Thomas Phillip One Feather-Bell - depressed, drinking and crying last week - came Sunday looking for God at First Lutheran Church.
One Feather-Bell didn't know when he walked in the door at First Lutheran that he would be listening to the all-time wins leader in men's college basketball history instead.
But what the young man heard from retired Northern State University Coach Don Meyer resonated with him on many levels.
Meyer's emphasis on service, humility, respect and courtesy - and how they apply to congregations like they do to sports teams - struck a chord.
"He talked about kids he was recruiting who were disrespectful to their parents while he visited them," One Feather-Bell said. "So he let them go, didn't recruit them anymore. That was pretty good."
Meyer, 65, finished his 38th season last spring with 922 career victories. His story is coming out in a book, "How Lucky Can You Be: The Story of Coach Don Meyer," that was written by ESPN The Magazine senior writer Buster Olney and is being released Tuesday by Random House.
Part of that story covers how, on Sept. 5, 2008, Meyer was leading a caravan of Northern State players on a team retreat when he fell asleep at the wheel and was involved in a head-on collision with a truck hauling 60,000 pounds of corn.
The accident was almost fatal and eventually cost him much of his left leg. The night of the accident, the surgeon who worked to save his life discovered that Meyer had carcinoid cancer, a slow-growing form of the disease.
Speaking at First Lutheran's weekly Adult Forum, Meyer injected good-natured humor with a message of how those listening could conduct themselves in church and in life. That included examples of being courteous to others, of picking up trash in all walks of life, and of encouraging the hard workers in congregations and not just those with the most talents.
"God doesn't care about our talents," Meyer said. "He cares about our mind-set. Those people who have a 'B' in talent but an 'A' in mind-set will do so much more."
Meyer told a story about what he considered to be one of the greatest examples of service leadership in the coaching profession - revered UCLA basketball coach John Wooden.
A few days before his death June 4, 99-year-old Wooden asked his son to give him a shave, Meyer said.
"I want to look good for Nell when I get up there," Wooden explained as he pointed to heaven, where he planned to be reunited with his departed wife.
"That's how you want to live your life, with love, with faith," Meyer said.
Just a few days removed from his despair, One Feather-Bell said those words made all the sense in the world to him.
