“Good is the enemy of great” -Dave Hopla
I was fortunate to meet a legend at a legendary event. The Belfast Hall of Fame Classic is a basketball experience unlike any other. Thousands of fans from all over Ireland packed into an arena to watch D1 American basketball. The atmosphere was electric. Some of the kids had only seen basketball once or twice in there life. Others clearly loved the game of basketball but had never seen it at that level. Some had never seen an Americans at all I general. Either way, whenever I looked into the stands I saw looks of sheer amazement in the eyes of young Irish ballers.
In between games, i noticed an older white dude who was wearing Jordan brand head to toe while drilling every shot he took on the main court. I found out that is name was Dave Hopla: a world renown NBA shooting coach who holds the Guinness world record for most free throws made in under a minute. I introduced myself and it became clear that he had mentality of a champion. I asked him for shooting tips and he replied matter of factly with a thick Boston accent, “ I stay away from that garbage you see on social media, I just pick my spots and make 1000’s of shots everyday”. The man was old school, and he might’ve been grandpa- aged but he definitely had swag. He was one of the bests shooters on the planet and he knew it.
The next morning he showed up to the arena to practice before he attempted to beat his own world record. When the assigned rebounder showed up late that day, I happily volunteered to rebound for him. Don’t get me wrong, the guy was extremely confident, but he also was down to earth and had a lot to say about what it means to be great. As we waited for the floor sweeper to finish up he started dropping some wisdom on me. He preached, “nobody remembers good, only the great leaves a legacy”. His words were simple but indisputable. Dave was so adamant about greatness that he claims that he visited the Great Wall of China over 15 times because it was known for being great and it resembled what he set out to be. If you look at him, he was only about 5’9 and had a slight build. You’d expect him to be doing things that people his age normally do like play chess and cheer on their grandkids. Instead, he was traveling the world teaching basketball, working with NBA superstars like Kobe Bryant and Ray Allen, all while being sponsored by Air Jordan. His word was as credible as it gets, and I knew his success wasn’t just by chance.
Once we finally got on the court to practice I was able to witness his greatness first hand. Warming up he made every shot with ease all while carrying on a casual conversation. His shot was beautiful; he flicked his wrist the same way every time and had perfect rotation on the ball. We eventually did a practice run at the record. We started and he not only was making every shot, but he put the ball through the same spot in the net EVERY time. Swish after swish after swish without hitting the rim once. It was as if he was shooting baskets on one of those hoops you see at arcades. He was like a machine and all I had to do was catch the ball right out of the net and launch it to his chest as quick as I could. When the minute had passed, the counter said that he had made 28…which would be the new world record. Sadly though there was no footage and no official counter so it did not technically count. Needless to say however, I was hired as the new rebounder when he attempted at half time later that night .
He continued to explain the importance of greatness as the day went on. He would state someone’s first name and tell me to say the first last name to come to mind. He would say “Michael?” and I said, “Jordan”. Muhammad? Ali. Wayne? Gretzky. This went on until he ran out of names and said said see? You only remember the greatest of all time, you didn’t mention anyone who was second best. The guy was obsessed with greatness and because of that he was great. When we finally attempted the record at halftime he still didn’t miss any shots, but we fell short of the record by 3 baskets. Regardless, his message to me had been made clear. If you want to be a legend you must always strive for greatness and never settle for less. If you demand greatness and do everything you can do achieve that than good things will happen no matter the outcome. His mindset was infectious and I think I’ll have to book my trip to see the Great Wall in the near future.
