I guess it's weather. It may be the slight change in temperature or the smell of freshly cut grass or a combination of all of the above but whatever it is I feel the fever of Football! I have seen 42 Fall's as of this year and I swear I still get excited and can remember the butterflies of the opening kickoff! I have loved this game since I was a little boy and my life has danced with this sport in a way that has not only brought me enjoyment but has moulded me into the man that I am today. I know how silly that sounds but deep down . . . it is the truth.
My experience was blessed with great teammates who were and still are great friends. We grew up in a rural Georgia town that was short on jobs but rich in great people. People have often told me how racist people are in the South and all I can say is that this concept was blessedly missing in my Community. We weren't black or white we were just teammates and friends. We played together, ate at each other's tables, laughed and cut up, fussed and fought, just like brothers. When we were on the field we played as a team. Heaven help the person that took a cheap shot or spoke a threat to one of ours . . . it would end with that person at the bottom of a pile of my teammates getting poked, jabbed, punched, and "educated" about his error! I will never forget on one play I was running a quarterback keep around the end on the visiting sidelines and was knocked into the opposing team during the tackle. As I jumped up one of their players shoved me. I may have made a little comment that was a touch caustic and as their team started to join in I saw these two huge shapes step in front of me and they told them they had better leave their quarterback alone! As we jogged back to the huddle I looked at Jeff Brinson and Mike Williams and we just started laughing . . .
We were not very big or very fast. The teams we played were almost always bigger and/or faster but they were not as determined nor were they as tough. We gave it our all and we played to win. It was on these fields and with these young men that we learned that to be successful you had to work hard. We also learned that just because you work hard that you are not always guaranteed success. We found out that in football you can't take a play off because that is when (most assuredly) the play was coming at you! I think about this particular lesson almost daily. You can't afford to take a play off in life either . . . if you do then life will run the ball straight over you. How many times have I watched people become complacent in their lives only to have some catastrophic event catch them unprepared?? We learned to pray . . . yes I said pray . . . The Lord's Prayer. We prayed after every practice and before every game. One of my fondest memories happened when we were playing one Friday night and one of the other team's players was on the ground hurt after a particularly hard hit. Everyone in the stadium (on both sides) sat silent and fearful. As we were kneeling around our Coach on the sidelines waiting we, without any discussion, took each other's hands and began praying that prayer. I will never forget the feeling of oneness nor how empowered that I felt after this prayer. It was at this point that I realized that a true man doesn't just pray for himself or his friends but a real man prays just as fervently for his enemies as well. We played hard but we never lost sight of our compassion.
During this time of year I often think back not only on the game and my teammates but also of the many grown men that took their time to teach us about this game of football as well as to give us their wisdom on life. I remember men like Keith Carter, Jack Godfrey, John Poulos, Jack Mosley, and most certainly Tom Hybl. "One monkey don't run no show!" was one of Coach Hybl's favorite sayings and I think of that every time I start thinking that I am irreplaceable . . . These men took their most precious asset and invested it in us. They took the one thing that can't be replaced or hoarded and gave it to us freely. They gave us their time.
Coach Hybl deserves his own paragraph! He made a big impression on a great number of boys during his tenure. This man came into a program that had just lost all of it's best athletes and had been losing and flipped it around! I will always remember that his justice was colorblind and his work ethic was hard and steady. He expected you to work hard and make the right choices. He was firm but he was also quick to give you encouragement or an "attaboy" when you needed one. He was a colorful character that could care less if anyone liked him. He ran "the only show in town" and he was determined that it was going to be a winning show. He had two little boys who were always on the sidelines tossing balls or running around. The youngest went on to play golf for UGA and is now the men's golf coach at the University of Oklahoma. The oldest played quarterback at UGA then transferred to the University of Oklahoma where he led their team at quarterback to a Rose Bowl victory and a Most Valuable Player award for his contribution. After Oklahoma he played professional football for the Browns and Jaguars. As a father I can only imagine how proud Coach is of his son's accomplishments but I will have to say that the most impressive thing about them is that they grew up to be polite young men with terrific personalities.
I guess that until the day I die my heart will always pump a little faster before the games and ESPN football reports will be the background noise at my house. I now have two little boys and we throw footballs and play tackle in the backyard all year round. I hope they grow up with a love for the game. I hope that they will also be one of "The Boys of Fall" . . . like their Dad.
