Resilience After a Gut-wrenching Business Exit

It is my honor to introduce you to Lee Faaborg of Grand Island, Nebraska, who was inducted into the Nebraska Softball Hall of Fame in December 2021. He managed men’s fast-pitch softball teams for over 25 years, and his teams won 16 league titles, 11 state tournaments, two regional tournaments and one national championship (more on that in a bit).

The past few years for Lee have been rough. After spending most of his career as the senior manager/president of a regional cluster of fast-food restaurants in central Nebraska, he began to feel the squeeze from a new ownership group—his fourth group of owners.

Six months later, he had a major stroke.

A few months after that, he had double bypass heart surgery.

By the end of that year, he made the excruciating decision to take the high road and retire.

Around this time, he learned that his best friend from high school had terminal cancer. One of his other best friends, with whom he had coached a men’s fastpitch softball team, was battling recurring colon cancer. In 2001, their Cinderella team won the national men’s fastpitch softball tournament in Hoosiers fashion.

Lee’s high school friend died in August 2020 and his fellow coach died 364 days later. He eulogized both at their memorial services and brought everyone, including me, to tears.