Colin Dunnigan
is a former Roo football veteran from my years in Sherman. Today,
Colin is the Director of college counseling at Andrew’s Episcopal in
Jackson, MS. His family learned that they would be moving to
Mississippi five years ago. To prepare, they watched a number of films
about the Magnolia state. One of those films was a 30-for-30
documentary entitled “Ghosts of Ole Miss.” From Colin:
“[Ghosts
of Ole Miss] chronicles the 1962 football season, a time when the Rebels
were playing exceptionally well while James Meredith fought his way to
join the campus community, a horrific time of American history that
sadly seems a way-too-recent event. I had heard and read about Meredith
and the horrors he and others faced as the university gave way to
integration, but I did not know the stories of heroism that emerged from
that night until watching the show.”
James Meredith was a U.S.
veteran of 10 years when he decided to enroll at the University of
Mississippi in 1962. Meredith later marched solo from Memphis to
Jackson in 1966 to encourage voter registration. He never made it;
Meredith was shot by white supremacists along his peaceful march.
Thankfully, he recovered from his wounds. But he never made it to his
final destination: Jackson, Mississippi.
Millsaps College in
Jackson was founded in 1890 by a former Confederate soldier. The
Millsaps Mascot “Majors” comes from the rank of that soldier. Millsaps
and Austin College have a long athletic history, dating back to the
1950s. That relationship was renewed again 19 years ago, when Austin
College hosted the Majors in Sherman to open the 2000 season.
AC
built a 21-0 lead in the third quarter, and held on for the 31-23 win.
Running back Aaron Kernek gave Roo fans a preview of the season to come,
rushing for 146 yards on 28 carries and scoring two touchdowns. QB
Keiston Alexander, playing for an injured Travis Stein, was 15-of-23
with two touchdowns throws. One of those TDs was hauled in by receiver
Cory Hailey.
“The positive was every time we had something bad
happen, we kept our composure,” said Roo head coach David Norman. “We
got it started, and you can’t ask for a better game,” said Kernek. “I
can’t even put it into words what this is like,” remarked linebacker
Reed Heim about the post-game celebrations. Heim, Marvin Nash, Chris
Panneck, and the red shirt defense shut down Millsaps in the first half,
and squashed a late Majors rally to secure the win. The 2000 Austin
College Kangaroos were 1-0, and on their way.
Austin College
football also squared off against Millsaps in October of 1962, and the
Roos were immediately caught up in the events surrounding Meredith’s
attempts to integrate the University of Mississippi in Oxford. Governor
Ross Barnett had declared his opposition with racist, inflammatory
rhetoric. The Kennedy administration, and much of America, strongly
disagreed. On Sunday, September 30th, Attorney General Robert Kennedy
ordered that Meredith be enrolled. On Monday, October 1st, the riots in
Oxford began.
The riots by white Mississippi were still
occurring days later on Friday, October 5th; due to security concerns,
Ole Miss decided to move its Saturday football game with the University
of Houston from Oxford to Jackson. Only one problem. The Ole Miss game
was supposed to be televised, and NCAA rules prohibited a broadcast if
another collegiate game were occurring at the same time within a 75-mile
radius. There was one. Austin College vs. Millsaps.
The
University of Mississippi asked Austin College and Millsaps to change
their kickoff from the afternoon to the evening. AC Coach Floyd Gass
objected. He explained that the Kangaroos had planned to fly into
Jackson that morning, and were scheduled to return to Sherman in the
evening following the game. After learning this news, Ole Miss picked
up the tab for the Roos and offered to pay for all overnight food,
lodging, travel, and expenses in Jackson. Coach Gass accepted. Ole
Miss defeated Houston 40-7 in a televised broadcast on Saturday
afternoon. Later that evening, AC defeated Millsaps 27-23 in Jackson.
The Roos flew back to Texas the next morning, courtesy of James
Meredith’s University of Mississippi.
