On this week’s edition of The Joy Beat, we’re shining a spotlight on a local author, poet, educator, coach and changemaker: Bill Raynor.
From Boston to the Ivy League, Bill has had a long and storied career. He spent over four decades in higher education as a basketball coach and athletic director, pushing his students to embrace the dedication, sacrifice, structure and joy of participating in team sports.
He also designed and initiated the Young Men of Color program at MassBay Community College to assist students of color in their academic pursuits. Bill joined GBH’s All Things Considered host Arun Rath to share how sports shaped his upbringing and the lessons and joy he found along the way. What follows is a lightly edited transcript.
Arun Rath: First off, before you were a coach, you were quite a player; you were known as Little Bill Raynor Jr. on the hardwood courts.
Bill Raynor: Yeah, that’s correct.
Rath: How did that incredible experience inform your coaching and your decision to become a coach, ultimately?
Raynor: Well, actually, it’s kind of interesting. I was planning on becoming an international lawyer. After graduating from Dartmouth College, I decided I wanted to take a year off. My idea was to go to the Fletcher School of Diplomacy at Tufts University.
During that time, I got a call from my high school indicating that one of the Christian Brothers at Catholic Memorial High School [in Boston] had just been transferred a week before the start of school. They knew that I had a background — he was a French teacher and the freshman basketball coach — they knew of my background and studying in France. I decided to take the job.
Two very important things happened for me. One was that I found out I hated teaching. Second was that I loved coaching. From there, I coached the freshman team and assisted with the varsity team.
I left [the school] and coached at Saint Mary’s of Lynn High School. From there, I got a call from Frank McLaughlin, the head coach at Harvard University at the time. He asked if I wanted to join his staff. Thoughts of diplomacy left my head and lots of coaching entered. So, that was kind of the start of my coaching career.
Rath: That’s wild. Sometimes, you don’t know what you love until you’re actually doing it.
Raynor: Exactly.
Rath: I was reading about your athletic career as a young man, and how even back then, people were really looking up to you, your achievements and what you were doing. I’m wondering if you were aware at the time of the importance of that, especially as a young Black man.
Raynor: The game of basketball holds a special place in my community and the community that I grew up in. As I was becoming a better player and getting a little bit of recognition, I was definitely aware that other people were aware of my abilities, that I was able to traverse the city and go into all different kinds of neighborhoods to play and compete, that I was embraced by each of those communities. It did spark this idea that people recognized and appreciated my talent.
Rath: You talked about how learning you loved coaching was something of a revelation to you once you started doing it. Was there a particular moment when you realized, “This is my calling. This is how I can have an impact on people.”
Raynor: I don’t know if there was a particular moment that struck me, but one of the things that did occur to me was that I did have a talent for teaching the game and interacting with people — translating the many beautiful and wonderful experiences that I had experienced as a player and being able to provide that for the players I was coaching throughout my career.
[If] you looked at the impact various coaches had on me and my development, this seemed to be a great pathway for me to pass on those experiences to others. Coaches are really educators and teachers. You get beyond the game and get into the psyche of the individual. That’s been a great blessing throughout my coaching career.
Rath: I can’t imagine it was easy growing up as a Black man in Boston at the time, but hearing you talk about it and in your writing, you’re so overwhelmingly positive. I can hear it in your voice. Where does that come from?
Raynor: I think it comes from my background. I was blessed with a great family and great parents. They always instilled the positivity of life, and we didn’t dwell on the negativity. We dwelled on, if you will, living in the answer, and not living in the problem.
Despite the various ups and downs, roller-coaster rides and different challenges that life throws at you, instead of focusing on the negative parts, I focus on the positive.
Rath: One of the things I love about your story is how you are a scholar athlete. I’m curious if you, in your coaching, use literature as a way to connect with young people through your love of the written and spoken word.
Raynor: Yeah. I think that — especially as rap, hip hop and spoken word have become as popular and influential as it has — here was an avenue [where I was] able to use my self-expression and various forms that others could relate to. That’s been my path.
I’ve always been intrigued by artists and their use of language, their use of words and lyrics. Despite whatever musical genre it might be, there’s the opportunity to really highlight and make a powerful impact with statements in a short form that’s always intrigued me.
I began writing, and as I wrote—initially, I was writing for my own edification. Then, as I started sharing some of my stuff with people, they encouraged me to share it with others. Others seemed to gravitate towards it, and they encouraged me with their words of appreciation. So, I continued.
Rath: You’ve brought so much joy to so many people, evidenced through your multiple inductions into various halls of fame in New England. With the impact you’ve had on so many people in your career, speaking personally, what has brought you the most joy?
Raynor: What has brought me the most joy has been the reaction and the relationships that I’ve established at the various stops along the way that I’ve had in life. The people — the relationships that I have — date back 50 years.
It’s been through meeting and teaching the great game of basketball, as well as my Young Men and Women of Color program, which has also been one of the great achievements I’ve had, that I’ve been able to, in some small way, be a part of helping young people grow and realize their academic or professional aspirations.
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