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| Rich Imbriani Retirement Party |
If you are lucky, you have at least a few people in your life who linger in your consciousness for decades as mentors, coaches, teachers, or others whom you aspire to make proud with what you have become.
Football changed my life - not just the sport itself, but the approach to sport and life and winning. And I only participated as an athlete for two years - most of that participation being from the sidelines. You might think the tale of a number two high school kicker might not even warrant a footnote to any story worth telling - and in the great history of Cajon athletics you would be correct - but the greater tale is bigger than one athlete.
Rich Imbriani took over as head varsity football coach at Cajon High School in 1991, my junior year, after a very long and successful tenure by Chuck Pettersen. What a blessing it was to have been on teams led by each of these two men, and reflecting back, Rich's decades as coach and then Athletic Director really was the continuation of a tradition that excellence truly runs deep in the hearts of those who seek it with dedication and serious determination. As a 16-year-old, the lesson was clear that sports were serious business, and we had a responsibility to work, learn and perform. Having worked with and for Rich as a coach in my earliest adult years, the lesson was that we owed our athletes a specific heritage that was to endure through them as they persevered in the goal of learning to win. As an alumnus who has returned nearly every year since graduation to follow Cajon Football, reaching out throughout those years to Imbriani, the realization was that he loved sports, but he truly cared most about all of us as individuals and how we were doing in life.
The best teachers, leaders, and coaches leave a mark. The accomplishments and championships are indicators of what we did, but the instillation of values that enrich life and the expectation of some unique realization of success are the lasting impacts imparted by the great ones. It's not that we as alumni live in a constant state of approval-seeking; we understand we were blessed with a moment in time when someone cared enough to stand up and show us the way, and we recognize a responsibility to measure up to our potential. You don't win for your coach, but you honor him with how you play the game.
Rich Imbriani is one of those leaders, and the world is better for it.
Thanks, Coach. Enjoy your well-earned retirement. I expect to hear great things.
