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I think it is safe to say we all feel Chris Lamb has, is and will continue to be the best coach in the country for us. For 16 years he has led this program to heights not even the most optimistic fan could have imagined.
This story isn't about x's and o's, wins or loses. It's about the kindness, generosity and insight of a human being. My parents became Shocker fans before 1965, but it was that season they bought basketball season tickets and our family still has those tickets to this day. When baseball made its return in the late 70's my parents were there to support them with season tickets.
My father passed away in 2000. I stepped in to attend games with my mother in his absence. It was about the mid 2000's when my mother and some of her friends became interested in the volleyball program, so she attended 3-4 matches per year.
In 2008 my mother and her friends attended an ice cream social prior to the season opener. She put her name into a drawing for tickets to a future game and a Lambo signed volleyball. She won the drawing and collected her prizes. As that historic season began to unfold and the team continue to win without losing, I encoraged my mother to look into getting the ball signed by the players (only Lambo's sig was on the original ball). With the help of an administrative person (I wish I knew who it was) mom's ball got signed by all players.
I surprised my mother for Christmas that year with a ball display case with an engraved description of the historic year of going undefeated during the regular season, including the conference schedule; a top-10 national ranking and getting to the second round of the NCAA tournament. An undefeated season had never been accomplished by a Shocker team prior to that, although men's basketball did it a couple of years ago.
This signed volleyball became my mothers prize posession in her home for years. In September of last year my mother suffered a stroke. She has partially recovered, but can no longer attend Shocker sporting events. We have to sell my mothers house becasue she can no longer live independently. We will also be having an estate sale, which will include some fine Shocker memorabilia collected over the past 50 years.
My mother's most prized piece of memorabilia is that signed volleyball. Although I feel we could get a reasonable price for it, my mother refuses to sell it and wanted me to look into donating it to the volleyball program. I promised to reach out to the volleyball program to measure their interest.
A couple of weeks ago I stopped by the volleyball office to hopefully talk to Chris Lamb. Neither him nor Shannon were in, but I talked to Sean, a very nice assistant coach. He assured me Lamb would be interested in talking to me about this signed ball. I thought this would go down that Lamb would call me, be very gracious about taking the ball, we would set a time for me to drop it by the volleyball office, shake his hand and be gone in 5 minutes. I would have been very satisfied with that scenerio.
Here is the really good part (I know this is a long and drawn out story...sorry about that).
So Lamb calls me later that day. Our conversation lasted for 45 minutes. He was very interested in my mother and father's fandom of WSU and was impressed my mother, at her advanced age, became a volleyball fan. It touched him so much, he insisted on meeting my mother as opposed to me handling the ball delivery (which is how my mother wanted it). He told me, surprisingly so, that he didn't have any keepsake that displayed autographs of this special group of young ladies from his 2008 historic team. He told me "SHOXMVC, I would be honored to accept this gift from your mother." He went on to tell me of a new Shocker sports museum that is beeing updated and that this ball will be a great piece to build volleyball around.
Lamb and I agreed December 28 at 10 am would be the day and time to visit my mother and except the signed ball. I wanted to surprise her, so I kept this meeting a secret. At 10 this morning at my mothers Assisted Living home, Chris Lamb walked through the door with a big thankful smile on his face. The expression on my mothers face was "VISA priceless." I haven't seen here this excited and happy since her stroke. My mother got to do the honors of giving her most coveted Shocker memorabilia to Chris Lamb.
Lamb preceded to spend over an hour with my mother talking about volleyball, Shockers, family and how she likes it at her assisted living home. He did this with authentic grace, class and genuine interest. He possed for pictures and didn't leave untill my mother was completely satisfied with the experience.
I again appologize for the length of this post. First of all I love my mother very much and am commited to do all I can to provide as much quality of life that she has left on this earth. Second, Chris Lamb is way more than a college volleyball coach. He is a man of honor, grace and doing things behind the scenes he cares not of getting credit for. He could have handled this situations so many different ways with me being satisfied with. He didn't have to commit to almost two hours out of his holiday schedule to an elderly woman who wanted him to have a volleyball.
