This is not just the story of Jeff " Grandpa" Coffey's amazing return to play college basketball at the age of forty six. It is a book about faith. Faith that God will not only provide for entire civilizations and countries but faith that He is there when we as individuals need Him most. Through his own experiences of COMING BACK from setbacks, injuries, heart attacks, job losses, a false arrest, and all of life's curveballs Jeffery has maintained a happy and positive attitude. Jeffery examines why these things happened to him and how he came back from each of these instances. Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do seemingly good things happen for bad people? Jeffery explains that life will never be perfect so live each day for what it is, just one more gift from God. See how Jeffery L. Coffey despite all the obstacles he faced did return to Caldwell Community College in 2006 at age forty six and became Grandpa "oldest college basketball player"

Coming Back

MATTHEW 6:34By JEFFERY L. COFFEY

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2010 Jeffery L. Coffey
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4520-1382-4

Chapter One

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:34

Comeback: a noun meaning a return to a higher rank, popularity, position, prosperity, or better situation. The word has many different meanings, and a different meaning to every individual, family, business, and even our own country. The term is used in all facets of life, including athletics, business, news events, and our personal lives. Take a look in the mirror. Now take a look at any of your photos that include you, your family, friends, co-workers, and even strangers. The person that you see in the mirror and everyone in those photos has faced major setbacks in their lives that they have had to come back from. Everyone in every phase of life experiences setbacks, and comebacks. Some are minor, but be assured some are or will be major. During every stage of our childhood, teen years, young adult life, the middle ages, and through the golden years, we all experience ups and downs, highs and lows. How we come back from the downs and the lows helps determine the quality of our life, our happiness, and the type of influence we'll have on our family and all of those around us. Our relationship with God, our marital relationship, business relationships, child rearing, and the pursuit of life's individual goals all require the ability to come back from the curve balls and adversities that life throws at each and every one of us.

Comebacks are not limited to each of us as individuals. Entire countries are forced to make comebacks. They all face adversities and events that they have to come back from. In the case of countries, these comebacks may take centuries, as was the case of Rome's comeback from its great fall on September 4, 476 AD. In some cases the time might be limited to decades, such as the United States' recovery from the Great Depression, which began in 1929. While countries can and do come back from adversity, the most important comebacks and the ones that matter most are the ones that we make in our own lives.

These comebacks depend upon the individual alone. They do not take centuries or decades. Most of us face comebacks on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. We must recognize that these comebacks not only serve to make each of us stronger in character, but they also prepare us for the next test that we will face. There will be more. A lifetime full, to be exact. God will, without fail, help us through these trying times. The sooner we learn to depend on Him in the good times, as well as these times of trial and tribulation, the sooner we are able to understand that these tests, trials, and curve balls in life do serve a purpose. They are meaningful, insightful, and are beneficial in the circle, or as I call it, the circus of life.

There are many people who do not have the faith and strength to come back from life's trials. Thus we have suicide, an alarming increase in our crime rate, and more homeless people than at any other time in history. During my own learning process of these lessons in life, I, like all humans, have experienced happiness, sadness, jubilation, devastation, and every emotion in between. While preparing for my latest comeback, I began seeing my entire life as a long series of individual setbacks and comebacks. I started observing my family, friends, celebrities, and even strangers. I learned that everyone has problems they must come back from. It's not just you and me. I had a stunning revelation ... life is not ever going to be perfect. No, not ever, so enjoy every single day for what it is, a gift from God

At the same time, I started taking a look at the people and the nation around me. That's when I realized that not only is every individual on a comeback trail, but also the United States faces a comeback trail of its own in order to survive. There is something to be said for the good old days. Our country needs to return to the days of love, morality, fairness, justice, charity, good business sense, and logical decisionmaking. There can be, and needs to be, a coming back of the old American way of life, with close-knit communities. Communities made up of individuals helping one another instead of hurting, cheating, robbing, and killing one another. As a nation, if we continue on our current path, our country will not come back, and will eventually implode. The implosion will be due to a lack of love, morals, common sense, and a lack of good work ethics

As far back as November 21, 1864, Abraham Lincoln said, "I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country ... corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its rein by working on the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed."

