For those of you who may not know, this is the final resting place for six members of the 1970 Thundering Herd. The plane crash that took their lives was so severe, so absolute, that their bodies were unable to be identified. So they were buried here. Together. Six players. Six teammates. Six Sons of Marshall. This is our past, gentlemen. This is where we have been. This is how we got here. This is who we are. Today, I want to talk about our opponent this afternoon. They’re bigger, faster, stronger, more experienced and on paper, they’re just better. And they know it too. But I want to tell you something that they don’t know. They don’t know your heart. I do. I’ve seen it. You have shown it to me. You have shown this coaching staff, your teammates. You have shown yourselves just exactly who you are in here.
When you take that field today, you’ve got to lay that heart on the line, men. From the souls of your feet, with every ounce of blood you’ve got in your body, lay it on the line until the final whistle blows. And if you do that, if you do that, we cannot lose. We may be behind on the scoreboard at the end of the game but if you play like that we cannot be defeated. Now we came here today to remember six young men and sixty-nine others who will not be on the field with you today, but they will be watching. You can bet your ass that they’ll be gritting their teeth with every snap of that football. You understand me? How you play today, from this moment on is how you will be remembered. This is your opportunity to rise from these ashes and grab glory. We are…
We are.
We are!
The funerals end today!
One day, not today, not tomorrow, not this season, probably not next season either but one day, you and I are gonna wake up and suddenly we’re gonna be like every other team in every other sport where winning is everything and nothing else matters. And when that day comes, well thats, thats when we’ll honor them.
When I heard about what had happened, your situation, the only thing I could think about was the four of them. I thought about how much they mean to me, about how bad it would hurt if… well if I was to lose them. Then I thought about a team, and a school, and a town thats gotta be hurtin’ real bad. And I thought, hell, maybe I could help.
That’s why you’re gonna get them to make an exception.
… Explain it to them. We would like to field a team. We don’t have enough players to do that. They can help us get more players, faster. Simple as that.
It’s the only way we’ll be even halfway competitive in recruiting.
My youngest crapped his pants yesterday.
He’s four. Sandy was out so I had to clean him up. When she got home, I told her what happened, she couldn’t believe it. I said “I know, the kid’s four, he shouldn’t be doing that anymore.”, She said “No, not that, I can’t believe after all these years you finally changed a diaper.”
There’s a first time for everything, Don.
