“Believe me when I say I am the luckiest man to be born.”

Those were former Milwaukee Brewer Larry Hisle’s first words Tuesday as he spoke to students at Hillcrest School.

But the sentence takes on much more meaning knowing how Hisle got there.

Hisle works with Wisconsin youth through his Major League Mentoring program. Hillcrest serves Kenosha Unified students who have encountered behavioral or academic problems at other schools.

Hisle played 13 years in the major leagues, took home two World Series rings as a hitting coach for the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1990s and has met Michael Jordan, Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama.

Tough beginning

But before meeting presidents and movie stars and playing on the same field as Hank Aaron and Pete Rose, Hisle, 62, faced an uphill struggle.

His father died when he was 9, and his mother died a year later.

“I realized that for the rest of my life I would be without a mother, father and brothers and sisters,” Hisle said. “I couldn’t think of a worse punishment.”

But he drew inspiration from his mother.

“My mother compelled me by her actions to try every day to be the best I can be,” Hisle said. “I just learned to listen to some of the lessons my mother taught me.”

He recalled putting cardboard in his shoes to cover holes and staying home from school on parents day.

Doing your best

But Hisle said he committed himself to overcoming those difficulties, eventually earning a scholarship to Ohio State and starting a professional baseball career.

“It’s not about abilities and skills and how high an IQ you have,” Hisle said. “Life is about your willingness on a daily basis to perform at your absolute best.”

He also said he never turned to drugs, alcohol or smoking, even in his toughest days.

“What was more important in my life was giving myself the best chance to succeed,” Hisle said.

Hisle said his philosophy could be summarized by a line from a Billie Holiday song: “The difficult I’ll do right now/The impossible will take a little while.”

Arm-wrestling champ

Hisle said his current “impossible” is recovering from a recent surgery and attempting to get back into shape.

But that setback did not stop Hisle from challenging students to arm wrestle him, with his World Series ring on the line.

Several students failed to move the still-muscular Hisle during arm-wrestling attempts, but Hisle encouraged everyone to never stop working on their lives.

“I want everyone here to have more joys in life than I had,” Hisle said.

Hisle encouraged the students, many also facing difficulties, that they too can find happiness.

“If I can enjoy life, it’s possible everyone can,” Hisle said. “I could guarantee you, that when everything is said and done, I wouldn’t want to trade my life with anyone.”

One-on-one connection

Hisle said he hopes to return to Hillcrest to see students’ progress.

Donna Rhodes, Kenosha County gang intervention supervisor, said one Hillcrest student, who also has lost both of his parents, talked further with Hisle, and the two have agreed to meet one-on-one next week.

“I have not seen this child light up like this in years,” Rhodes said.