Matt Paknis Leadership Development

When I played for legendary Coach Ted Monica and the Madison Dodgers from 1977-1979 Coach was celebrating his 25th year of commanding excellence. Coach Monica arrived at Madison High School two years after my parents graduated. My parents met at Madison High where my mom was a cheerleader and the student body president. My dad played center and linebacker on the football team. He also played basketball and threw the weights in track. By the time I attended Madison, Coach had developed an exceptional program. We never lost a game and we ended our high school playing careers with a record of 33 - 0 - 0 and, like Hoosiers, #1 in NJ's Final Star Ledger Poll our senior year. Tragically, my mom died following her eight year struggle with melanoma and was buried the day before our State Playoff game vs. Orange during this senior season. Orange featured a back named Sammy Seale. Sam went on to play in the NFL for 10 years. The day after beating Orange, we took a special SAT make...

Eagle Scouts, Speakers of the House, 19 Ideal Kids and Counting, Department of Commerce, Ultimate Driving Machines, Ivy League Degrees, Parents, Counselors, Priests, Championship Coaches, Scout Masters. Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth. Marcus Aurelius While in college I passed this statue of Marcus Aurelius at least once a day. Many years later, I discovered this quote of his. It resonates with me and applies to many of the horrific stories we are experiencing and reading today. During the past year in particular and throughout my life, in the news and in person, I've witnessed people associated with the above positions, organizations, accomplishments, and status symbols assault, abuse, molest, bully, deprave, and sabotage. These predators project themselves as achievers affiliated with respected and admired institutions. In reality, they are twisted, weak, feeble, spineless, and despicable examples of ho...

It's my hope you and your loved ones had a great year, and are anticipating a wonderful 2015! With 2014's increased travel, my chances of experiencing unique circumstances multiplied. Two events showed me how courage and truth can lead to freedom and happiness. May 2014: Providence, RI. 2:30 AM. After Brown's Campus Dance, a group of 1984 classmates, wanting memories to continue, proceeded to old Theta Delta Chi's courtyard to share stories and relive the hope we sensed as underclassmen. When I entered the restroom I noticed a walker leaning on a stall. When I turned to wash my hands, the walker's owner was washing his face and hands. My heart dropped. Thirty four years earlier, I was one of two early risers on my college freshman dormitory hall. The sense of duty, honor, discipline, and organization I'd come to admire, and thrive under, in my legendary high school football coach, Ted Monica, was displayed by only a handful of people I met at Br...

What would Teddy Roosevelt say about the state of football in America today? Ninety eight years ago yesterday President Roosevelt first likened crusading journalists to a man "with a muckrake in his hand" in a speech to the Gridiron Club in Washington. I'm not sure a muckraker is needed to dig up trash in today's NFL, NCAA, or even high school football programs. As a dedicated and devoted player, coach, and fan, I experienced, and continue to experience, the constructive and time tested values of brotherly love, teamwork, coaching, and leadership the sport culled in me, my teammates, and players I coached through triple sessions, four hour practices, four hundred and forty yard sprints, early morning agility drills on back hallway steps, and hours of lifting, training, skipping rope, practicing, and bustin' each others' chops. At Brown, I remember hitting a two man sled and when the slight assistant line coach didn't provide enough resistance, our 2...

The sequester impasse reminded me of the source of concussions for many football linemen; ramming heads against each other. Recent reports show the repetitious butting of a player's head against an opponent causes more long term brain damage than an occasional big hit. So, it's a wonder whether the constant battling and bickering over budgets between the president and congress, like the constant ramming of a player's head against his opponent, will cause long term damage to the country? In football, two teams agree to square off to score the most points. It's a brutal sport, but the contact and physicality make it special to participants and fans. The team executing the best often wins. We expect our leaders to execute like one team, so the country wins. We don't expect them to beat on each other like football players. Congress and the president are not, as in football, acknowledged adversaries. They are expected to function more like a team to generate...

Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was sentenced to a thirty year minimum prison sentence today for molesting boys. This sentence essentially assures he will spend the rest of his life behind bars. Many of his victims will struggle with life long memories and related emotional and psychological scars. The crime is dubbed "Soul Murder" by author Leonard Shengold. The tenacles connected to abuse do not end in one act, as with homicide, but continue to haunt and plague its victims throughout their lives. Do I celebrate his sentencing as just and swift? Or, does it remind me of the horrific crimes he committed and make me question if there is any just punishment for his actions? And, do I root for Penn State Football? Bill O'Brien is the new coach. I know Bill. He hails from a Brown family. I played next to his older brother Tom during my senior season and Bill would often visit. Then, I talked with him when he considered coaching as a ca...

"Can You Spare a Little Help" generated appreciated responses. Thank you. My good friend Eric took me to lunch and shared his father Peter's life story. Peter is about to celebrate his 98th birthday. Peter was born and raised in Hamburg, Germany. When he was fourteen his parents divorced. When he was twenty one he was placed in solitary confinement for eighteen months for dating a non Jewish woman. After being released from solitary confinement he was considered a political prisoner and was ordered to build both Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps. In 1939 he was released from prison under the condition he'd leave Germany. He emigrated to the United States and arrived with $5 in his pocket. With his money he rented a room and purchased wholesale first aid kits he sold for a profit. He then supported himself by waiting tables and parking cars at resorts in the Adirondacks. In 1942 he was drafted into the United States Army and became a USA citize...