On July 6th, 2018, Coach Mike Duroe (Diesel) passed away from battling brain cancer for over 8 months. Duroe was the head coach of wrestling at Cornell College and who I worked under for three years as a team manager. Coach Duroe stood out to me because of his ultimate drive and passion for everything he did. He would help the guys start their warm-ups at wrestling tournaments and then go and run a few miles. He gained the nickname “Diesel” because that’s what he was running on; never stopping and relentless. While battling debilitating brain cancer, Coach still worked out every day. When chatting with him at the end of May about being careful because he was bound to a cane he responded with saying, “Don’t worry Sage, I’m running to heaven. This cane won’t hold me back from running to heaven,” while running in place. I’m telling you this man is who I want to be when I grow up; a champion in every aspect of life. This drive was also seen in his faith.
During my freshman year of college, I was in a rough spot with my faith. Of course, I believed in God and I felt like I still had a relationship with Him, but I was not actively pursuing Him in comparison to the way I am currently. I didn’t feel like I had a stable community that called me higher. Coach, however, caught my attention right away after the first meet I managed for him. We arrived back to Cornell in the bus and before anyone could leave Coach made an announcement that I will never forget. He asked the guys to think about everything and everyone they should be grateful for: the opportunity to wrestle, the coaches, the managers, the other teammates, the parents and fans that travel hundreds of miles, the ability to wrestle collegiately, and for God who makes all these things possible. He then asked everyone to bow their heads and pray with him. I had never seen anything like that before. Yes, we prayed in youth group and at church every week, but I had never seen my two passions of Jesus and sports combine. This was the moment I knew that Coach Duroe was going to be influential in the rest of my college career. We often talked about faith and it eventually led to talking about the World Race. Towards the end of the school year, Coach Duroe asked me to come down to his office for a meeting. There we talked for almost two hours about our lives (his life battling cancer and me closing in on graduation in December), my upcoming adventure with the World Race, and both of our walks with God. This conversation led Coach to donating a substantial amount towards my fundraising and asking me to send him emails and postcards. He mentioned that he may not respond right away or ever get the chance to respond but said that he would read every single one. This immediately brought me to tears. He responded by giving me a huge hug and saying that God had plans for both of us and big things were going to happen.
While in Granada, Nicaragua, I decided that it would be fun to watch the sunrise for my first morning there. I woke up extra early, went to the rooftop patio, and saw one of the most beautiful sunrises. I even got blessed with a rainbow right after the sun came up over the city of Granada. My immediate thought was of Coach Duroe. After the first sunrise and sunset being witnessed, I decided to make a new goal. The goal was to watch and see every single sunrise and sunset throughout my entire time in Nicaragua. While at first the motive didn’t center around Duroe, it developed into a beautiful story. Coach Duroe’s constant saying throughout his battle with cancer was, “Sunrises and sunsets; don’t take those for granted.” I wanted to embrace this statement and ensure that I followed through with this. I strived to give my 100% each day and have impactful relationships with locals, my teammates, and everyone I interacted with much as Diesel did. Fast forward three weeks as we are leaving Nicaragua…While crossing the border into Costa Rica, I saw on social media that it was Coach’s birthday and it finally all made sense.
I was confused to what made Nicaragua special. Suddenly I felt an urge to dedicate the month to Coach but I didn’t know the reasoning. I spent three weeks watching every sunrise and sunset without a set-in stone reason behind why it was special besides that Coach loved them and talked about them. But the Lord was able to show me so much more. The three weeks of sunrises and sunsets allowed me to think about Coach every day. To think about what he stood for and preached every day. It all built up to the remembrance of him through his birthday. Coach asked me to remember him while I was traveling and this month allowed me to do just that — to have a tribute month solely to him and everything that he has done for me and many others.
Coach Duroe changed a lot of lives throughout his lifetime — wrestlers at every level, colleagues, students, and mine. He taught me to be free, to take chances, to commit to goals and never stop until you reach them, to travel the world and take in all the sights, and to be thankful for everything you had in the past, have currently, and will have in the future. So, this is a tribute to Coach Duroe and all that he has taught me through a short time of knowing him. I know that you are teaching kids how to wrestle in heaven and probably trying to take on Jesus too. Thank you, God, for the amazing sunrises and sunsets this past month. Thank you for allowing Coach Duroe to travel with me throughout these past two months and for the next nine. He really is the one who motivates me to run almost every day.
I hope you are enjoying the postcards. I miss you but I’ll see you when I see you.
-Sage
