I have had a great journey during my 36 years of coaching. I am blessed to finish my career on such a high note, and to have coached the best and most versatile track athlete in city league history. Bowsher’s girls track and cross-country teams were in sad shape when I arrived in 1998. I told the athletic selection committee during my interview, that I would bring City Championships to their track program. The year before me the track team scored 17 points at the City and resembled an intramural program. The following year’s team finishes and scoring got better: 2002 – 3rd Place (103.5 Points); 2003 – 5th Place (78 Points); 2004 – Runner-Up (95 Points); 2005 – City Champions (119 Points); 2006 – City Champions (137.50); 2007 – City Champions (147 Points). I always had a vision of what I thought this program could become, and it all came to fruition in 2005. I never lost my faith, but it was tested numerous times during the metamorphosis of the Rebel program. This complete process was a labor of love for me and my assistants. However Meshawn Graham infused new vigor into the Rebel program, and became the face of things to come. She made us an instant force at the City, State, National and International level. In addition, she became the first track athlete from our area to receive All-American status from Track & Field News. Her legacy is that she made teammates physically and mentally better. Relay members all performed better when Meshawn became the anchor leg. She brought a new swagger that would transform the relay, and force opponents into making mistakes. She is a once in a lifetime athlete, who is as beautiful outside as she is inside. I thank her for always establishing a competitive tone at practice, and for always setting the bar at a higher level. I thank her for demonstrating class and sportsmanship in victory and defeat. I thank her for being a great role model, leader, citizen and student/athlete who brought positive recognition to Bowsher and ToledoPublic Schools. No matter how bad my day went she would always bring a smile to practice and that would warm my heart. I thank her for buying into my philosophies of track and the development of the extended family in athletics. I thank her for being grounded and for never placing her needs ahead of the team. I thank her for running cross-country and accepting the fact that it was a means to an end. I have coached four National Champions, but Meshawn will always be that special athlete in my heart and soul. She is like a daughter to me and there’s a kindred spirit between us. Forces stronger than us brought the two of us together and I am thankful of that. I love her for being all that is right about high school athletics (Read Letter of Recommendation). She makes me proud to be called teacher/coach. It’s always difficult in letting go of something that you love very much, however the time is right for her to start a new chapter. I can see the following scenario occurring over the following years at numerous playgrounds and tracks. Young girls will be saying, “When I grow-up I want to be like Meshawn Graham from Bowsher.” The first time that I hear that statement from a child, I will understand that this journey with Meshawn has been timeless, plus truly a thing of beauty. This line from an E.E. Cummings poem sums up my experience, “I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart).”