Father's Day Tribute to Eldridge Dickey on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

Audio of show can be found HERE.

"your family will always be
they help define just who you are
and will be apart of you eternally"

Eldridge "The Lord's Prayer" Dickey

 On Saturday, June 14, 2014 join us for a special Father's Day tribute to Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame Posthumous Inductee Eldridge "The Lord's Prayer" Dickey. Hear from his son, Troy D. Dickey, former wide receiver for the University of Arizona, Cincinnati Bengals, NFL Europe, Iowa Barnstorm and Texas Cooper Heads, share about his father in a way that only a son could.

Listen to Troy discuss Eldridge Dickey's life not as a revered athlete who broke numerous records but as a father who loved his family. Hear little known facts like Eldridge Dickey's family professional sport lineage started with the Negro Baseball League, Eldridge Dickey babysat other well known athletes, Eldridge Dickey the counselor and Eldridge Dickey the grandfather. Troy will share why he has not talked about his father publicly and why the Dickey family has stayed away from the media spotlight since the death of his father in 2000.

Troy D. Dickey University of Arizona 92-93

Brayden Lenius Chaminade College Preparatory Class of 2014

Tune in to hear Troy Dickey share about his son, Brayden Lenius, and how much he wants him to succeed in life whether he has a professional football career or not. Listen to me share with Troy about meeting and interviewing Brayden at the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame held in Nashville in May. I will share with Troy that it was my interaction with Brayden that prompted me to interview others who knew Eldridge Dickey when he was a quarterback at Tennessee State University as well as other family members.

Eldridge Dickey's legacy is still felt at the Tennessee State University decades after he played football there.You will also hear Brayden Lenius acceptance of his grandfather's Posthumous Award at the Tennessee Sport Hall of fame Induction Ceremony.

Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

This Father's Day message is timeless and shows the power of love, grace, and forgiveness.

Living Your Best Life Radio, radio that empowers, inspires, and motivates you to live your BEST life. can be heard on 760 AM in the Middle-Tennessee Region, Tune In, military bases, and streamed live on U-Stream.TV from 9-10AM CST. This show will also air on WTST, a member of the HBCU radio network (XM 142).

More About Eldridge Dickey 
 

Tennessee State's QB Eldridge Dickey #10, RB Bill Tucker #32, and WR John Robinson #84

His football career at Tennessee State University spanned from 1964-1967 where Dickey was a three-time HBCU All-American. In 1966, Dickey led the school to its first undefeated, untied and National Black College Football Championship. The Oakland Raiders made history on January 30, 1968 when they selected quarterback, Eldridge Dickey, as the 25th overall selection in the AFL/NFL draft. Making him the first black quarterback to be taken in the first round of any draft.


To see more photos from the TN Sports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, click here.

Photo credits: Tennessee State University Archives, University of Arizona Archives, Oakland Raiders Archives, and Courtney Sellers for TN Sports Hall of Fame

Poem Verse: Family is Like by Nicole M. O'Neil

Coach Joe Gilliam at Woodmont Hills on Living Your Best Life with Genma Holmes

Update: Audio of Coach Gilliam at Woodmont Hills can be found here .

Living Your Best Life will broadcast a special show featuring keynote, Coach Joe W. Gilliam, Sr., at the Family of God at WoodmontHills speaker series; Loving God, Loving Others, Serving the World from 2008. Coach Gilliam spoke about "Good Diversity-Bad Diversity" and how his faith in God was the foundation of his life.

Join us on Saturday, November 24, 2012 to hear Coach Gilliam share lessons from chapters of his life. Hear him talk about his parents leaving the life of sharecropping in North Carolina for Steubenville, Ohio in the middle of the night in 1919 in order to provide a better life for their growing family. His parents were determined to find a better economic opportunities and to provide their children with an education.

