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Holly DeSantis
Professor Packer
English 1010
10 November 2011
Who’s Teaching Who
In the fall of 1963, James Robert “Radio” Kennedy wandered onto a Hana High School
football field in Anderson, South Carolina. The townsfolk gave James, who was mentally
challenged, the nickname of Radio, because he carried a transistor radio everywhere he went.
One day while Radio was watching the high school football team practice he began mimicking
the coaches. Seeing Radio, head Coach Harold Jones called him over and this encounter was the
beginning of a lifelong friendship. Consequently, Coach Jones made seventeen-year-old Radio
his assistant.
The football team, the students and faculty of Hana High School, and the community at
large did not receive Radio very well. Many times there were malicious pranks played on Radio.
Boys from the high school would pull Radio’s pants down and “paint” his backside with
turpentine causing burns on his skin. They would duck tape Radio, lock him into the team’s
storage unit, and throw footballs against the shed. Coach Jones was always coming to the
defense of Radio. Slowly over time people began to accept Radio but not to the degree that
Coach Jones did.
There was a time when one of the assistant football coaches told Radio that the bus was
leaving for a game one hour later than it actually was. The assistant coach did this to
intentionally cause Radio to miss the bus. On another occasion, one of the coaches told Coach
Jones and Radio that there was not enough room on the bus, once again leaving Radio behind.
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The team lost the game that night, so it was decided that Radio should attend and travel to the
remaining games. The team won the rest of the thirteen games.
There were occasions when the behavior of Radio was inappropriate. This led to many in
the school and community to pressure Coach Jones to remove Radio from the school and
therefore the football team. Coach Jones did everything he could to teach Radio what he should
and should not do. He worked tirelessly trying to persuade the school and the townsfolk to allow
Radio to stay on. Many cared more about winning football games than helping and teaching a
young man with disabilities. When the tension escalated concerning Radio, Coach Jones called a
meeting at a nearby coffee shop. Coach Jones’ speech included contrast to create pathos with the
purpose of persuading the townsfolk to allow Radio to continue on at Hana High School.
Coach Jones appeals to pathos when he passionately contrasts his love of football to his
love of a mentally challenged young man. Jones said, “I love football. I love everything about it.
I love Friday nights when you're lookin' for a win and Saturday mornin' when you've found one.
But that's not what's important right now.” Jones creates pathos by contrasting his intense love of
football, which is less important, to a much greater love of Radio. Pathos was created because
Jones reminded the audience that people are more important than winning football games.
Coach Jones appeals to pathos when he told the people, “We got ourselves a young man
we’re not thinkin’ about. The same young man who could hardly talk when we first met him, and
now he’s making announcements in the mornin’ over the loudspeaker. Same young man who got
himself a football letter last fall but he never wears it cause he can’t afford a jacket. Now we’re
askin’ him to leave.” Jones used the contrast of Radio’s initial inability to communicate to the
fact that after spending time with the team he gained enough confidence to make announcements
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over the loudspeaker. This appeals to peoples sense that helping a cognitively impaired
individual learn and progress is innately good.
Coach Jones again appeals to pathos when he said, “I know some of you don’t know or
don’t care about all that Radio’s learned over these past few months. But the truth is, we’re not
the one’s who’ve been teachin’ Radio. Radio is the one who’s been teachin’ us. ‘Cause the way
he treats us all the time is the way we wish we treated each other even part of the time.” Here
Jones contrasts the constant kindness that Radio extends to others to the occasional unkind
treatment that most of us extend to each other. This contrast creates shame or guilt, which can
lead to individuals making changes to do the right thing.
Towards the end of Coach Jones’s speech he makes the shocking announcement that he is
going to “step down” as the head football coach, again creating pathos because of the peoples
love and respect of Coach Jones. Jones was willing to sacrifice his career and his love of the
game of football rather than support or be a part of Radio’s dismissal.
Ultimately, Coach Jones used the conceptual tool of contrast to create pathos that people
are more important than careers and programs. He was so effective that he persuaded the
townsfolk not only to allow, but also to embrace Radio’s continued association with the football
team and Hana High School.
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Works Cited
Jones, Harold. "American Rhetoric: Movie Speech from Radio - Coach Harold Jones Tenders
His Resignation as Head Football Coach." American Rhetoric: The Power of Oratory in
the United States. Web. 07 Oct. 2011.
<http://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechradio.html>.
"Official Web Site of Radio and Coach Jones." Home. Web. 09 Oct. 2011.
<http://www.radioandcoachjones.com/index.html>.
Smith, Gary. "Someone To Lean On." Sports Illustrated 16 Dec. 1996. Breaking News, Realtime Scores and Daily Analysis from Sports Illustrated – SI.com. Web. 09 Oct. 2011.
<http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1009232/index.htm>.