Today, my mother is the belle of the ball at her home. I know I am biased, but she deserves it. Chris Lamb is responsible for that and will always hold a special place in our families hearts.
This story isn't about x's and o's, wins or loses. It's about the kindness, generosity and insight of a human being. My parents became Shocker fans before 1965, but it was that season they bought basketball season tickets and our family still has those tickets to this day. When baseball made its return in the late 70's my parents were there to support them with season tickets.
My father passed away in 2000. I stepped in to attend games with my mother in his absence. It was about the mid 2000's when my mother and some of her friends became interested in the volleyball program, so she attended 3-4 matches per year.
In 2008 my mother and her friends attended an ice cream social prior to the season opener. She put her name into a drawing for tickets to a future game and a Lambo signed volleyball. She won the drawing and collected her prizes. As that historic season began to unfold and the team continue to win without losing, I encoraged my mother to look into getting the ball signed by the players (only Lambo's sig was on the original ball). With the help of an administrative person (I wish I knew who it was) mom's ball got signed by all players.
I surprised my mother for Christmas that year with a ball display case with an engraved description of the historic year of going undefeated during the regular season, including the conference schedule; a top-10 national ranking and getting to the second round of the NCAA tournament. An undefeated season had never been accomplished by a Shocker team prior to that, although men's basketball did it a couple of years ago.
This signed volleyball became my mothers prize posession in her home for years. In September of last year my mother suffered a stroke. She has partially recovered, but can no longer attend Shocker sporting events. We have to sell my mothers house becasue she can no longer live independently. We will also be having an estate sale, which will include some fine Shocker memorabilia collected over the past 50 years.
My mother's most prized piece of memorabilia is that signed volleyball. Although I feel we could get a reasonable price for it, my mother refuses to sell it and wanted me to look into donating it to the volleyball program. I promised to reach out to the volleyball program to measure their interest.
A couple of weeks ago I stopped by the volleyball office to hopefully talk to Chris Lamb. Neither him nor Shannon were in, but I talked to Sean, a very nice assistant coach. He assured me Lamb would be interested in talking to me about this signed ball. I thought this would go down that Lamb would call me, be very gracious about taking the ball, we would set a time for me to drop it by the volleyball office, shake his hand and be gone in 5 minutes. I would have been very satisfied with that scenerio.
Here is the really good part (I know this is a long and drawn out story...sorry about that).
So Lamb calls me later that day. Our conversation lasted for 45 minutes. He was very interested in my mother and father's fandom of WSU and was impressed my mother, at her advanced age, became a volleyball fan. It touched him so much, he insisted on meeting my mother as opposed to me handling the ball delivery (which is how my mother wanted it). He told me, surprisingly so, that he didn't have any keepsake that displayed autographs of this special group of young ladies from his 2008 historic team. He told me "SHOXMVC, I would be honored to accept this gift from your mother." He went on to tell me of a new Shocker sports museum that is beeing updated and that this ball will be a great piece to build volleyball around.
Lamb and I agreed December 28 at 10 am would be the day and time to visit my mother and except the signed ball. I wanted to surprise her, so I kept this meeting a secret. At 10 this morning at my mothers Assisted Living home, Chris Lamb walked through the door with a big thankful smile on his face. The expression on my mothers face was "VISA priceless." I haven't seen here this excited and happy since her stroke. My mother got to do the honors of giving her most coveted Shocker memorabilia to Chris Lamb.
Lamb preceded to spend over an hour with my mother talking about volleyball, Shockers, family and how she likes it at her assisted living home. He did this with authentic grace, class and genuine interest. He possed for pictures and didn't leave untill my mother was completely satisfied with the experience.
I again appologize for the length of this post. First of all I love my mother very much and am commited to do all I can to provide as much quality of life that she has left on this earth. Second, Chris Lamb is way more than a college volleyball coach. He is a man of honor, grace and doing things behind the scenes he cares not of getting credit for. He could have handled this situations so many different ways with me being satisfied with. He didn't have to commit to almost two hours out of his holiday schedule to an elderly woman who wanted him to have a volleyball.
Today, my mother is the belle of the ball at her home. I know I am biased, but she deserves it. Chris Lamb is responsible for that and will always hold a special place in our families hearts.
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