This is exactly where our country stands 146 years later. Our lives have become too fast paced, and we have become too intelligent and advanced for our own good or for the good of our nation as a whole. Many crimes are committed against individuals and families due to the improper use of something as simple as the Internet. From embezzlement, kidnapping, theft, rape, and child molestation, to the ultimate crime of murder, the Internet has been used to commit each of these crimes many times over. Was it really that bad having to look a word up in the dictionary or learning history from an encyclopedia? I'm unaware of any crimes committed because of Webster's Dictionary or the World Book Encyclopedia.

Technology's negative effect goes much further than just the Internet. Most of the children and teens in the United States spend far too much time on the computer, playing video games, listening to iPods, talking on cell phones, and watching television. That's probably the only issue that President Obama and I have agreed on since he took office. At his commencement speech at Hampton University in May 2010 he stated "And with iPods and iPads, and Xboxes and PlayStations-none of which I know how to work-information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation. So all of this is not only putting pressure on you; it's putting new pressure on our country and on our democracy."

It's our responsibility as educators, parents, and grandparents to make sure the next generation has other interests that will be healthy and lead not only to building their minds, bodies, and self-esteem, but will also provide our country with the leadership it requires to come back and be a successful nation once again. The current generation will be the generation that initiates our country's comeback, if a comeback is to be generated.

In everyone's life there has to be a purpose and a goal for each stage of that life. Without goals a person's life is like going on a long trip with no map and no directions, no destination. You'll get lost! After many years I realized that I used basketball as my outlet, my character builder, and it played a large part in forming me into the person I am today. For others it might be art, music, photography, religion, or any other interest, but everyone has something in life that makes him or her who he or she is and helps to develop him or her into who he or she will become. When I look back on my life, there are certain events that are fresh in my memories of setbacks and comebacks. There are events that involve not only the early years of my life, but also comebacks that involve myself, my children, and others around me.

In January 2005, a much prayed for, much anticipated comeback became another memory that I will always cherish. I returned to Caldwell Community College after a twenty-eight-year absence, the same college where in 1977, my college education and college basketball career was launched. When I returned in 2005, I wanted to finish something I had started but had quit, and had dreamed of for many years, a college basketball career. It took the comeback of a lifetime to recover from two heart attacks in order to play competitive college basketball at the age of forty-six.

I started at Caldwell Community College in Hudson, NC, as an All American basketball player in September 1977. When I returned in 2005, I became "Grandpa," the oldest college basketball player in history. I was fortunate enough to play on the same nationally ranked NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association) basketball team as my son Jeremy. It was also for the same college team that I had coached against ten years prior.

During this comeback attempt, I became even more aware that everyone has good times and bad times. God does not create bad instances or events that happen in our lives. He has given us free will, the privilege to choose and make decisions. While God is watching over us, Satan is testing us as he attempts to build his own army all over the world. Some people choose God's way while others choose Satan's evil ways. That choice does not determine a person's wealth or happiness on earth. More importantly, it determines where each and every one of us will spend eternity.

This belief helps me answer the oft asked question, "Why do bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people?" In January 2010 an earthquake killed over one hundred thousand people in Haiti. Some media personalities and different religious activists speculated that God had brought this earthquake upon Haiti to punish the people there because of their religious beliefs. Guess what? That is not what happened! The plates in the earth caused the ground to shift and caused the earthquake. Just as the earthquake was not sent from God, serial killers, murderers, and Hurricane Katrina were not God's will. God was not mad at the city of New Orleans. In the book of Genesis, God knew that Cain killed Abel, but that was not God's will. That was Cain acting on his own, using his free will to complete the act. Every single person has the free will to live his life as he desires and to act as he desires, good or bad. Every person fights his or her own battles. Sometimes there are victories; sometimes we face defeat.

Actors, professional athletes, business managers, famous singers, and even a native living alone on an island are all on their own comeback voyages in one form or another. Problems and issues can range from hunger, unemployment, addiction, crime, finances, family problems, or may be a combination of many issues. My dear wife Anna Marie believes that if a group of people carrying their own troubles in a sack sat down together and shared their troubles, each and every person there would be happy to get up, take their own sack of troubles, and go back home. The moral of her story is that everyone's life could be worse than it is.

