The day before a big playoff game, I got word that Norman died in a car accident. I dedicated the game to my best friend. In the second half I jumped up to kick the ball. I landed funny. My knee buckled. Just like that, my dream was finished.

I went back to Philly for Norman’s funeral on crutches. Soon as Miz Lane saw me, she cried, "From now on, you’re my son.”

It was a responsibility I had to live up to. "I’d like to stay in sports, go back to school to study athletic training,” I said. Guess what Miz Lane said. "Why not?!”

At St. Joseph’s University I was the head athletic trainer by day and a student by night. At graduation, Miz Lane’s smile told me again: I knew you had it in you.

I got a job as the Philadelphia 76ers head athletic trainer. A few years later I landed an executive position. I thought I’d hit the jackpot. So I was taken aback when Miz Lane said, "I know there’s something bigger waiting for you.”

"How do you know that?” I asked.

"Your story is an inspiration to everyone in this neighborhood,” she said. "You need to write a book to show other people how they can do what you did.”

"I can’t write a book!”

"Why not?!” Miz Lane said. And as usual, she was right.

Last year I wrote Rules of the Red Rubber Ball, a book about finding and following your dreams. Now I travel the world, talking to business groups and most importantly, to kids. If I could make something of myself, I tell them, they can too. It’s my way of following in the footsteps of the best teacher I ever had. Why not?!