Published: October 08, 2008 01:51 pm            

Open letter to the Mabank Panthers

By now you’ve probably had an earful of criticism over your game-ending brawl with Terrell last Friday.

So I’m not going to give you a lecture. I’ll just tell you a story.

So listen up, Panthers.

Back in 1994 when you were about three or four, Boise State played Youngstown State, coached by Jim Trussell, who is now at Ohio State, for the NCAA Division I-AA national championship in Huntington, West Virginia.

The Broncos had a defensive end, we’ll call him Joey, who came from a rough background in Oakland.

He was, without a doubt, the best player in the Big Sky Conference, or the best player nobody ever heard of until he got to the Minnesota Vikings.

A few days before the championship game, I talked to Joey about the big game. The usual stuff. Do you have a chance? What do you have to do to win?

As I was walking out of the Sports Information Director’s office, Joey told me he had a better story, but he didn’t want it printed.

The reason, he said, was that it was about his dad, a man who had gone to prison for murder and had eventually died of a drug overdose.

“People in Boise wouldn’t understand,” he said.

I sensed that he wanted me to talk him into telling his story.

After he told me the story, I told him it was up to him, that the story would end at the office door if that’s what he wanted..

At the same time, I told him I thought he would be making a big mistake, that his dad was practically an icon for the success of that year’s BSU team.

Here’s what he told me, and why it pertains to you Panthers now.

His dad tried to raise him as a single father in a ghetto area of Oakland after his mother had abandoned him as an infant.

Booze and drugs altered his dad’s mind, which may have been why he was involved in the murder and went to prison.

Joey’s uncle moved in to take care of Joey for a few years. When his dad was released several years later, he tried to resume his role as father.

Maybe it was because he was just too young when his dad went to prison, but Joey was always able to see the goodness behind the madness, when it came to his dad.

He remembered that on Saturday’s when his teams were playing. He was the parent who stuck around for him, stuck up for him, and dreamed the early dreams for him.

When the rains came pouring down, sending the other parents scurrying to their cars, Joey remembered the sight of his father, sitting alone in the small bleachers, soaking wet, still yelling for his son.

When they were home, his dad cooked for him, cared for him as best he could.

For all his problems, the old man knew the best and happiest part of his life was about his son.

Then one day, Joey got the news that his dad had died of a drug overdose.

Joey’s uncle took over again and got him through high school.

Joey wasn’t considered a D-1 player at the time Boise State recruited him, so the Bronco coaches pretty well stole one from the big boy recruiters.

Joey became an instant star on a bad team, but that wasn’t enough for him..

If a runner had the audacity to come his way, he was going down, and he was going down hard.

Just as quickly, Joey would extend his hand, and help the poor fella get back on his feet. Then he’d knock him down again on the next play.

He gobbled up quarterbacks like they were M&Ms.

Everybody respected Joe. He was polite but tough, talented but gentle.

He gathered his teammates in the off-season and literally forced them to redouble their efforts in the weight room.

If they missed a workout, he came to their dorm room, pulled them out of bed and ordered them to get their fannies to the gym.

It didn’t take long for Joey’s work ethic to spread. In a short time, he had the whole team working out in the off-season on its own.

How’d it work out?

Well, in In 1993, the Broncos were 3-8, the worst record in the history of the school. In 1994 they were 11-1 and playing for a national championship.

In the game that put them in that championship, Boise State trailed Marshall, 24-7 before rallying for a 28-24 victory.

Your victory over Kaufman kind of reminded me of that game. In fact, you guys remind me a lot of those guys. But you haven’t quite gotten it, yet.

That team could win against better teams, but only because of the close bond they had with one another.

Everyone had everyone else’s back. Self-centeredness took a back seat. They worked together, played together and partied together.

On the field they fought their hearts out, not for themselves so much, as for their teammates.

And they didn’t do it with fisticuffs or cheap shots. They played between the whistle and the lines. And they did it with blocking and tackling, running and catching.

Contrast that with your reaction to last Friday’s melee. Individuals in a free-for-all don’t win anything. A well-disciplined team becomes part of a mob in the process.

You needed a Joey to keep your mind focused on the mission. Is there someone in a green uniform with Joey’s heart and leadership abilities? I’m just asking.

If there is, it’s time to step up. Your life is not about you as individuals, Panthers.

The reason your parents, and your relatives are in the stands is because they want to support you. To them, you are their lives, or at least a good portion of them.

Your job, on the other hand, is to make your life about those you choose to serve.

It’s not so much about giving back as paying forward. Right now your job is serving your teammates, your coaches, your parents and your community.

Joey became the best leader I’ve ever seen on a football field, because he knew all of that instinctively.

Odd as it sounds, he was the beneficiary of some great leadership from a junkie father.

Just before our interview concluded, Joey, a 6-4, 257-pound rock of a man, told me with tears in his eyes and a crackling voice, that he loved his dad, and he wanted everyone else to love him, too. But he still didn’t think people in Boise would understand.

I told his story, and Joey proved to be wrong. People in Boise did understand, and they had a lot of love for his late father, too.

Imagine that, a junkie inspiring his son to inspire a team from 3-8 to 11-1 and a spot in the national championship game.

That’s what I’d call paying it forward.

How about you, Panthers? I don’t know whether you’re good enough to beat Red Oak or not, or good enough to earn a playoff spot.

The team I saw swarm on the field out of control was certainly too self-centered to meet these challenges.

But a team with a Joey or two, might just make it happen.

Your choice, Panthers.

You gonna pay it back, or pay it forward?

You can reach Art Lawler at:

sports@cedarcreekpilot.com

        

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