“Finding Inspiration”: Hometown and Lessons Learned — A.D. Johnston High School 2026 Commencement Address

It’s a privilege to be here tonight. Fifty-three years ago, I graduated with 93 classmates from A.D. Johnston High School.  It was the Class of 1973. I never imagined I would one day be speaking to the class of 2026. I thought there would be flying cars by now.  Maybe in 53 years one of you will be speaking to the class of 2079.  Life goes by that fast.

I’m a storyteller and that is what I’m good at.  The first lesson I learned in life was – BE YOURSELF.  So, I’m going to tell you a couple of stories about Bessemer tonight.

One of the reasons I’m here is that I wrote a book.  A book about growing up in Bessemer.  It’s easy to write about the past…you lived it. 

Imagine your last assignment in school was to write a book about the next 50 years of your life? How will it turn out? We don’t know, it’s a mystery.  But what we do know is that YOU will be the author of your life story.

The book I wrote is called “Bring One Home: A Memoir of Boyhood, Basketball, and Hometown Spirit”.  It’s a “time capsule” of what life was like for me and for many of your grandparents in Bessemer back in the 1960’s.  For many of us, we would like to go back to those days and do it all again BUT with knowledge that we have learned over the past 60 years.

When people ask me what was your inspiration for the book.  I simply say, my hometown. I’m a sentimental ole’ fool.  All it takes is one hike to top of the bluff that overlooks our town and you can’t help but be inspired.

Even today can see myself sitting in those upper bleachers back in the 1960’s. Just a kid.  Watching my favorite basketball team, the Speedboys and being in aww.  I wanted to be just like them one day. 

When you played basketball this year for the Speedboys or Speed girls I guarantee you there was a young boy or girl looking at you from the stands…thinking one day I want to be like you. 

It is important in life to always bring your A game, because you never know when someone is looking up to you. Want to be just like you or hire you to work for them.

When the editor for my book asked, why did you include so many Bessemer people “by name” in your book? Why don’t you just make the names a footnote or place them in the index in the back of the book?

The people of Bessemer who raised us and taught us lessons are not footnotes nor relegated to the back of the book.  They are front and center in our lives because they taught us so much.  They are here tonight your parents, your grandparents, your teachers, the shop owners where you worked, and the alumni who proudly come back each year to support the next group of graduates.

Right here in Bessemer, I learned story telling from my friend and basketball coach Harry Rizzie.  I observed common sense decision making from my high school principal Walt Rickard. I saw first hand the integrity and can do attitude of the business leaders of our downtown community. I learned to write creatively from my teachers Sister Charlene, Joe Matrella, Carl Gregas, and Miss Agnes Vukonich. 

I learned from my football coach Pat Gallinagh that the goals of the team come first and my personal goals are second.  I am grateful for all those lessons. These lessons were useful throughout my life.

My first job was working for Ward Sliva at Ben Franklin in Bessemer. He started me out by delivering a sales flyer door to door to every house in Bessemer. He paid me $20.  

I went up and down every street in Bessemer, all along the highway and walked all the way to Yale delivering that Ben Franklin flyer to every single house. I thought one day I would be a mailman.  

THEN, I got to Colby hill, well I thought it was too steep.  So, I didn’t climb it. I didn’t deliver the flyer up there.  I figured the people on Colby will never say a thing.  Well, I was wrong.  The Colby folks came into the dime store and asked Ward why they didn’t get the flyer. Ward wasn’t happy with me and sent me back out to complete the job.  From that experience, I learned that “in life there are always hills”.  There are always jobs you don’t want to do. Sometimes you have to climb the hill to get the job done.

It took me 8 years to write my book.  8 years. Yet, the first thing I was asked by people was, “So, Tom, what are you going to write next? 

Graduates, you have just completed 13 years of education from Kindergarten to graduation.  13 years sure went by fast, didn’t it?  I bet you can remember your first day of kindergarten and now suddenly you are here.  But I can guarantee you tonight the first thing you will hear is, “Congratulations! So, What’s next? What are you doing in the fall? They are asking because they are interested in your life, they support you, and above all, they believe in you.

The good news is that for the first time in 13 years YOU decide what’s next.

What is your passion? What inspires you? Will you feel a pull towards your “what’s next”.   Or will there be more of a gentle nudge from your parents towards your next adventure? There is no pill you can take that give you inspiration. It just happens…it sneaks up on you and suddenly you are doing what you love the most.

When my friends and I graduated in 1973 and went off to our “what’s next”, we wrote letters to each other every week.  We wrote in a now forgotten language called “cursive writing”.  We wrote long letters too....we wrote about our dreams and aspirations. We cheered each other on. We shared what we thought our deeper purpose was in this world or simply what makes us happy.    

We were 18 like you and anything was possible.  Now suddenly, without warning we are 70, but still feel anything is possible.

In my research about Bessemer for my book, I read hundreds of old newspaper stories. Inspiring stories.

There was one story that truly stood out.  It was about a man named Albert.  Now Albert came to Bessemer before our town was called Bessemer.    It was 1880, 146 years ago.  Albert was hired by the railroad to survey for future train tracks that would run through our town.  He was 20 years old but he was inspired by what he saw in this area.  The green forests, babbling brooks, the rocky bluffs and the abundance of wildlife and fish in the stream.  He breathe in the possibilities.

When the tracks were finally laid and the train rumbled through the town of Bessemer, local folks asked Albert, “what are you going to do next?”  They were asking the man who literally blazed a trail through our area what he was going to do next? That’s how much they believed in Albert. 

He said, “I’m going to start the Bessemer Electric Company.  After all, Thomas Edison has just commercialized electricity, so Bessemer should have all the electrical appliances they needed.  When that business what up and running the locals asked, “Albert, what’s next?”

Albert said, I’m going to plant new fish species into area lakes and streams so that sportsman would have more variety.  Albert did more to propagate fish than any other individual in our history.  Yet, once again Albert was asked, so what’s next? 

He said, “I’m going to run for the Bessemer School Board.  Albert became the President of the School Board too…and of course they asked the President of the School Board what are you going to do next? Albert said, “I’m going to build a new high school in Bessemer.” And he did.  He proudly cut the ribbon on the steps of this very high school in 1908. 

The townsfolk of Bessemer where so inspired by all Albert had done for their community that they named the high school after him.  You see, Albert was “A.D. Johnston”. (Albert David Johnston). He truly left a legacy in Bessemer, didn’t he?  But possibly his lasting legacy is YOU.  The students who studied and learned in this very building he built and then graduated and went off into the world to do wonderful things, to be a good citizen, to solve problems, to be a loving friend. To make this a better world.

Before you move on to “what’s next”, do this sentimental old fool a favor: climb the first bluff. Sit at the top and breathe in all that has shaped you over the past 18 years.  Dream about all the possibilities ahead and take with you all the lessons you’ve learned.

Always remember the people that inspired you to get you to this moment. Your family. Your teachers, your fellow graduates.  And never forget where you came from. Bessemer.

Congratulations, graduates, We are inspired by YOU!