The huge racial problems
that plagued Mississippi in 1962 were dramatically less in Sherman back
in 2000. Two years ago, I wrote about an upcoming AC / Berry football
game, and the fact that Berry College is the filming site of the movie
“Remember the Titans.” The movie, starring Denzel Washington, tells the
story of an integrated squad that overcomes a past of racial injustice
to win a title. Marvin Nash, a member of the 2000 AC Roos squad, wrote
the following in a comment about one of the film’s most memorable
scenes:
“This movie was released in late 2000. We had a team
building opportunity and watched it as a Kangaroo Football team. There
wasn’t a huge racial divide but we obviously came from different
backgrounds. After watching this movie together, a new bond was formed. I
played OLB and Chris Panneck played DE. We’d hit the Left Side Strong
Side chant often after a big defensive play. It’s no surprise that our
2000 squad was one of the winningest teams in the last 25 years.”
Colin Dunnigan and his family did more than read about James Meredith. They’ve actually met the man. From Colin:
“On Labor Day weekend of 2017 we were invited by our school’s provost
to join [Meredith], his wife, and some others for dinner at his house. I
took my place directly in front of him and we talked at length.
Meredith’s thoughts were sometimes fleeting and meandering, bouncing
from topic to topic and full of questions about points I brought up or
opinions he held. It was fascinating, and while I had a constant urge to
ask him about what he experienced in 1962, being shot, and so many
other events in his life, I resisted. However, a quiet voice kept
whispering, ‘You’re sitting here with James Meredith. JAMES MEREDITH!
ASK HIM ABOUT OLE MISS!!’”
The ghosts that plague Mississippi and
America remain, but collegiate athletics continues to play an important
role to keep them at bay. Today, you’ll find a memorial to Meredith on
the Oxford campus honoring his role in furthering American democracy.
Of all the colleges in Mississippi, only one choose to voluntarily
de-segregate. Millsaps College in Jackson.
Next up for the 2000
Roos after the Millsaps win? A home contest against Hardin-Simmons,
defending ASC conference champions and owners of a 20-game regular
season winning streak. The early tests for the 2000 squad would come
fast and furious.
James Meredith is today a frequent fixture at a
deli in a local Jackson Kroger that Colin frequents. Just last month,
Colin wrote online about running into Meredith once again. From Colin,
one final time:
“The best part of going to my local Kroger is
seeing James Meredith and chatting with him, even if just for a few
minutes. This afternoon I stopped by the deli area to see if he was
there, and sure enough, he was reading and writing as usual. We didn’t
talk for long, but I never walk away without realizing that this
eighty-six-year-old man is an incredible icon of our nation.”
Members/family of the 2000 Austin College Kangaroos:
Hardin-Simmons University (HSU) and the University of Mary
Hardin-Baylor (UMHB) are both Baptist institutions. The also share a
common name. The Hardin family of John & Mary were beneficiaries of
the early 20th century Texas oil boom, and became huge benefactors of
both schools. HSU traces its birth to 1891. UMHB is even older, and
predates Austin College by four years. UMHB originated at Independence,
TX in 1845 as the female department of Baylor University.
Athletic competition between AC & the Hardin-Simmons Cowboys goes
back 100 years, and started with a bang. Austin College, TIAA champions
in 1920, were expected to compete for a conference title in 1922. With
wins over SMU and TCU, the Roos were well on their way heading into a
conference matchup with HSU. Just days before the contest, an HSU
player accused AC of using an ineligible player. A.E. Chandler, TIAA
president, ruled against HSU and declared that the Kangaroo player was
in fact eligible. The accused Roo scored 8 points in a 14-0 AC defeat
of HSU. Austin College cruised to the 1922 conference championship.
Then suddenly, A.E. Chandler reversed course. After further review,
the Roo player was ineligible after all. AC would have to forfeit all
wins in which the player had participated. AC Coach Charlie Robertson
was furious, and smelled a rat. In addition to TIAA President, A.E.
Chandler was also the President of Hardin-Simmons. Vacating the Austin
College victories would give the TIAA title to Chandler’s HSU Cowboys.
At the end of the season, Robertson and AC declared themselves
conference champions anyway. When asked to submit his 1922 All-TIAA
team alongside other coaches, Robertson protested by mailing in his
entire Kangaroo lineup.
