UFH: Jason Morrella

[JVN]

Jason, congratulations... you really are "the man" and definitely deserve this award.

Now, for everyone else, I'd like to share a "Morrella-Moment" that I've experienced. Bear with me...

I met Jason at the Cleveland Regional in 2002.
I was the "competition leader" for 229 (the buck stops with me), and so when we ended up seeding 2nd it was my job to pick the alliance (along with Eric, my co-coach). This was the first time I had ever gotten chance to do this, and the first time I would lead/coach an alliance in the finals. It was an eye-opening experience for me, I'd never been "on the top" before, and it was amazing watching everyone try to sell themselves to me. I had people lie, to my face about what their robot could do. We ended up going over to the Cheesy Poofs pit, and started talking to Jason. Jason Morrella took the time to talk to me and Eric, no less than 5 times. We were plagued by indecision, and just kept wandering back to the 254 pit. We didn't know what we should do. (this was the first time we were "on our own" leading a team.) Jason was so great to work with because of his honesty, and kindness. (Which was amazing to me given the circumstances, think from his point-of-view, we were two "kids" from some team in NY that he'd never heard of. I mean, I watched 254 during the 2001 season, and they were amazing, I was in "hero-worship" mode.)

He is the most profesional mentor/coach I've ever met. When we finally decided to pick them, he told us "Hey... we haven't been working so great... so if we feel our bot isn't up to the task, we'll just decline your alliance". This blew my mind. Having dealt with all those coaches lying about their bots, Jason was like a breath of fresh air. I only hope that if it came down to it, put in that same position, I'd do the same thing.

So after all was said and done, we ended up working with 47, and 254 in the finals. Now, 229 was the "weak" bot in the alliance, and so we ended up sitting for most of the matches. It was hard for me to pull my own bot, but we knew it was the smart thing to do. Jason was not the 254 coach, but he was right there on the backline standing with us. He calmly stood there behind the player station, just chatting with me about how things were going, about FIRST, about strategy. If it weren't for him, I probably would have been running around in circles screaming from the sheer stress of it. His grace under pressure is something I, to this day, try to emulate. (I tend to fail at it... ask anyone who has ever worked with me... I'm a tad, intense.)

Now, we ended up losing this competition, and of course, Eric and I started getting down about it. Jason, and all the rest of the poofs, just thanked us for a good time. His kind words stayed with me LONG after the regional was over. I would later find out, that Cleveland 2002 was the first regional 254 had EVER lost, their grace in defeat is certainly something others should emulate. (Sorry again Jason... ) It was a truly amazing experience, and I consider it one of my fondest FIRST memories.

Jason doesn't realize exactly how much he's done for me, and how much I appreciate it. Despite our limited interaction, he has had a profound impact on my time in FIRST, and my life.
I can only say this: Thank you for setting an example for my students, myself, and all of FIRST. You truly are an inspiration to us all.

I urge everyone else to share stories about Jason, and their interactions with him. This is what UFH is all about, show everyone exactly what Jason has done, and why he deserves this honor.

John

PS - Jason is also the one who took a chance on me and made me a head-ref. So feel free to blame him for any/all bad calls you've experienced at my hand!