Florida Banking March 2022

few weeks, I regrouped, and thought I needed another strategy. I thought of Judge Harold Vann. Years ago, in high school, I met Judge Vann. Legendary Florida High School basketball coach Vince Schaffer, my coach, asked our team one day after practice if one of us wanted to volunteer to help clean out the apartment of the brother of one of his friends. I volunteered. Not knowing who the coach’s friend was, it was Judge Vann and his wife who picked me up at my parents’ house in a U-Haul truck. Judge Vann’s brother lived on the first floor in a condo on Fort Lauderdale Beach. He was a WWII veteran and hero. In one weekend, we cleaned the apartment. On Sunday night Mr. Vann gave me his card and told me to stay in touch. I did. Whenever I came home on military leave to see my parents, I always visited with Judge Vann in my military uniform. So after looking for a law job and coming up empty, I called Judge Vann. He was a big guy, about 6 feet 5 inches tall, originally from Georgia with a commanding presence about him. He was mad as heck at me when he learned I had graduated from law school and had been in Miami for months and not called him. I told him I was trying to do it on my own and did not want to bother him. He told me to come see him at his judicial chambers the next day, and I said, “Yes sir.” What happened next you will not believe. It was a life lesson for me. Judge Vann asked me to follow him into his office after the bailiff told everyone to rise in the courtroom. Judge Vann gave me a big hug, and we spoke for a few minutes privately in his office. He said times were tough to find a job but to keep the faith that everything would work out for me. He then proceeded to write the names of seven Miami law firms on a piece of paper, and

started calling them one at a time, always asking for the firm’s managing partner. My eyes almost popped out when I saw the names of the firms he’d written down. It was well into the lunch hour when he started dialing, and lawyers were out to lunch. After a few calls, Judge Vann finally got a hold of the senior partner at a firm and he told him the following: “My friend Alex Sanchez is sitting in my chambers right now. I am sending him down to your law firm to begin working at 1 p.m. today.” I was in total disbelief at Judge Vann’s words. I said, “Judge Vann, you just want me to show up to that law office and begin working today? You never even asked the partner if there was a job for me; you just want me to show up?” He said, “Yes,” then added, “and you have 20 minutes to get there.” I gave Judge Vann a big hug, thanked him numerous times, and walked down Flagler Street to the law firm. I got there at 1 p.m. and the firm’s partners were all waiting for me as I exited the elevator, asking,“Are you Alex Sanchez?” I nervously replied yes. That is how my career started, thanks to a friendship I was blessed with when I volunteered in high school for a cleaning project… not knowing who I would be helping, or that one day I would need that person’s assistance. At the time, I had no way of knowing that I would even study law or that my coach’s friend was a judge. Wow, isn’t life funny? I learned many lessons from this part of my life: 1) never give up; 2) we all need help sometimes; 3) stay in touch with people and, 4) always be thankful to God for his guidance.

WWW.FLORIDABANKERS.COM MARCH 2022 — 7