The future 2000 ASC champions from
Abilene came to Sherman during week #2 and left with a hard fought 27-14
victory over the Roos. Aaron Kernek had 163 yards on the ground, as
Josh Reynolds, Justin Watson, David Gafford, Matt Walker, and Mike
Eklund cleared holes for the future All-American all afternoon. QB
Keiston Alexander added 182 yards in the air. A TD catch by Cory Hailey
and 61-yard run by Kernek gave AC the lead after one quarter. A strong
early defensive effort by Ben Northington, John Palmer, Justynn Royal,
Duncan McCallum and the defensive line kept the Roos close, but it would
not be enough. Early in the 4th quarter, HSU was still clinging to its
one score lead at Jerry Apple stadium when the Cowboys put the game
away. Hardin-Simmons would later defeat UMHB for the 2000 ASC crown,
advancing all the way to the NCAA D3 semifinals.
Competition
between the Roos and the Crusaders of UMHB is more recent. After
becoming co-ed in the 1970s, UMHB became a conference opponent in the
American Southwest Conference (ASC) in the 1990s. AC took the first two
meetings on the gridiron in 1998 & 1999, but 2000 would be a
turning point. Over the past two decades, the Belton school has become a
Division 3 juggernaut. UMHB has won 15 ASC conference titles since
2002, and secured an NCAA D3 title in 2018. In 2019, the Crusaders are
once again in the hunt for a national title; UMHB takes on
Wisconsin-Whitewater this weekend in the NCAA D3 Quarterfinals. Mark Carey, whose brother Chad played for the Roos in the late 1990s, is an assistant coach for the Cru.
Week #3 in Belton was similar to the HSU game a week earlier. AC and
UMHB battled for a half; the third quarter began with the Crusaders up
only 3-0. The AC linebacker corps of Reed Heim, Marvin Nash, Charles
Gurley, and Kevin Cook kept the Mary Hardin-Baylor out of the end zone,
while the Roo secondary of Marcus Schulz, Jason White, Landon Powell,
& Clint Burns kept the Crusader passing game in check. Two second
half defensive scores for touchdowns, however, allowed Mary
Hardin-Baylor to build a lead they’d never relinquish. The Crusaders
would cruise to a 27-0 win. AC had given the top two teams in the
conference all they could handle, but had come up short.
Despite the two losses, the 2000 Roos had shown that they could go
toe-to-toe with the best in the American Southwest Conference. The rest
of the conference remained, and the Kangaroos were about to embark on a
winning streak. The running of Kernek would shift into high gear, and
the return of QB Travis Stein would prove to be a catalyst in a
remarkable comeback during the streak. Next up for the 2000 Roos? A
date at home with the War Hawks of McMurry.
After five decades of
Border Conference competition with coaches such as Sammy Baugh, the
Hardin-Simmons Cowboys decided to drop the game in 1963. In 1990, the
school reversed course and brought it back. The first HSU football game
in 27 years was spoiled when visiting Austin College knocked off the
Cowboys in a 38-19 win in Abilene. Dale Trompler threw for 217 yards, Jason Johnson scored one of his 34 career touchdowns, Kelly Mulhollan added another, and Walker Fenci
came up with an incredible four interceptions. Like the 2000 Roos, the
1990 Kangaroo team finished the season with just three loses and also
deserves a “Roo season in review.”
Good luck Coach Carey, and bring another title for UMHB back home to Belton.