I began writing my third book in 1993. The title was Fast Food to Fast Breaks. The book was based on my rise from being a fast-food restaurant manager to a successful NJCAA basketball coach in a short five-year span. The successes I experienced led me to hope I would soon realize my dream of becoming a NCAA basketball coach. After completing the first three chapters of the book, my career and life experienced a catastrophic turn of events. I went from being a college basketball coach with a promising future to being unemployed, through no fault of my own. I felt like all of the work, effort, and time I spent preparing myself to coach at the NCAA level had been a waste of time. It was at that time that I realized, sometimes things just happen, and we have to work to make the best of it. If we cry and dwell on every issue that arises, or every curve ball that life throws at us, we will never find the time to enjoy life as God intended us to. The good times and the bad times begin at an early age, and we are faced with them throughout our entire life.

From childhood on, my life has been filled with good times and bad times, setbacks and comebacks. If I could, I would not change a thing, as each individual setback and ensuing comeback has made me stronger and helped me to realize the importance of faith and determination, and has eventually led to success. These unique situations also provided me with the strength necessary for my latest comeback attempt. During my attempt to return to play college basketball, there were many comebacks within the initial comeback. This comeback trail was not an easy one, as it was filled with many bumps along the route to success. I am fortunate that from my childhood on I was faced with obstacles and situations that had to be overcome in order to gain the strength, knowledge, and faith that were required to return to play college basketball at the age of forty-six.

As the time approached for my comeback at Caldwell Community College, I realized my life completed a full circle. There were many comebacks within that circle, and I began examining how I turned to God in each and every situation for strength and comfort. I believe that the foundation for my life, and my ability to come back, was built within the first eighteen years of my life. This comes as no surprise, because one common thread that binds many scientific studies is the fact that a person's adolescent years play a large role in molding who that person will become. This includes religious beliefs, morals, and work ethics. These years are crucial in developing the faith and the strength that is required to come back from issues throughout our lives, while still being happy and productive members of society. I was fortunate to have parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents who taught me right from wrong on a daily basis, and taught me the value of hard work.

I examined my life, my own comebacks, and the comebacks of those around me, arriving at the realization that a small thing like the sport of basketball played a great role in making me who I am today. The work ethic that brought me basketball success taught me that almost anything can be accomplished if a person is willing to work hard to achieve a goal. The problems and issues, wins and losses, that were a part of my basketball career were all beneficial in making me a stronger person, and prepared me for my future endeavors. I dug deep into my memory bank to trace how I became the person I am today, and how my setbacks and ensuing comebacks molded me and gave me the strength to become "Grandpa," the oldest college basketball player in history.

Chapter Two

The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way? Proverbs 20:24

From the time I was five years old, my parents and grandparents made sure that my brother Kevin and I had a basketball goal in our backyard. At five years of age I was fascinated by the game of basketball and the strategies involved. It still amazes me how I was able to understand and comprehend the game at that early age. I enjoyed watching, learning, and playing basketball. I stayed outside shooting baskets until well after dark, when my mom forced me to come inside. Practicing was not something I had to do; it was sheer enjoyment for me. I shot baskets in the rain, snow, and in the midday heat of the summer days. I did not think about getting sunburned, catching a cold, getting too tired, or any of the other excuses I hear from many of today's youth. My entire family participated. My grandmother Mamma Davis, my dad, and my mom all came outside and shot baskets with my brother Kevin and me. These are the same people who helped mold me in many other ways, and provided me with many memories that I still cherish today.

I played basketball for many hours alone because there were not any organized youth leagues or AAU basketball teams. My first true basketball "game" experience came when I was ten years old and in the fourth grade. I attended Asbury Elementary School in Lincolnton, NC. There were four fourth grade classes. The teachers decided to have a classroom basketball tournament for the boys and a softball tournament for the girls. These tournaments were held on field day, in my opinion the second best school day of the year! (The last day of school was always number one in my book.) I thought that the basketball tournament was just about the greatest thing that had ever happened to me. I was so excited, I tortured my coach, who taught fifth grade, by calling him every day at his house with strategies, ideas, and tips on how we could win. I'm sure now that he didn't understand a thing I was saying.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Coming Backby JEFFERY L. COFFEY Copyright © 2010 by Jeffery L. Coffey. Excerpted by permission.
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