This is the story of how I met Tim Sackett.

January 1977.  East Lansing, Michigan.   It was another cold January morning of rec basketball.  The usual punks from Dewitt were bringing their tough brand of defense to the parquet floor of Pinecrest Elementary School.  Amidst the tower of 6^th grade boys, I caught a flash of red hair, saw a small wiry kid a good foot and a half shorter than the rest of his teammates, and started laughing.  There was no way this little wisp of a boy was going to make an impact.  Boy, was I wrong….

The ball tipped, and immediately that kid took over as point guard, and was as strong a leader as I had ever seen to that point if my short life.  He manipulated his teammates like John Cusack controlled his marionettes in “Being John Malkovich.”  Total control

The particularly striking thing was he started yelling out these acronyms to call plays. “OSHA” rang out and the Dewitt team went into the Dribble Drive. A cry of “FLSA” meant the team went into the High-Low. “ERISA” led into the Triangle.  Even when the defense was able to respond, he would drive to the basket, attempt a shot and get the foul.   Like Rick Barry, he would shoot his free throws underhanded and the ball seemingly went through the basket every time. 

My teammates and I learned a tough lesson that day….never underestimate the slightest of opponents.  But, the power of Tim Sackett, point guard extraordinaire, led to the league passage of the now legendary “Sackett Rules” to create a more level playing field.

The drive, the leadership, and the prescience of Tim Sackett continues on today with his work at HRU-Tech and his writing stylings at the Fistful of Talent blog and The Tim Sackett Project.  Check him out below:

    • The Tim Sackett Project - http://timsackett.com
    • Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100000473689988
    • Twitter - http://twitter.com/#!/@TimSackett