Through July 4, The Post, in conjunction with the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream, is featuring US citizens explaining what the American dream means to them in 2026 — including David Dill, the Tennessee-based CEO of LifePoint Health which operates more than 300 hospitals and other medical centers across the country.

I was born in Memphis, Tennessee. My father was a basketball coach. My dad was inspirational to me. My seventh or eighth grade year, [he] sat me down and had a conversation with me about, “Son, you’re gonna be a pretty good high school basketball player, but you’re probably not gonna get much playing time. You’re probably gonna be on the bench.”

It was one of those hard discussions, and my dad just kind of let me down. But he told me the truth.

I ended up going to the school where my dad coached basketball, in the western part of Kentucky … Murray State University. Once the dream of being a basketball player was taken away from me, I wanted to be a coach just like my father. And my dad urged me not to do that … he said something pretty profound, and I didn’t really understand it completely at the time.

But he was like, “Son, find yourself a career where you surround yourself with professionals, and not kids that have never been away from their mother, to determine your success” … 

And that was his kind of backdoor way of saying, “Don’t do what I’ve done. Go into something different and put around you people that are professionals at what they do, and then you can achieve some great things.”

That’s when I pivoted from my dream of being an athlete or being a coach to doing something different … Up until my father passed away a few years ago, I talked to him almost every night on the way home from work. And I would tell him that he never talked me out of coaching. I’m still a coach. I just do it not on a sports floor, not on a basketball court, but in the world of business. 

The American Dream Video Project showcases real stories that illuminate pathways to opportunity. Featured at the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream (MCAAD), this series is part of the Center’s celebration of America’s 250th anniversary. MCAAD is Washington, DC’s newest cultural institution, offering interactive exhibits and stories about achieving the American Dream. For more information, visit mcaad.org.