Crazy Football Roadtrip
Love (kinda) lifted this loveable, laughable team
Love lifted me Love lifted me When I was down and out You know, love lifted me
Murray State punter Chris Tuck stretched out the last chord, the audience of his teammates clapped along with his coaches and a handful of guests, and then Tucker returned the microphone to team chaplain Robert Shuler.
“Gentlemen, life gets hard,” reverand Shuler said, pounding the podium. “Don’t give up. Be faithful. Trust the Lord. Remember the Walls of Jericho. If we stay focused on our mission, obstacles can be overcome and any goal achieved.”
The Chaplain returned the mike to Racer head football coach Mike Gottfried.
“Amen, Chaplain,” Gottfried said. “Amen. Powerful stuff. So whether we get down 7–0 or 35–0 — we’re going to keep battling, and those walls will come crumbling down.”
“Let’s end this team football meeting with a word of prayer and then a 10 p.m. curfew. Breakfast is tomorrow at 8 a.m. Kick-off is 1 p.m.”
Road Trippin’ with Racers
My dad and I were honored guests to be part of Murray State’s football trip to play the Eastern Illinois Panthers in Charleston, Illinois on November 11, 1978.
Gottfried spent three years as MSU football coach, compiling a 22–11–1 record. He got on to have a successful coaching career at Cincinnati, Kansas and Pittsburgh the next nine years before he spent 17 years as an ESPN football color commentator.
Every time Gottfriend’s cheery voice came on ESPN during college football broadcast I would flash back to my 12th birthday with Gottfried. He lived up the street, sometimes saw me shooting hoops in the driveway, and would stop to shoot baskets with me.
One day he found out it was my birthday and reappeared an hour later with this cool Murray State framed photo of the Racer mascot. He was a caring individual who always went the extra miles to make others happy.
It didn’t surprise me to find out that, upon retiring from broadcasting, Gottfried and his wife, Mickey, started Team Focus in 2000, a cost-free community outreach program geared towards young men without fathers. Gottfried’s own father died of a heart attack when he was 11.
Back to the memorable road trip
We boarded the luxurious, spacious team bus at 8 a.m. on Friday morning, meaning I was allowed to play hooky that day.
Boarding the bus I felt like I was amongst a bunch of rock stars. I knew they were just college athletes at a small university, but to a bewildered 12-year-old, I viewed them as the Dallas Cowboys, Pittsburgh Steelers or Oakland Raiders — the popular team of the early 80s.
We arrived around 1 p.m. at Charleston, located halfway between St. Louis and Indianapolis but 187 miles south of Chicago. After checking into the Days Inn, everyone met in the conference rooms and had turkey, roast beef or ham sandwiches, salads and mixed vegetables.
Then it was off to O’Brien Stadium on the Northern Illinois campus to do a walk-through of the offensive and defensive plays and get acclimated with the field.
We ate a buffet-style breakfast the next morning, the team did another quick walk through in the hotel ballroom, sung “Love Lifted Me” and listened to the memorable and inspirational Jericho Walls sermon.
A laughable life lesson
Then it was off to the game with our without punter Jeff Tuck. The bus was suppose to leave the hotel at 9:30 a.m. Tuck was nowhere to be found. The coach tried his room. No answer. Finally at 9:40, Gottfried told the bus driver, “Let’s roll.”
The minute the engine started, Tuck came bolting out the lobby door.
“No, don’t stop,” Gottfried said in a friendly tone. “Let’s mess with him and teach him a lesson.”
A half-a-mile later, the bus stopped, and an exhausted, panting Tuck entered the bus to a rousing of hoots, claps and jokes.
“Tuck, I think you’re ready to play wide receiver,” joked Greg King.
It was the coolest feeling being on the bus and feeling the team camaraderie.
Sort of in the the game
Then it was on to the stadium — center-stage — with both teams warming up, the cheerleaders cheering and the band getting the crowd excited. College students and fans of all sorts getting fired up for the kick off.
Coach Gottfried allowed me to be the team ball boy again. My job was to retrieve errant balls on bad punts or overthrown passes and replace the balls every time the teams changed possession.
It was fun, exhilarating, and lots of sprinting out to the middle of the action to hand the ball off to the head referee.
Scary as well.
In my capacity as ball boy I stood off on the side lines, inches from where the Gladiators throw vicious hits at each other like you’ll see in the Super Bowl.
Once a Northern Illinois running back came bolting my way, and a Murray State defender lowered his head and hit him, but the Panther quickly went around him and narrowly missed hitting me. I scampered a good 20 extra yards. It was as if a bear or lion were about to attack me.
Will love lift the Racers?
Things were looking bleak for the Murray State Racers as they trailed the host Panthers, 35–7, early in the fourth quarter.
My dad turned to me during a Murray State timeout and said, “Well, Mike, too bad, Murray isn’t going to win.”
“Dad, don’t you remember the sermon this morning?” I said. “Just like the walls of Jericho, the Racers will keep circling and attacking and by the end of the game the walls of the Northern Illinois’ defense will come down, and we’ll win.”
The walls, of course, didn’t come down. The final score was Northern Illinois 35, Murray State 14.
However, it was an amazing memory with my dad, a special trip with a special coach and a strong sermon with a powerful message to be faithful never give up.
Thanks for reading my story.
Tagging some fellow sports fans: Scot Butwell, Gerald Sturgill, Sam Ochstein, Jameson Steward, Laura McDonell, Lauren McDermott, MarkfromBoston, Julian Cosky, Scottyounker, Craig Stanland, Frank Priegue, Andy Spears, Harold Zeitung, Susan McCorkindale, Brian Wright, Charles Water, J.R. Spiers, JH Spencer, Michael Dolan, George Blue Kelly, Patrick OConnell, Brandon Anderson
You might also like:
