My Father Is My Hero - A Tribute To Frank Mickens

Editor's Note: Ulie Mickens was recently accepted at Purchase College, State University of New York.

My father is my hero. This may sound like a cliché, but in the African-American community, fathers are often not present, so I consider myself blessed to have my dad’s presence and guidance in my life.  I also know that in following in my father’s footsteps, as I go through life, I have big shoes to fill.

My father, Frank Mickens, is an athlete.  In his senior year of high school, my dad was named Most Valuable Player in three sports: football, basketball, and track. I am also an athlete and I suppose you could say that my father taught me everything he knows.  When I was six years old, I started playing football, and when I was seven, my dad enrolled me in basketball. I fell in love with basketball but the problem was that I wasn’t good at all at basketball. My dad knew it and he spent endless hours with me, working with me on drills and skills. He was always patient with me but he was persistent. Even as a kid I knew that he had so much information and knowledge about the game, and I knew I was fortunate to be learning from him and to have his undivided attention.

When I was about nine years old, my father began coaching other kids in our community. These boys were my friends and schoolmates. My dad would take us to the public outside court and work with us as a team. He would take each individual kid and work on whatever weakness that kid was showing. In doing this, we developed as a team and my dad began taking us to tournaments. Before we knew it, we were winning trophies and spending a lot of time together as a team. My teammates became my brothers. My father looked out for all of them and to this day, those boys still depend on my dad for guidance and support. My dad didn’t just teach my friends about basketball, he taught them about being a man. He taught them to stand tall and to be proud of who they are as young African-American men. Most of my teammates didn’t have a father figure to look up to and my dad became that role in their lives. 

You might think that I might have been a little jealous of those boys, but I never felt deprived of my father’s attention. Even as a child, I knew what he was doing. I knew my dad was doing important work. My dad was fulfilling his purpose, because we all have purpose for being here. My father has a strong faith in God and he showed us all what the work of God can do for you. We all saw God in my dad’s work with his boys.   My dad always tells them he loves them like his sons. So you see, I can probably beat my dad's athletic records because I am an athlete, but I have very big shoes to fill in my life.