In Ohio, Coach Gilliam excelled academically and in sports which allowed him to receive scholarships offers to college. But his intelligence and athletic skills did not shelter him from the harsh realities of life during the forties. Hear him share why he did not attend Ohio State University. That decision lead him to play for Indiana University's championship team. Although he played for a winning school, his experiences were painful, mentally and spiritually. His negative experiences as a collegiate athlete made Coach determined to coach, mentor, mold, teach, and train his players with fatherly guidance and positive values throughout his lifetime.

Hear Coach discussing a variety of topics as he answered questions from the audience. He reflected on his mother's enduring love; his devoted wife's influence on his life; his love of the classroom; his coaching at Tennessee State University; his relationship with Bill Parcell; how he barred the NFL from administering the wonderlic test to Ed "Too Tall" Jones and the 20 year repercussion on Coach Gilliam's coaching career; how race relations permeates sports, then and now; his insights from studying constitutional law and why only following God can change man's heart not legislative actions; and the importance of sharing good diversity-bad diversity experiences in order to learn from them.

You will also hear Coach share thoughts on women coaching football; mentoring young black males; and personal regrets from his own family life. Listen as his compassion for others is shown by how he cared for his athletes and their families long after they have stopped playing sports, collegiate or professionally.

Coach Gilliam with Coach Merritt in 1973

                                  

Coach Gilliam with players in 1980

Coach Gilliam with Bernard King @ 2007 TN Sports Hall of Fame Induction

For the legions of Coach Gilliam's players, students, adopted family and sports enthusiasts who lives Coach touched and for those who respected and followed his life closely; this show will empower, inspire, and motivate you to live your BEST life. 

Living Your Best Life can be heard on 760 AM in the Middle-Tennessee Region, military bases, and streamed live on U-Stream.TV from 9-10AM CST.

More About Coach Joe W. Gilliam, Sr. 

Joe Gilliam, Sr. will be remembered as one of the most respected football coaches in the history of the game. He began his intercollegiate football career at Indiana University, where he played on the Hoosiers' national championship football team. He then went into the armed services, and upon his discharge, enrolled at West Virginia State College, where he played both basketball and football. At West Virginia State College, he received All-American honors as a quarterback and earned a place in the Yellow Jackets' Sports Hall of Fame. Coach Gilliam began his 35-year coaching career on the high school level in Kentucky, where he earned the Kentucky High School Football Association's Coach of the Year title.

He went on to coach at Jackson State College in Mississippi where he helped lead the Tigers to two consecutive Black National Championship titles. From 1963-1981, Gilliam was the assistant head football coach and defensive coordinator for Tennessee State University. During this period, Tennessee State University had nine Black National Championship teams. In 1989, he took the helm as head coach for four seasons. As head coach, Gilliam was inducted into the TSU Sports Hall of Fame and was selected as Coach of the Year in the Ohio Valley Conference in 1990. His career record of 254-93-15 included coaching five undefeated teams and five teams that lost only one game. He coached 10 national championships teams and helped facilitate 144 players into the National Football League.

For several summers, he worked with the Arizona Cardinals' coaching staff as an offensive consultant. In later years, Gilliam conducted a summer youth football camp in Nashville, Tennessee to raise funds for his Joe Gilliam Foundation. Throughout his coaching career, Gilliam earned numerous awards including the All-American Football Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award and the College Football Hall of Fame Contribution Award. Coach was a frequent guest speaker and sought-after lecturer at football clinics, on radio programs, and sports banquets.  He was widely renowned for his teams' abilities to employ his innovative offensive concepts and insights. (Bio: Coaches Choice/Edits: Genma Holmes)

Coach Gilliam was the author of four books.
Coach Gilliam's scholarship fund is held at TSU.
Franz Holmes tribute to Coach Gilliam can be found here .
Franz Holmes introduced Coach Gilliam and Golf Pro, James Paschal, was the moderator.
Special thanks to Woodmont Staff and Mona Knight, audio archivist at Woodmont Hills.

Photos Credits: Tennessean; Billy Kinglsey, Joe, Rudis, and Frank Empson; and Genma Holmes