After forging a successful path for himself, Penix Sr. knew the lessons his son needed to learn along the way, and the all-star game provided a great teaching opportunity.
"I had to sit on the bench, not in the dugout, but in the stands because I couldn't find my belt on game day," Penix Jr. recalled. "I text my teammates and ask them, 'Can they bring a belt?' They brought a belt. My dad said, 'No.'
"He was just teaching me discipline. You've got to be able to take care of your stuff. Whenever game day comes, you've got to have everything. I wasn't ready that day. And as a kid you like, 'For a belt?'"
It's this part of the story that I especially love, because it's not about the belt at all, which is a difficult concept to grasp as a kid. That's exactly why this lesson had to happen. It was a failure to plan, prepare and confirm — all of which are essential qualities for a quarterback, by the way — and Penix Jr. had already lost this battle before he ever discovered the belt's absence.
The belt is a real-life example of the importance of leaving no single detail omitted. That's some fatherly wisdom right there.
"It's crazy, you know? I didn't even need a belt, but it was part of our uniform," Penix Jr. said. "So that's what he was just teaching me — small things like that that I didn't understand. But I do now."
Classrooms across America, and possibly even the world, are littered with motivational posters. One such poster I came across in my travels as a youth featured the classic adage, "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard."
It's ironic then that throughout our most formative years, talent actually can (and usually does) beat out hard work. How many among us had classmates who never paid attention or did homework on time but aced every test? Or the kid on the basketball team four inches taller than everyone else whose advantage proved insurmountable?
As the pool winnows and the cream rises to the top, however, work ethic becomes the key differentiator. Those who develop an appreciation for the benefits of work at a young age can cement key habits for lasting success.
Work, itself, isn't enough, though. Knowing how to apply one's efforts can be just as important to maximize the precious few hours available each day. As with most things in life, finding the right approach takes some trial and error, so it's best to start early.
What Penix Sr. did was gift his son time in the form of wisdom, undoubtedly learned either from his own upbringing or hard-earned lessons that came at their own cost. He sped up Penix Jr.'s learning curve in a moment where the cost of the lesson was a period of embarrassment that only served to fortify the point.
So, shout out to all the fathers and mothers out there providing lessons, even if they cause temporary discomfort. We may not all become NFL quarterbacks because of it, but we are better for it.
"He did everything for me," Penix said. "Growing up, he's always my coach but he wasn't no players coach. My dad, he benched me if I ain't playing good. Tell me I was stinking up the field because he always wanted the best out of me. As a little kid, you don't understand that. You're like, my dad benching me. Like, 'You're my dad,' you know? But seeing how hard he pushed me; he helped me get to this point.
"I feel like I couldn't have got this far without him, so it's a blessing to be able to have somebody like that in my life."