Members/family of the 2000 Austin College Kangaroos:
Sunday 12/1: Millsaps Thursday 12/5: Hardin-Simmons / Mary Hardin-Baylor Sunday 12/8: McMurry Thursday 12/12: East Texas Baptist (AC National Championship Day) Sunday 12/15: Texas Lutheran Thursday 12/19: Louisiana College Sunday 12/22: Mississippi College Thursday 12/26: Howard Payne / Sul Ross Sunday 12/29: NFL
Sunday 12/8: McMurry
McMurry came to Sherman on week #4, but
simply had no answers to counter Austin College’s Aaron Kernek. With
offensive linemen Josh Reynolds, Justin Watson, David Gafford, Matt
Walker, and Mike Eklund leading the way, the Roo RB posted a career high
225 yards on the ground. His three touchdowns accounted for all AC
trips to the end zone, and Austin College held on for a 24-21 win. The
El Paso Times reported on the AC-McMurry game alongside TCU’s win over
Navy. Horned Frog RB LaDainian Tomlinson was posting Aaron Kernek-like
numbers in Fort Worth and found himself in the Heisman hunt. Tomlinson
would finish the 2000 season as the nation’s top rusher with 2,158
yards, and would end up 4th in the Heisman voting behind Texan Drew
Brees.
As the season progressed, Kernek and Tomlinson were
matching each other game after game. And that’s when Ric Renner and Fox
Sports Southwest showed up to do a special on the Roo running back.
From QB Travis Stein:
“The story goes that when Fox Sports SW did
the special on Kernek in mid-October as the leading yards-per-game
rusher in all of NCAA at the time, LaDainian Tomlinson was watching it
with one of Marcus Schulz’s buddies and was extremely angry. Renner
announced “move over LT, there’s a bigger star in North Texas.” Most of
the team remembers this special [fondly] because of Coach Norman’s big
time appearance where he was accidentally given the name of ‘Davis
Norman’ by Ric Renner.”
McMurry has a long history of trips to
Sherman. In 1953, the Abilene school traveled east for a game back when
AC was an NAIA rival. First year head coach Harry Buffington and the
Roos were led by RB Gene Babb, one of the best players in AC history.
McMurry had a star of their own, however: linebacker Grant Teaff.
Teaff and the McMurry defense shut down Babb and cruised to a 47-21 win.
Grant Teaff teammate J.W. “Spud” Aldridge, McMurry class of 1956, was
also there.
Grant Teaff would become one of the most
recognizable coaches in Southwest Conference history, leading the Baylor
Bears to two Southwest Conference titles and 8 bowl games over 20
years. His first conference title in 1974, won after the “Miracle on
the Brazos” victory over the Texas Longhorns, may be his most famous.
Teaff retired from coaching in 1992, and was inducted into the College
Football Hall of Fame in 2001. One of his last acts as Baylor coach was
the hiring of Larry Fedora as an assistant. Fedora was a freshman member of the 1981 AC National Championship team.
J.W. “Spud” Aldridge took over McMurry football coaching duties in
1976, and led McMurry to a TIAA title and NAIA D2 playoff appearance in
1980. As defending conference champions, he took his team to Sherman in
1981 for a regular season finale against Austin College. AC needed a
win to clinch the conference title and a playoff berth; they got it.
After the game, Coach Aldridge took the unusually step of addressing the
entire 1981 AC team. Every TIAA champion since 1977 had been knocking
on the national championship door, Aldridge said. But the 1981 AC team?
They had all the pieces to go all the way. Coach Aldridge asked the
1981 squad to win a national title for the TIAA conference. On December
12th, 1981, they did.
The 2000 Roos were rolling. Next up was a
tough East Texas Baptist (ETBU) squad in Marshall. Like the national
championship game in 1981, the 2000 AC-ETBU game would end up tied in
regulation. But the 2000 game had overtime, and OT……like the fourth
quarter…..would belong to the Roos.
Members/family of the 2000 Austin College Kangaroos:
Sunday 12/1: Millsaps Thursday 12/5: Hardin-Simmons / Mary Hardin-Baylor Sunday 12/8: McMurry Thursday 12/12: East Texas Baptist (AC National Championship Day) Sunday 12/15: Texas Lutheran Thursday 12/19: Louisiana College Sunday 12/22: Mississippi College Thursday 12/26: Howard Payne / Sul Ross Sunday 12/29: NFL
On this day in 1981, a small college in North Texas won a national championship in football.
Actually, a co-championship. The December 12th Austin College game against Concordia (MN) ended in a tie.
Ties get a bad rap in America. As Coach Ted Lasso famously said, “if
you tried to end a game in a tie in the United States, heck that might
be listed in Revelations as the cause for the Apocalypse.” But maybe
that’s too rash. Maybe we should give the good ol’ American tie a
moment to state its case.
