World T.E.A.M. Sports at 20 Years October 2013 | Page 7

As a result of that, I thought we had something that we could do
and the very next day founded what’s known as World T.E.A.M.
Sports. The T.E.A.M. acronym stands for The Exceptional Athlete
Matters. We are combining people like Ricky Prine, maybe with a little
more mobility, who don’t have a chance and we’ve had a chance to do
some
wonderful
things around
the world.
I had a
couple of other
stories about
interesting
people who
were touched,
who had
unexpected
positive
impacts
brought on
Riders on the 1999 Vietnam Challenge rode from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh them. I don’t
City. World T.E.A.M. Sports archive photograph.
think we have
time to go
through those right now. But the point of the message is that in our
business, we are connectors, networkers, and we all have the
opportunity to be in the butterfly effect business. We all can do these
things. We do it naturally in our business; we should do it naturally
outside of our business. The life insurance industry has been

enormously satisfying to me as an individual over 40 years, but
frankly nothing compares to the things that have occurred over the
last 20 years by working with people with various disabilities.
I did write down what Ara Parseghian said, and kept if for the last
46 years. It’s very short. Here’s what he thought as far as being in
sports and being involved. He said, “Do all that you can with
whatever you’ve got for as long as you can. Be fully engaged in all
aspects of your own life, and be a positive influence in the lives of
others. In some way, every single
day do something, anything that
helps someone else. They’ll feel
good, you’ll feel good and our
world will be a little better place in
which to live.”
-

Adapted from a talk presented at
the October 20, 2007 Top of the
Table Annual Meeting, Phoenix,
Arizona.