
So, in my book Sue is classy. Sue is definitely extremely knowledgeable. She is sharing (by the way, a travel team coach from Georgia told me that he just picked up the phone and called her one night, found her home, and she talked for almost an hour trying to help him). She is creative and courageous. She is caring. She is super organized. She loves the game…in her official retirement comments, she talked about respect and said that she “was just a steward of the program.” With stewards like Sue, the game is better. And, we are better.
Sue, you are many things like what is said above and you are many more, but there is not enough paper to share all the contributions that you have made to the game and to the lives. Thanks for all that you have been, all that you are, and all that you will become. THANK you most for being a consistent, caring, thoughtful friend.
Sue Enquist, my friend, may our wonderful God bless you with abundant joy that is carefully and colorfully wrapped in Blue and Gold.
