One thing I have learned is that good friends have other good friends. This is a series of stories about “friends of my friends”. The post below is the story for September 24, 2015.
My goal in 2015 is to learn or get re-acquainted with 365 people and doing a daily post on the “the friend of a friend” is helping me get closer to my goal.
On Sunday in church our pastor Dr. David Ruth reminded all in attendance that there is only one of you. Each of us is unique and different in some special way. On Tuesday night I received a great picture from a friend who lives in Lumberton, NC named Chris Oliver. Chris has a lot of unique qualities not the least of his laugh. His laugh in a crowd lets me he is in the room even if I can’t see him.
The picture Chris sent me depicted John Wooden teaching at Campbell Basketball School (Camp). I worked that camp but never had the opportunity to work alongside John Wooden. He had stopped coming to the camp in the 1980’s after he retired from coaching.
Picture below of John Wooden spending time with campers at Campbell.
Back on January 11, 2015 I profiled John Wooden and a friend of mine from New Jersey named Tony Spino. John Wooden and Tony had a unique relationship. Link to that post is below:
Chris Oliver is very connected to Campbell. Chris is a member of the Campbell University’s Presidential Advisory Board. Chris is the also the president of long-standing family business Oliver Oil Company-Sun Do Kwik Shops in Lumberton, NC. Chris also has a strong love of the Duke Blue Devils. People in Lumberton know that Chris loves Duke.
Picture of Chris at Wallace Wade Stadium at Duke University with daughter Caitlin and son Cole.
Chris graduated from Campbell in 1983 and received a degree in and has previously served on Campbell’s Alumni Board of Directors. He is also active in the Lumberton community, having served on the Kiwanis of Robeson County Board of Directors, the local RBC Bank Board of Directors and the Lumberton Area Chamber of Commerce Board. At the state level, Chris is a member of the North Carolina Petroleum Marketers Association.
Chris also is very involved in his church. He and wife Scarlett are the parents of four children, Caitlin, Meredith, Christin, and Cole.
Photo below of Chris’s family.
Today Campbell has a football program and their coach is Mike Minter.
The Friend-CHRIS OLIVER
The Friend of the Friend-MIKE MINTER
From NFL to Buies Creek, NC
John Wooden came to Buies Creek fifty years ago from California as a National Championship coach to teach at the Campbell Basketball School. Mike Minter came from the NFL and Charlotte, NC to Buies Creek to build a championship football program.
Mike Minter is a former Carolina Panthers standout and a member of the University of Nebraska Football Hall of Fame. Mike heads into his third season as head football coach at Campbell University in 2015.
In 2014, the CU Football program’s seventh overall and second under Minter’s direction, saw the Camels notch their second-most total and conference wins at 5-7 overall and 4-4 in Pioneer Football League play. A school record seven Camels, plus eight honorable mentions, were named to the 2014 All-Pioneer Football League teams, including four first teamers. Eight CU student-athletes, with six first team members, were tabbed PFL All-Academic.
Mike Minter has Campbell heading in the right direction as his 2015 squad is currently 2-1.
Mike, was a member of two national championship teams at Nebraska and the Panthers’ 2003 Super Bowl squad, joined the Fighting Camel program after serving as assistant coach at Liberty University in 2012 and Johnson C. Smith University in 2011.
During his 10-year NFL career, Minter earned a starting safety role six games into his rookie year in 1997, and held that position until he retired after the 2006 season. A second-round draft choice, he helped lead the Panthers to three playoff trips, the 2003 NFC Championship and a berth in Super Bowl XXXVII.
In the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots, Minter suffered a broken left foot in the third quarter, but remained in the game and collected a career-high 18 tackles. At the time of his retirement, he held Panthers franchise records for starts (141), consecutive starts (94), fumble recoveries (11) and interceptions returned for touchdowns (4).
I hope before Mike Minter leaves Campbell he can build that championship program and get to hear Chris Oliver’s unique laugh of joy when they hoist the trophy.
coach4aday 
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