So Tell Me - Are Leaders Born or Made?

According to The Owosso Argus Press, Brad VanPelt was unquestionably the greatest athlete ever to come out of the farm country of mid-Michigan. Brad earned eight varsity letters in football, baseball, basketball, and track and field at Owosso High School. In his senior year he was named all-state quarterback and given honorable mention on the Sunkist All-American High School Basketball Team. Brad had enormous strength. In high school track and field, he threw the shot put 46 feet, 7 inches. Brad’s “Number 10” football jersey, now retired, hangs in the halls of Owosso High School.

All around town people say, “What a natural born athlete!”

Brad attended Michigan State University where he was a three-sport athlete, receiving collegiate letters three times in football and twice in baseball and basketball. He earned numerous honors from The Associated Press, Walter Camp Foundation, United Press, The Sporting News, Time Magazine, American Football Coaches Association, Football Writers Association, Football News, Universal Sports, The Columbus Touchdown Club, and others. Brad became the first defensive back – ever – to receive the Maxwell Award as the nation's top collegiate player. He was a second-team All-Big Ten pick in baseball as a pitcher and still ranks eighth on the Michigan State single-season strikeout list. When Brad played baseball at Owosso High School, one major league baseball team scout said, “No major league pitcher can throw the baseball as hard as Brad!”

“What a natural born athlete!”

Though drafted into professional baseball, Brad decided, instead, to play professional football. He was drafted in the first round by the New York Giants playing fourteen years in the National Football League (New York Giants for ten years, Los Angeles Raiders for three years, and the Cleveland Browns for one year). He played in five straight Pro Bowls and was named player of the decade for the 1970s by the Giants.

“What a natural born athlete!”

Brad continues to be honored for his athleticism. Brad was named to the Lansing State Journal's Michigan State University’s Centennial Super Squad in 1996; inducted into the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2000; inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in April, 2002; and inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in December, 2002.

“What a natural born athlete!”

Or was he?

You see, the only thing most people saw were Brad’s amazing athletic accomplishments on game day. Brad grew up in my neighborhood. Few people observed the countless hours he spent practicing and training – shooting thousands of free throws – often after dark – into the old backboard suspended over the garage door; pitching the baseball – again and again and again – into his father’s well-worn catcher’s glove; or, throwing the football, with laser precision, through the old rubber tire dangling from the tall burr oak tree in his backyard.

So, was Brad Van Pelt a natural born athlete – or was he made?

This is the very question that divides us on the topic of leadership, “Are leaders born or are leaders made?”

Or - is there another explanation?

Richard