The tie in the 1981 NAIA title game
certainly had the approval of one legendary Roo coach. “I don’t see
anything wrong with it,” Kangaroo Coach Larry Kramer said of the tie.
“They’ve got a heck of a football team, and so do we.” Coach Kramer
would later win Austin College’s Joe Spencer Award for Lifetime
Achievement in Coaching. So would a player on the 1981 championship
squad: AC Athletic Director David Norman.
One of the most famous
games in college football history is a tie. The undefeated and #1
ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish met the undefeated and #2 ranked
Michigan State Spartans near the end of the 1966 season. Deadlocked at
10-10 late, Irish Coach Ara Parseghian emulated Coach Larry Kramer and
decided to secure a tie. It worked out well for Notre Dame;
Parseghian’s squad earned the 1966 national title.
Before his
coaching days, Ara Parseghian was a player. In 1949, Parseghian helped
the Cleveland Browns secure a championship. The future Irish Coach was a
running back, who had nothing but praise for his offensive line.
Amazingly, was of those linemen was Austin College’s Joe Spencer, who
would be headed to Sherman to coach Roo football in 1953. In the
official 1949 Cleveland Browns photo, Spencer and Parseghian are
standing next to each other. That 1949 championship earned by Spencer
and Parseghian? Yup. It included a tie.
You may be surprised to
see a Roo coach standing alongside a legendary Notre Dame skipper. But
it’s not the first time. In the summer of 1925, AC Coach Pete Cawthon
chatted with Notre Dame’s Knute Rockne in Austin, TX. The Irish had won
a national championship In 1924, and were opening the 1925 season in
South Bend against Southwest Conference champion Baylor. Not a single
SWC team had beaten the 1924 Bears. But Austin College had. Rockne
asked Cawthon how he did it. The amazing 1924 season for the Roos, in
which Cawthon declared AC the “unofficial champions of the Southwest
Conference,” also included a tie. Against rival Trinity.
In
2000, Joe Spencer Award winner David Norman took his Roos to Marshall
for an ASC contest against East Texas Baptist. The Tigers were
inaugurating their new Ornelas Stadium; Austin College would be the
first opponent to play there. The game began foggy and wet. From AC
Quarterback Travis Stein:
“We still to this day talk about the
eerie feeling during pregame. Heavy, heavy fog. Couldn’t see top of
bleachers. Could barely see ETBU stretching. We’re going through our
usual stretching and Phil Collins Air Tonight starts to play. Remember,
this is before fancy highlights with music and social media saying what
a motivational song this is. By the time it kicked we were ready to
run through each other.”
The redshirt defense bent but did not
break. Defensive linemen Ben Northington, John Palmer, Justynn Royal,
and Duncan McCallum were assisted by the linebacker corps of Reed Heim,
Marvin Nash, Charles Gurley, and Kevin Cook kept AC in the game until
the very end.
East Texas Baptist built three leads throughout
the game, but each one was answered by Aaron Kernek. The Roo running
back simply could not be stopped, posting an incredible 260 yards on 37
carries and scoring two touchdowns to keep AC close.
Down 28-21
late, a 22-yard TD pass from Keiston Alexander to Jeff Riordan with 1:15
left evened the contest. Regulation play between the Tigers and Roos
ended just as it did in the December 12th, 1981 championship game. In a
tie.
But the 2000 season had overtime, and OT on this day
belonged to the Roos. After getting a stop, Kernek needed just two runs
to end it. The second, a 21-yard scamper into the end zone, sent AC
into wild celebration in the Marshall, TX fog. The first game ever at
Ornelas stadium belonged to the Roos. Norman and AC began to plan for
their next contest: a matchup against Texas Lutheran in Seguin.
My writing is all about ties. Ties between Roos, ties among
generations, coaching tree ties, and Austin College ties with the state
of Texas and the nation. While a tie between two teams might indeed be
like something out of the apocalypse for coaches like Ted Lasso, I still
have a small soft spot for the ties. Especially that tie on December
12th, 1981.
