My Own Personal Angel





Hebrews 13:2 of the King James Version of The Holy Bible says, “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

Many people believe that God sends angels who walk with them to lead, guide and protect them. Never has this been made more evident to me than in the fall of 1982 when I was a sophomore at West Georgia College.

Let me back up a bit first to say that I enrolled at West Georgia in 1980 to try out for the football team they were starting up. That fall, about 400 aspiring kids showed up in hopes of realizing their dream of playing college football.

I say kids, but actually some of the guys were transfers from other established programs where they did not quite cut it. The most prominent was David Archer who was on academic probation from the University of Georgia where, as a freshman, he had intercepted a pass to save a 29-28 win over Georgia Tech.

He played quarterback for us and was an All-American. I tutored him in math to make sure he stayed in school and eligible.

We  even had several older guys who had not played football in several years including an ex-marine.

That first fall, we practiced for ten weeks. The numbers whittled down day-by-day as guys decided they weren’t cut out for it. I separated a shoulder early on and was out of action for several weeks. When I was released to practice eight weeks into tryouts I made it a mission to impress the coaches who could have cut me due to the injury and I moved up the depth chart to number two offensive tackle.

I got to start in the intra-squad game that ended the ten week tryout and was number two on the depth chart when we returned the next fall for the inaugural season of Braves football.

But I injured my knee during pre-season camp and, although I recovered in time to dress for the first game, I had dropped in the depth chart and never got any higher than number three the rest of the season. We won nine games to start the year and got invited to play in the NCAA Division III playoffs and lost in the first round 10-7 to D3 powerhouse Widener of Pennsylvania.

The success of that first season took the football world, including ourselves, by surprise and expectations were high for the ’82 season as virtually the entire team was coming back.

My personal expectations were high too as I was determined to stay healthy, see more playing time and make a contribution to the success of the team. But, as fate would have it, my expectations were cut short as I, again, sustained a knee injury during camp.

Disheartened by my latest setback, I decided to give up on football  and went in to Head Coach Bobby Pate’s office to tell him of my decision. Coach Pate was empathetic and told me to take some time off and if I wanted to rejoin the team when school started I was welcome to do so.

I headed back to the dorm and called my parents to tell them I was quitting football and to ask them to come help me move home.

As I packed my things in my dorm room and waited on my folks to make he hour plus trek from Barnesville to Carrollton, I thought of how much I would miss the game I had played since I was nine years old and loved so much.

I wept.

As the tears flowed, a guy I had never seen before showed up in the doorway of my dorm room. This guy looked like he had came straight from Woodstock. I had never seen him before in my life.

He asked what was wrong and I openly told him of my situation. He was very attentive and when I finished he said he was sorry these things had happened to me but he envied me for having the opportunity I had and reminded me that there are thousands of kids who would do just about anything to have the chance play college ball.

He wished me luck and said he hoped I changed my mind. He then left and I never saw him again.

I thought about what he said and, by the time mom and dad arrived, I had decided to stay. My parents were happy with my decision and, after they left for home, I set out to meet the team and coaches for lunch at the cafeteria where I informed them of my decision to stay.

It was several weeks before my knee was recovered enough to practice but I gladly returned when it was time. Although I didn’t make it any further than number three on the depth chart, I saw plenty of action that fall as we obliterated nearly everyone we played.

We qualified for the playoffs again and again drew Widener in the first round this time beating them in double overtime. The next week we beat Bishop College from Texas to earn a berth in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl.

We faced Augustana of Illinois and outlasted them 14-7 to claim the D3 National Championship.

The next season we moved up to Division II and many of the guys felt like we had reached the pinnacle of success and left the team.



I stayed on for my junior and senior year and was one of only four players who began with the tryouts in 1980 and stayed on for five years.




Greeting a fan after my final collegiate game.

 

Injuries continued to hamper me but I have no regrets. I had the time of my life.

I'm sure God has sent many an angel to look over me in my lifetime but I will never forget the one who came to me in my time of despair and helped me to realize my dream.