Is your Club or Group looking for an inspiring guest speaker or do you want to host a book signing? . . . Contact Woody today!

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For a Personalized Autographed copy of “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME” or “WOODEN & ME” mail a check for $25 to:

Woody Woodburn

400 Roosevelt Court

Ventura, CA 93003

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Mentoring is a Relay: Take Baton, Pass It On

For the longest time, I never quite understood why Jim Murray wrote me a return letter and later became my mentor.

After all, “Mr. Murray” – I never could call him “Jim” despite his request – was already on the Mount Rushmore of Sportswriters while I was a just college senior seeking career counsel.

That was 36 years ago, long before the ease of email, and Mr. Murray penned me a thoughtful page-long handwritten reply that included this gem: “If you are meant to be a writer, you will be. No one can stop a writer from writing. Not even Hitler could do that.”

This Thursday – Aug. 16 – marked the 20th anniversary of Murray’s death. My goodness, what a debt I will forever owe him. He not only helped me become a better writer, but a better person as well.

For example, my annual Holiday Ball Drive has his fingerprints all over it. Reading “The Best of Jim Murray” three decades past, I was deeply moved by a passage about his pre-sports days as a crime reporter. Specifically, he told of his heartache doing a story on a little girl who lost her leg after being run over by a truck.

“The thought of her going though life that way made me shrink,” Murray wrote.

My literary hero took $8 he had left from his paycheck – “which was only $38 to begin with in those days” – and bought the girl an armful of toys and took them to her in the hospital.

That next Christmas, I bought an armful of basketballs and donated them to the Special Olympics. Later, when I saw a young boy ruining a keepsake autographed basketball because he had no other basketball to play with, it was only natural to start an official ball drive.

Further emulating Murray, when I received a letter from a 13-year-old Thousand Oaks boy about 20 years ago, I responded. Fast forward: Jon Gold is now a gifted sportswriter proving he can make it anywhere by making it in New York City.

Three Februarys past, that boy-turned-man made me feel like a Pulitzer Prize winner by inviting me, out of the blue, to his wedding. More unbelievably, he told me I was his Jim Murray.

“I couldn’t wait to read your sports column,” Jon shared. His words that followed caressed my heart: “What you wrote back to me is something I carry with me to this day. You were a hero, are a hero, and more, a friend.”

My goodness, I hope my similar sentiments expressed to Mr. Murray made him feel half as wonderful.

Another wonderful feeling was mine when Camarillo resident Stephen Jester sent me a copy of his new book of poetry – with a surprising dedication page for all to see: “To Woody Woodburn, my friend, mentor and fellow author.”

I was floored. What had I done to deserve such an honor? It seems that after Stephen had been harshly told to give up his dream of becoming a writer, I simply sent him words of encouragement. Probably, I even quoted Mr. Murray’s Hitler line.

“Telling someone to continue to follow their dreams, and you’re proud of them, is a powerful message that goes right to the heart,” Stephen told me recently. “You inspire and encourage me to continue my writing journey. That’s why you’re on the dedication page.”

Mentoring is a relay event in life. Take the baton, run, pass it on. As John Wooden said: “I have lived my life to be a mentor, and to be mentored, constantly.”

I’m thankful Jim Murray felt likewise.

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Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com.

Check out my memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and my essay collection “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” …

• Personalized signed copies are available at WoodyWoodburn.com
• Unsigned paperbacks or Kindle ebook can be purchased here at Amazon