This past weekend on Saturday 10th August at Morehouse College I paid tribute to a humble man who inspired me to be an Atlanta servant leader – Coach Head. Although Harold Head joined the ancestors on May 4th at the age of 80, this memorial service was held three months later at his alma mater and it was evident by all the speakers that Coach Head was a man Morehouse men looked up to when he was a college student and every student looked up to him when he was a professional teacher. The past year has been a challenging year of losses for me because Coach Head was my sixth VIP to enter the spirit world between fall 2023 and spring 2024, and half of them were my peers: 1. Gail O’Neil (since college in New England) 2. Nick Calinda (since middle school in New York) 3. Janine Lee (since 2005 when she moved to Atlanta) Two other losses were elders from my coming of age days in NYC and they were near peers of Coach Head: 4. Aunt Sarah (died at the age of 103 years) 5. Monsignor John Meehan (founder & leader of the Archbishop’s Leadership Project in Harlem) At this summer memorial service I paid tribute to Coach Head by highlighting his inspirational leadership ways that led me to volunteer with the BRAG (Bike Ride Across Georgia) Dream Team 29 years ago as a Coach and eventually succeed him as the Coordinator. With BRAG and APS (Atlanta Public Schools) leaders, Coach Head launched the BRAG Dream Team in 1994 to give APS middle school students an opportunity to participate in the seven day cross state cycling adventure (bike riding and camping) and earn a new bike. Over the past three decades, we have grown the BRAG Dream Team from an Atlanta program to a Georgia nonprofit organization that serves middle and high school age youth. At the start of BRAG 2019, our BRAG Dream Team created a special jersey to celebrate its 25th anniversary and it was presented to founding father Coach Head in June 2019. To celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the BRAG Dream Team in 2024 our coaches and board members did what Coach Head would do – aim high and take the high road! For the first time, a youth group cycled from Florida to Maine on the East Coast Greenway and it took five weeks for the BRAG Dream Team members (5 adults + 7 teenagers) to complete the East Coast Greenway Youth Bike Tour in June & July 2024. I am grateful for our coaches and my sister Donna and our donor Leslie for making it possible for me to be a leader on this extraordinary bike ride. A high point of this tour was the July 4th holiday trek when nine other Dream Team youth from Georgia joined the tour team in Washington, D.C. to cycle through Rock Creek Park and complete the holiday bike ride at the King Memorial. It was two months after Coach Head died, but it was proof that his dream lives on in the next generation… (fb)

(fb)