12 12 12 eBook compressed quality V 3 PDF file April 15 2026 - Flipbook - Page 234
DEDICATION AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I dedicate 12 12 12 to Rod Mergardt, my life coach who began coaching me in 1968 when I was age 11.
|at simple devotion – giving up his weekends to help us – lev an
indelible mark on me. It taught me about real dedication, and showed
orsthand the impact the right mentor can have by just showing up.
Coach Rod believed in us fully, and in return we did everything we
could to honor that belief.
In September 1968, an eleven-year-old boy stood on the edge of a tumbling mat at Fox
Lane Middle School and looked down the mat at his new coach, Rod Mergardt. |e
sun poured through the gym’s skylights, and Coach Mergardt ofered a quick word of
advice over the echo of the young boy’s anxiety of trying
