University of Missouri Head Wrestling Coach Brian Smith was the keynote speaker at a Boy Scouts fundraising breakfast Monday in Jefferson City, despite that, in Smith's own words, "I am the most non-outdoor person there is."
Smith told the audience of 170 community leaders and scout supporters gathered at Missouri Farm Bureau, though, it's not about him, but his youngest son, Braden, who is a scout.
The gathering was the Great Rivers Council's 2017 Patron Breakfast to Support Scouting. Funds raised at the breakfast will support scouting activities in the council's Five Rivers District, which includes Cole, Gasconade, Osage, Maries and Moniteau counties. There are about 1,300 scouts in Five Rivers, part of about 5,000 in Great Rivers.
Learfield Communications was also recognized at the breakfast for years of providing its office space to hold Eagle Scout boards of review and project reviews.
Mike Flanagan, Five Rivers' public relations and marketing chairman, said this year's breakfast is the fifth such fundraiser. District Executive Kelsey Walker reported this year's event raised $33,000 - ahead of last year's $30,000. The money provides scholarships and vouchers to scouts who need help covering expenses and fees associated with purchasing a uniform and book, along with registration and camping fees.
Despite his preference to sleep indoors, Smith said, when his son said he wanted to be a Boy Scout, his response was, "Let's go camping."
On their first trip, a violent storm trashed their campsite.
On their second trip, as if a sweltering heat advisory wasn't enough to contend with, an armadillo decided to join Smith in his tent one night.
"All of a sudden, I start screaming, because this thing goes under my bed, running through, all around," he said. That incident earned him the moniker of "Screaming Armadillo."
"I make fun of it, but I love the experiences with my son." Smith said that's part of being a leader for young people - teaching them through validation and guidance to be the person they want to be, even if that's not necessarily what a parent or leader wants them to be.
"When I told my son, 'Let's go camping,' I could have said, 'No, Braden you're going to wrestle,' and it would have ruined his life," Smith explained. "So let them be the person they want to be. Obviously, you're going to have to push them a little, and know each kid is different."
He drew those lessons from ones his father taught him. The first time he beat a wrestler who had placed in the state, he got home and strutted his success. His father simply asked him, "You satisfied with that?" That led Smith to a more humble, long-game line of thinking that made him realize the next day, "I can't be satisfied with that."
His dad showed him how to draw strength from believing in something bigger than himself. His junior year, Smith made it to the state championship as a wrestler; and as he warmed up, instead of a bombastic pep talk, his dad focused him with a prayer.
"I don't remember the state championship match. I won, but I remember the prayer that my dad said with me," he said.
That kind of loving attention is something Smith incorporates into his own leadership. "If you fail to give love and caring for them, we fail as a leader."
In his coaching, he's taken and used specific lessons from his time with his son in the Boy Scouts, too.
"I still don't enjoy the camping as much, but I took it, and I learned from it. And now every year for the last seven or eight years, the University of Missouri wrestling team, the first weekend or the second weekend we're on campus, we go camping."
The team spends a couple of nights building fires, pitching tents and rafting, and it's something wrestlers have told him is one of their best experiences as a team.