A storied 1950’s high school and college basketball player, EJay McIlvain, from Texas shares life lessons from the game he loved then and loves now. EJay’s career is conveyed in stories from grade-school through college, and ultimately to playing on a Christian basketball team, Venture for Victory. It was a team of Christian college standouts who toured Asia sharing their faith. The story centers around EJay’s high school basketball coach and the life lessons he learned from Coach Clifton McNeely. It was those boys who by chance and the grace of God played basketball for Coach McNeely who put Pampa on the map and in the history books of outstanding team records. Coach McNeely coached for thirteen years before leaving Pampa in 1960 with a record of 321 wins and 43 losses. Over those years, the Harvesters won six district championships, four state championships, one 2nd place finish in the state, one 4th place finish in the state, and had a 72-game winning streak throughout three undefeated seasons. Astonishingly, EJay never lost a game on his home court the entire three years he played for the Pampa Harvesters. He and his teammates give full credit to Coach McNeely by describing teaching skills that made a winner out of those Pampa teams. As a teacher, he could not only tell you what to do, he could show you how to do it. The players would marvel as Coach McNeely would make 50-60 free throws without missing. He demonstrated over those thirteen years that he could take a different group of young men each year, analyze their talents and potential, develop schemes on both ends of the court that maximized their abilities, instill within them a winning attitude and ultimately produce one of the most enviable winning records in the history of Texas Interscholastic League Basketball. His players believed in him. Coach Mac loved and respected his boys; and, in turn, his boys loved and respected him. He expressed his love for his players even in death as he had selected beforehand several members of his teams to be his pallbearers and one of his star players, Jimmy Bond, to present the funeral homily. EJay was honored to be a pallbearer at the funeral of the man he had loved and respected and who he thought had literally established the course of his life to inspire others to achieve their dreams. Dr. Bond emphasized that in addition to himself, EJay and 101 other young men stepped onto the Pampa High School basketball court under the coaching leadership of Clifton McNeely. Dr. Bond who also played on those storied teams wrapped up the athletic coaching accomplishments of Coach Mac by noting that “the reason for that 13-year success story was that those teams were essentially better coached, better conditioned, better prepared in every way than their opponents. I suppose that one of the salient qualities of Coach Mac was that he convinced 103 rather average athletes that they could line up against any opponent—and beat them. He was a winner—and he made us winners!” The lessons those players learned from Coach McNeely have made significant differences in the lives of people all over the world. This book is told from the perspective of EJay McIlvain’s little brother, Teddy McIlvain, who was also influenced indirectly to help others see their passion and strive to accomplish their goals.