Every player on every team is important to the success of the team.
Sometimes it’s hard to see that when you’re the new player on a 26-man roster of guys who’ve played for 4 or 5 years, but nearly everyone who’s played football at some point has been in that position … the new man.
Why do I know that every play is important? Well, I know several families got a chance to getaway on our bye weekend to see their old schools play. I know specifically some went to see Virginia Tech, and the Naval Academy.
But I was reminded on October 3rd of how it was to the new man on the roster when I went back to my College alma mater, Hampden-Sydney, near Farmville-VA for the 1st time in 20-years.
25-years ago I started playing football at Division III Hampden-Sydney College. I joined a team that finished well below .500 the year before my arrival thinking I would be an “impact” player … wrong.
My freshman year I was assigned to play Center on a practice squad “scout team” that the coaches called the “Mighty White Tigers” because of the nameless white jerseys we wore each week to practice. As the “scout-team” our only job 6-days a week at practice was to copy the opponent’s offense who our team would face on Saturday. The number on my “mighty white jersey” changed every week depending on the number of the opponent’s player I was told to imitate.
My all freshman squad still went to meetings and watched film, and learned plays … except our whole time was spent watching, learning, copying the OTHER team’s plays. We got a new play book every week, and were expected to learn it in a day, and run it.
And our reward for this hard work … we got to run plays we barely knew against our starting defense … a group of battle-proven 4th year senior headhunters … every practice for 16-weeks. I weighed in at a whopping 195lbs and could barely lift the bench press bar off the rack. Our starting senior, all conference noseguard in front of me weighed 255lbs and was the team weightlifting leader. In other words, I got the stuff beaten out of every day for the first 5- or 6-weeks until I learned “how to block”.
Well, for working so hard, surely the in-game time, on-field time was there? Nope.
As for playing time my freshman year, I got in for 2-plays … in one-game … the entire year … a blowout, and I fumbled the snap on the 2nd play … the coach was screaming so loudly at me when I came off the field, he nearly swooned over due to lack of oxygen in his brain. Did I mention we were ahead by 49-points, and there were only 32-seconds left to play?
That year we finished 3 - 7, and I questioned what I was doing there, as a back-up player on a 3 win team. But our starting nose guard, who I blocked 6-days a week, for 16-weeks was voted 1st team all-conference (I beleive, the only defensive all conference player we had that year), and he was voted to an honorary regional Division III team.
I took great pride in his award feeling that my efforts helped make him and the team better in the long run. And all of the "Mighty White Tigers" were honored at the season ending banquet.
In my 4-years, the team improved. I started at Center the next 3-years, was voted all-conference twice, and team Co-Offensive MVP once. And in fact, we won the Conference Championship my Senior year in 1988. For reference, the team then went on a 20-year span without winning another conference title until 2008.
But I’ll be honest, I couldn't tell you one fact about that Championship Season or any of the success from my other 3-years of playing in college, I don’t remember any of it.
However, I can recall in my freshman season on the scout-offense “Mighty White Tiger” squad, sometimes the details get fuzzy with time, but I have pulled from that experience in my adult life for motivation and inspiration when times are tough.
The coaches let us keep a “Mighty White Tiger Jersey” at the end of the season, and my son, Clayton, wears it to practice sometimes.
He likes the jersey, but I use it to remind him of the life lesson that every player on every team is important to the success of the team; regardless of the player’s role, so give 100%, and work hard on every play, all the time.
