It’s Austin College Crimson & Gold Challenge Week! See the comments for a link to give back to AC.
I believe that to encourage others to give, one has to give first. So on Crimson & Gold Challenge Week, I usually give a story. This year’s Challenge Week story is about an AC Legend for whom a Roo Tale is long overdue: Mr. William Keith Bo Brown.
The movie “Deliverance” was released in 1972. The film tells the story of Lewis Medlock (Burt Reynolds) and three other city folk who canoe down a wild river before it is lost to dams, lakes, & progress. James Dickey, the author of Deliverance, was in 1978 a visiting Austin College scholar.
A lot of Austin College fellas in 1972 probably THOUGHT ABOUT replicating the canoe trip of Lewis Medlock. But one group actually DID IT. That group was led by an Austin College defensive lineman that you all know well or should meet: “Bo” Brown.
From “100 Years, 100 Yards, The Story of Austin College Football.”
“It was Bo Brown, Clay Dean, and James Cooley who jolted the AC campus when they did not show up for [a football] workout one Tuesday afternoon. As part of an American history class project to describe a ‘frontier experience,’ the trio decided to put a rubber raft into the Red River north of Gainesville, float down to Lake Texoma where they had left a car, and record their experiences in a paper for [history professor] Dr. Ed ‘Hake’ Phillips.”
“By their calculations, they could put in at 9 a.m. and be back in Sherman in time for the workout that afternoon. It was only 15 miles they figured, but they didn’t count on [all] the bends in the river. By midnight, they were still missing. [AC] security officers contacted a Red River expert who said he had guided tours over that same water [that] took two days. The U.S. Army was contacted at Fort Sill in Lawton, Oklahoma, and rescue officials agreed to send a helicopter to help with the search the next morning.”
“Brown, Dean, and Cooley all showed up in Sherman about 2 a.m. after being rescued northwest of Whitesboro. They explained that they expected to see their car as they rounded each bend, [yet] it got dark quicker than they thought. They tried to get to shore in the dark [but] stirred up a bed of snakes in the water and were afraid to try again. They had eaten all their food, had lost their water container, and they had no flashlights.”
“[Luckily,] they heard men talking on the south bank of the river. They were two oil field workers just off their shift, relaxing and drinking beer. ‘I was still a little uneasy,’ said Brown, shaken by the day’s events. ‘While those guys were helping us out of the water, I kept thinking about the movie ‘Deliverance.’”
Burt Reynolds and Bo Brown have two things in common. Both reenacted the character of Lewis Medlock in the movie “Deliverance.” And both played college football. Reynolds was a running back for Florida State in 1954, until injuries ended his career. Brown was a defensive tackle for Coach Larry Kramer’s Kangaroos, earning NAIA All-American Honorable Mention honors. Brown was inducted into the AC Hall of Honor in 2008.
Burt Reynolds is a Florida State legend. He was a financial contributor to and promoter of FSU, so much so that the athletics dormitory on campus is named in his honor. Reynolds included Florida State coach Bobby Bowden in an episode of his television show “Evening Shade.” Burt Reynolds never forgot his college coaches.
Bo Brown is an Austin College legend. A loyal supporter of AC over five decades, Brown is the leader of a group responsible for the AC tailgating area. Lots of AC alumni probably THOUGHT ABOUT creating a place to tailgate. But Bo and his fellas actually DID IT. They named the area the “Larry Kramer Outback.” Bo Brown never forgot his college coaches.
The story of how the Larry Kramer Outback came to be is best told by Bo Brown himself. Suffice it to say that Austin College regularly produces outstanding lawyers, of which Bo Brown is one. After a long period of negotiation, all parties agreed to the creation of this outstanding AC tailgating experience, complete with barbecue, adult beverages, and loads of student & alumni fun. If you have yet to experience the Outback, do so this Homecoming. If you have already enjoyed the Outback, then please thank Bo Brown.
Brown (pictured here alongside teammate and Outback BBQ Chef Billy Core) has had a challenging August. Surgery required a recent hospital stay. And I don’t need to tell you that recovery for a guy replicated “Deliverance” in 1972 will require time and patience. But Bo reports that he is doing well and plans to be at the first AC football game of the season on September 5th when the Roos host Kalamazoo.
Bo Brown, the 2017 AC Volunteer Service Award winner, has given Austin College a lot over his 50 years since graduation. But the Larry Kramer Outback is perhaps his finest work. My first thought after visiting the Outback for the first time? “This is a real college football tailgating experience.” If you feel the same, then I encourage you to say thank you in person to Bo Brown at the Outback this fall.
And if you REALLY want to salute this Roo legend, then please give generously to AC during the Crimson & Gold Challenge Week in honor of William Keith “Bo” Brown. Bo is, after all, the Burt Reynolds Deliverance guy who as a student was “delivered” from the Red River, who as an alumnus has “delivered” to all of us the Larry Kramer Outback, and who absolutely deserves this Marc Roo Tale being “delivered” today.
Bo, a speedy recovery my Deliverance friend. As for the rest of you, see a link in the comments to give to AC during Crimson & Gold Challenge Week.
https://www.austincollege.edu/details/~board/utility-nav/post/larry-kramer-outback