By Cait Kemp
@caitlinkemp09
A calm and cool Keith Bugbee strode onto Stagg Field one sunny afternoon last fall. The stands were filled with student-athletes, probably thinking they just had to sit through this lecture and they could go on with their day. Little did they know, Coach Bugbee’s story would touch them in a way other speeches and lectures hadn’t before.
It wasn’t the typical motivational speech, a coach preaching hard work and leadership on the field.
No, this was something different. Coach Bugbee simply told the crowd to show up.
“Show up.” It seems like a simple concept. The message was straightforward – yet so impactful. It was something that students could get on board with, and many of them can be seen sporting the yellow “Show Up” wristbands every day as a reminder of what Bugbee told them that afternoon on Stagg Field.
Bugbee, who has been the head coach of the men’s lacrosse team at Springfield College since 1984, was named the 2021-2022 Humanics Professor, an honor that is given out each year to a deserving professor. Along with this recognition, the chosen faculty member is required to create programming that promotes Humanics to the campus community.
Upon receiving this honor, Bugbee instantly knew what he wanted to do. He had already begun preaching the idea of “showing up” to his team and utilized the symbol of the sunflower and color yellow to honor his daughter, Lindsay Bugbee Crosby, who died in 2018.
“A short time [after receiving the honor], they had this dinner where the past [recipient] speaks and the new one comes in,” Bugbee said.
“I’m walking into the tent and Dr. [Mary-Beth] Cooper looks at me. She didn’t even ask me, she said, ‘I know what you’re talking about. Show up, right?’ it was like a no-brainer.”
After Lindsay, a former standout lacrosse and soccer player at Springfield, died suddenly after giving birth to her third child, her family was devastated. Bugbee said that the people who showed up for him -- via visits, phone calls or texts -- were what kept him going during those dark times.
Whether it was a visit, a phone call or even a text, the consistency of his village saved him from the dark time.
He began to share elements of this ideal with his lacrosse team. A tradition began where every week the coaches give two players the coveted yellow helmets, representing Lindsay’s legacy and the act of showing up for their teammates. The following week, the players take the responsibility of choosing the next honored teammates, and the cycle goes on.
“Most of the content was about Lindsay and how she was that kind of person. She showed up, certainly as an athlete, captain of two sports here, and certainly as a daughter, as a mother to her children. She showed up in life,” Bugbee said.
Through his Professor of Humanics title, Bugbee has shared his “Show Up” lecture to more than just the Springfield College campus. Through the initial program, more and more people started to hear about it and request that he come to speak to their schools. He has now spoken at over 15 high schools and colleges, spreading an important virtue.
“It organically became this journey,” Bugbee said. “It’s kind of like ripples on the water, it just keeps rippling.”
It wasn’t just the message itself that was taken so positively from students, but it was also in Bugbee’s delivery. He is a calm, even-keeled speaker. His lecture is not over-rehearsed; it is presented eloquently and authentically. Bugbee is known in the Springfield College community as well as the college lacrosse world as an accomplished coach. He is respected, honorable and courageous.
Though “Show Up” began as a yearlong initiative to share with the College community, it has become so much more. Bugbee’s message has reached many students, coaches and athletes and will continue to do so as it continues to ripple.
“I didn’t know where it was going to go, I just knew it was going to go somewhere,” Bugbee said with a short chuckle.
It definitely did go somewhere, and still is. It was a simple message; who knew that telling kids to show up would make such an impact?
Bugbee knew, ever since he saw it in Lindsay in the way she lived every day.
Photos Courtesy of Springfield College