Gee: What I learned from the Legion of Boom

I’ve been around the Seattle Seahawks organization for 16 years, starting back in 2003 when I cleaned their cars. Every day, my goal was to take a dirty vehicle and make it clean again. Simple right? Well, it was.

I just had no idea the lessons I was learning while cleaning cars for the Legion of Boom. For now, I’ll tell you what Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman, and Kam Chancellor taught me in that time.

Earl Thomas

Earl Thomas training with Gee Scott Jr.

When Earl was a rookie, I was given his keys so that I could clean his car. Got it, no problem. So I’m cleaning doing my thing when, oops! Yeah, see I would use a pressure washer to rinse, and I got too close to his wheel.

He had 22 inch wheels with “ET” inscribed on a cap in in the middle. Well, I accidentally took it off. As soon as I did it, I made a phone call so that I could get it replaced. I soon found out I could get it replaced the next day. So, I figured when I see Earl after work, I’d just explain everything.

When Earl came out, I brought him over to explain what happened, and to let him know that it would get replaced the next day. Earl listened to what I had to say, looked at me, looked at his wheel, looked at me, got in his vehicle without saying a word, and drove off.

I stood there wondering what had happened.

Yes, the next day I got it fixed, and he never said anything about it.

The lesson here: If you’re supposed to do a job, do your job. Earl paid me to clean his vehicle, not carry on a conversation. Earl had me clean his vehicle the next week. What that said was that all the talk wasn’t necessary. He paid me to do a job, and nothing else mattered.

That’s how Earl was a player. He did the least amount of talking out of all of them, but he did his talking by doing his job.

Richard Sherman

Richard Sherman and Gee Scott

One day I was bringing in some keys. In the office was Red Bryant, Marshawn Lynch, Chris Clemons, Brandon Mebane, and a rookie by the name of Richard Sherman. It was a bunch guys just sitting around, talking and relaxing before their next meeting.

On this particular day, Sherm was telling everyone in there about how he was going to be one of the top corners in the game. There were a few eye rolls in the room.

Later that day, when I asked some of the veterans what they thought about what the rookie said, most of them kinda chuckled. One said, “You know how these rookies talk.”

The second lesson: Confidence is everything.

If you think you can, you’re right. If you think you can’t, you’re right. Sherm knew what kind of corner he would be before any of us did. He had a way about him that not many of us were used to, but we learned quickly how much that type of confidence was needed.

Kam Chancellor

Kam Chancellor and Gee Scott Jr.

I told Kam my son was graduating 5th grade, and asked if he would come to his graduation. He said he would love to.

We rode together that day over to the graduation. We talked about him, what he liked about Seattle, and how he thought the team would do next season. He told me that this team was about to be special. He said that Pete Carroll was building something incredible.

At graduation (yes it was boring like all graduations are), nobody knew who Kam was. We sat there for a while, and then we took pictures.

During that time, I noticed how nice Kam was to complete strangers; I mean, just a nice dude. Being as young as he was, it just stood out a lot. Afterward, I’ll never forget when he said, “Hey Gee, thanks for inviting me.”

Wow! I mean, have you ever thanked someone for inviting you to a graduation? I haven’t. Hey, we can’t all be as nice as Kam.

The last lesson: Being nice is more important than winning. Because of the way Kam was, people knew he cared. That included his teammates.

The old saying goes, “People don’t care how much you know until they find out you care.”

That part of Kam is something I will never forget.

Yes, the three of them no longer play for Seattle, but they will be Seahawks forever. Most of us won’t be able to tell a story about one of them without talking about the other two. Last week when I was out to lunch with Sherm, he agreed.

They are forever linked, and in 50 to 100 years it will be the same. The L.O.B.

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