The First Person Coach Mike Krzyzewski Had Speak to Team USA

Late in the basketball season, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski brough in a special guest for one of his team’s final home games.

“It’s not often that you get a chance to be in the midst of greatness,” Coach K said at his postgame press conference, “and someone who’s a hero.”

The guest of honor was Captain Scotty Smiley, who lost his eyesight while serving in Iraq due to shrapnel from a car bomb. The incident earned him a Purple Heart.

“When I took over the U.S. (Olympic) team in 2006, the very first person who talked to our team is in this room,” Krzyzewski said of Smiley. “He set the tone for talking about selfless service, because he’s blind, and he was the head of a striker unit in Iraq. He put his life on the line to save his unit, and he did.”

Smiley spoke to Team USA as a group talking about the importance of teamwork and representing the “flag on your shoulder” and met personally with team members, including Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant, afterward.

“Talking to our team, he talked about service,” Krzyzewski recalled. “But he made no excuses. He didn’t say, ‘Wow, I shouldn’t be in the Army.’ In fact, he reupped, and he became the first blind officer in the U.S. Army. He then graduated from Fuqua (Duke’s School of Business, where he earned an M.B.A.) and taught (military leadership classes) at West Point.”

“He’s not the best-looking guy,” Krzyzewski joked as Captain Smiley stood to be recognized. “He has a beautiful wife, beautiful kids. God bless you.”