The difference you make makes the difference.
That was the message shared by McComb head boys’ basketball coach Hilton Harrell when he spoke to the McComb Exchange Club during the group’s weekly meeting Thursday at the McComb Days Inn.
Harrell reached a milestone last Saturday when he recorded his 350th win as the Tigers’ head coach.
The veteran coach challenge Exchange Club members to continue giving to the community, noting that their help continues to make a difference in the lives of young people.
“You make a living out of what you get,” said Harrell, who also is the pastor for Pleasant Grove East McComb Baptist Church. “You make a life out of what you give.”
Harrell credited the support of loved ones, friends and a special third-grade teacher in the Amite County school system he called Mrs. Magee.
“I’m a product,” Harrell said, “of somebody who reached out and thought about somebody else and realized that life is not what you get, it’s what you give.”
Harrell said that after his father died while he was in third grade, Mrs. Magee drove to his house, embraced him and brought food for his entire family.
“Compassion is not about telling someone you’re sorry,” Harell said. “It’s about doing. It’s about sharing. It’s about giving back, because what you have is borrowed. Everything you’re given is borrowed.”
The Tigers’ head coach told Exchange Club members that he was one of 27 children from his father, who had 19 children from his first marriage, before having eight more in his second marriage.
“We lived on meager means,” Harrell said. “We didn’t have much. My brother and I wore the same clothes. He wore them one day, I wore them the next.”
Harrell said he could remember getting off the school bus and walking in to his house to the fresh aroma of sweet potatoes.
According to Harrell, it’s difficult for young people to make a positive impact on the world today. He said anyone “stepping out of the norm,” and reaching great success is not treated the same by today’s society.
“They treat you just like you’re out of order,” he said.
Harrell also recalled the days as a child when neighbors were friends and family was the most important thing. He said he would like to see a return to those values.
“Today, houses are fenced in,” Harrell said. “You don’t walk on anybody’s lawn and you don’t stop by unless you call and say you’re coming over.
“Even if it’s your best friend,” Harrell added, “you’ve got to call and make sure it’s OK to come over.”
Harrell also spoke about the importance of a person’s thought process, calling negative thoughts “stinkin’ thinkin’.”
While he said he never planned to return to McComb, Harrell said God has put him here for a reason.
“I’m here to teach these young men how to be better men,” he said, “because giving to somebody else is more important that hoarding for yourself.”
