The remarks of Michael Adams, NCAA Executive Committee and president of the University of Georgia, Wednesday night in honor of the late NCAA President Myles Brand:

Peg, on behalf of the University of Georgia and the executive committee, I extend our deepest sympathies to you and your family in this time of grief.  Thank you for the privilege of a few minutes during this service to talk about Myles and his leadership at the NCAA.

When I agreed three years ago to serve as chair of the NCAA Executive Committee, there was no way that I could have anticipated the opportunities that would come to me and the knowledge of both academic and athletic administration I would gain.  This has truly been an extraordinary experience and a tremendous honor.

There was also no way I could have anticipated the challenges – the public’s interest in what we do; the emotions that athletic competition and matters related bring to the fore; and the controversy that often follows the decisions we make.

It has struck me on numerous occasions that while daily newspapers don’t have education or physics or sociology sections, they do have sports sections, and the national focus is unabated.  Sports blogs are among the mostly widely read pages on the Internet.  Sports are a touch point for many people and, I truly believe, generally a force for good in the world.

Against that backdrop, it is almost humorous that the person at the core of all these issue for the past six years has been a courtly, thoughtful, gentlemanly, mild philosophy professor – my friend Myles Brand.

I had known him reasonably well for about 20 years as we both moved through the ranks of higher education administration. 

And I had shared numerous phone calls with him when I made the decision not to renew the contract of a popular athletic director – the kind of decision with which he was all too familiar.

Out of that strong collegiality and professional respect developed a deep and abiding friendship between us. I am most grateful for how close he and I became through regular telephone calls, incessant meetings, some travel together, numerous public appearances and press conferences.  My colleague became my dear friend.

Our relationship deepened again during the past nine months when, except for his devoted wife, Peg, and his closest personal staff, I, as the representative of the association he served, probably talked to him more than anyone.  I cherish those conversations today.

Lee Iacocca said, “Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It's easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.”

And while Myles had shown great leadership before he became ill, particularly in his singular focus on the “student” in “student-athlete,” his finest leadership was demonstrated when he faced the greatest challenge of his life, when his world came tumbling down.

That is what I kept coming back to as I thought about these remarks today.  Myles got the news all of us dread, and he crowned his life with nine months of grit and determination and grace.

I want to close with three observations.  First, I will never forget the solemn, direct, forthright, non-emotional conversation we had when he called me on January 2 to tell me he had just learned he had pancreatic cancer and that the prognosis was not good.

Any of us who have lived this long knew what that meant.  His only request to me was to ask if I could commit some of my time to do some things for the good of the Association that he might not be able to do himself because of the impact of the treatment on his 140 day a year travel schedule.  I assured him I would.

He didn’t ask me to do anything for him; he asked me to do something for the Association.  That was Myles’ leadership style.

Second, I don’t know as well as some, especially Peg, how Myles viewed his situation from a spiritual viewpoint, but in a subsequent phone call around March 1, I told him that Mary and I viewed this through a Christian perspective and that we were praying for him.

One of the best books I have ever read about this challenge was Hamilton Jordan’s “No Such Thing as a Bad Day.”  He, too, was my friend.  Ham was Jimmy Carter’s chief of staff and spent his final days on the faculty at UGA working on a book on the Carter administration.  He died in May 2008 after battling several forms of cancer for many years.

I told Myles about my experiences with Hamilton when I worked on Capitol Hill in the late 70s.  He asked me for a copy of the book – the only personal request he ever made – and I sent him one.

I will always treasure the e-mail he sent thanking me for our concern and for providing a copy of the book. “You’ll never know how much these things help,” he told me later.  That said it all.

Finally, what struck me most was his tenacity.  I watched with amazement as Myles fought a gallant battle, and while I am sure there were dark moments, he never said a complaining word in my presence. Through sheer determination he lived 50% longer than what his doctors had told him was likely.

Even during his last weeks, he made enormous contributions to the Association – to the best of my knowledge, he did not miss a single major meeting.  He literally, by force of will, caused his body to function to the very end.

All of this takes me back to where I began:  This was a man leading an association largely dedicated to athletics, an organization whose coaches and athletic administrators talk about determination, knowing yourself fully, playing hurt, hanging in there and finishing the drill.

The true athlete in the arena the past few months was Myles Brand.  Myles showed the values that coaches try to instill in their players.  Myles faced great adversity with greater determination.  Myles faced intense pain and played hurt.  Myles wanted to give up but he hung in there.  Myles finished the drill.

I know that many of you here this evening come not from the academic side, as did Myles and I, but come as coaches, as athletic administrators, as athletes.  And while I was a reasonably decent high school and college athlete, I have nowhere near the credentials that most of you do, and neither did Myles.

I also know how fond most of you are of the stories of great heroes of the past.  I have heard the pre-game orations about Knute Rockne and Mickey mantle and Jim Ryan and Gayle Sayers.  I am sure each of you has your own litany of favorite examples.

My suggestion for you is a little more simple and current:  The next time you need a story like that, put the Rocknes and the Mantles and the Ryans and the Sayers on the shelf for a while. 

Tell them the story of that mild philosophy professor who led the nation’s largest athletic association.

Tell them about his concern for others; about what dealing with adversity really means; about what tenacity means when you know your life is ebbing away with each passing day.

Those of you who are coaches, managers and leaders, tell them that you remember the story of the wisdom, the leadership and the tenacity of Myles Brand.  You’ll all be better off because of it, as am I.

Thank you.