Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Coach Henderson's reflection on Dan Callahan
11/18/2010 | 12:00:00 | Baseball
Nov. 18, 2010
By Jason Clay
SIUSalukis.com
More on Coach Cal...
Article by Sean Ryan, CollegeBaseballIinsider.com Co-Founder
Article by Jim Ruppert, State Journal-Register Sports Editor
CARBONDALE, Ill. - For over 20 years now, Saluki associate head coach Ken Henderson has been a part of the Southern Illinois baseball program, mentoring young men in the game of baseball and the game of life.
The one thing that the coach has come to realize is that he himself was being coached for the last 16 years.
Henderson had been an assistant coach at SIU for four years when on July 6, 1994, Dan Callahan was hired as the sixth head coach in Saluki baseball history.
"We all have significant things in our lives, the things that mold us, the things that shape us," Henderson said.
When Callahan retained Henderson as associate head coach, it turned a head coaches normal task of assembling a staff into an extraordinary event in the lives of both coaches.
"Him keeping me on and spending the last 16 years with him was a significant event in my life," Henderson said. "It has certainly made me the person I am. The things I've learned from him over the years and the way he treated people, I hope some of that rubbed off."
Cal, as he was known, and Henderson went on to coach hundreds of student-athletes and together they molded them into ball players, but more importantly into men.
Henderson spoke on Wednesday of the values that the late Saluki baseball coach instilled not only in his teams, but in all the people around him.
"Learning about people and honesty and doing the right thing," Henderson said were some of those principles. "His No. 1 rule, and it was very simple, `do the right thing'."
Cal was a people person, one of the most unselfish persons one could ever meet. One that would sit down with you and have a lengthy conversation no matter if you were a homeless man or an astronaut. And he would have been the one to initiate it.
The personal touch of his famous hand-written notes thanking people epitomized the deep care and concern that the skipper had for others.
"His thing was he loved baseball, but he was passionate about people, about being around other people." Henderson said. "It wasn't an ego about `I'm coaching here' and `I'm doing this.' It was about baseball gives me the opportunity to be around people, to be around young people. That's just the way he was and I saw that for 16 years.
"In no area was there anything ever about him," he continued. "And to be honest with you, that is why I have been here for 16 years."
So as coach Henderson and the rest of the Saluki baseball team, its alumni, the community and Cal's loved ones try to move forward after his untimely passing, Henderson put his thoughts down on paper:
--------
For 16 years I have been blessed and honored to stand beside a truly great man. Not just from a baseball standpoint, but great in the way he treated people. I realized this early on, however, he was so humble he never knew how many lives he touched.
Cal had one simple rule (which he told our players often): "Do the right thing." I can say without hesitation that in the 16 years I worked with him I always heard him speak the truth. You might not like what he had to say, but you knew he was being honest and was speaking from the heart. We often talked about our responsibilities, and although the job was to coach baseball, he knew the responsibility was always to prepare young men to be successful in the real world. He was not afraid to be tough on players when needed. He knew they might not understand now, but they would benefit later. He was passionate about baseball, but he was especially passionate about people. He had a greater mission than baseball and he accomplished that mission. He received so much joy visiting with former players, listening to their stories and knowing that they were happy and successful.
If you know Cal, you know he lived life to the fullest. I could tell a thousand stories from the garage "sessions" - in which he often played Houdini - to the prank phone calls, to the hotel suites at the coaches convention, to the late night impromptu dinner with the homeless man in Chicago, to commandeering the city bus in downtown Chicago, to the barber shop session in downtown Washington D.C., etc. etc. He packed more into 52 years than most could have in several lifetimes.
My heart aches, not just for me (if I learned anything from Cal, I hope it is that), but for his wonderful wife, Stacy, for his beautiful daughters Lexie and Carly, for his parents Gene and Ann and his sisters Lynn and Cheri, and for all the current and former players and coaches who had the honor of going to battle with him. He truly loved each of you.
Just a few weeks ago Cal, who I'm sure was not feeling too well, was working hard to get one of our former players some tickets to a World Series game in San Francisco. He was not happy that he was having trouble "pulling it off," but none the less was thrilled to have the opportunity to bring some joy to someone else.
Cal, you always "pulled it off" and you always "did the right thing."
Ken Henderson
Associate Head Coach
Saluki Baseball