It’s December 12th! Let’s roll the video everybody. In the comments.
Members/family of the 1981 NAIA National Champion Austin College Kangaroos:
Sunday 12/1: Millsaps Thursday 12/5: Hardin-Simmons / Mary Hardin-Baylor Sunday 12/8: McMurry Thursday 12/12: East Texas Baptist (AC National Championship Day) Sunday 12/15: Texas Lutheran Thursday 12/19: Louisiana College Sunday 12/22: Mississippi College Thursday 12/26: Howard Payne / Sul Ross Sunday 12/29: NFL
Sunday 12/15: Texas Lutheran
“Oh, sure Marc,” you’re
thinking. I know you can tell a story about an Austin College football
team who played long after your days in Sherman. But it’s just research
on a computer. You don’t know what that year was really like. You
didn’t experience that Roo season firsthand.
Wrong.
I. Was. There.
2000 was a big year for me. I had spent the 1990s in New York and
Boston. Graduate school on the east coast was a rewarding experience,
and living in New England was a time I treasure. But, the lure of home
eventually proved too much. The Massachusetts winters seemed to grow
longer, and the siren song of Texas grew louder. 2000 was the year I
would turn 30 and a new millennium would begin. I celebrated New Year’s
Eve 1999 up north while packing for a return to the Lone Star state.
Turns out, you can go home again.
In January of 2000, I came back
to settle somewhere down in Texas. In March of 2000, I began a career
with the University of Texas that continues today. In April of 2000, I
turned 30 while enjoying a very special Tim McGraw song from his most
recent album. In June of 2000, I had my first date with Dianne. In October of 2000, I was hired by AC Kangaroo John Cotton at UT System. On New Year’s Eve 2000, I celebrated what for me was a very blessed year #30.
Oh yeah. And in the year 2000? I caught some Austin College football.
Word got around among my Roo buddies in Austin. The 2000 team was
good, and AC had a special running back. Even better? They were
playing against Texas Lutheran in Seguin. Hey, that’s not too far from
Austin. Road trip! A small group of us made our way to Matador stadium
to take it all in. John Talley
was there; he had a brief conversation with his old coach David Norman
just before the second half kickoff. Only at a D3 school could you
witness something intimate like that.
And Kernek. We had heard
about him, but seeing is believing right? What was the fuss all about?
Was he really that good?
Yes.
As the old saying
goes, Kernek looked like a man among boys. When AC needed a powerful
seven yards, he delivered. When the Roos required speed around the
corner, he was there. Watching Kernek was, quite frankly, like watching
Otis Amy. He was someone who could have thrived at the Division 2
level. He probably would have seen playing time at the Division 1
level. Maybe, just maybe, he would even catch the eye of NFL scouts.
Our little AC group didn’t know it at the time, but we were witnessing
history in Seguin. On October 14, 2000, Aaron Kernek became the
all-time leading rusher in Austin College history. It’s a record that
still stands. Kernek rambled for 227 yards on 31 carries that day. Was
it only 227? It seemed like more. He scored three touchdowns, and
carried AC to a 35-14 win against Texas Lutheran. Kernek’s effort in
Seguin broke the old career rushing record set by Mike Maloney in 1967.
By the end of the game, he had amassed 2,732 total yards.
Former
Texas Aggie Dante Hall said it best: “offensive linemen control the
game and true sports fans know that.” Kernek, like all great backs, was
quick to give his offensive linemen the credit they deserved. The
Sherman Democrat wrote about the AC offensive line soon after Kernek got
the record in Seguin. The piece was titled: “AC linemen take quiet
pride in work.”
“When they (the offensive line) are working well,
the running backs or the quarterback get the limelight. Their pride
comes from doing a hard job well. ’It’s just a joy,’ said offensive
guard Josh Reynolds, one of two returning starters from last year.
‘When he’s (Kernek) running hard….it’s fun to know you’re blocking for a
guy like that.’” In addition to Reynolds, Kernek’s OL included Justin
Watson, David Gafford, Matt Walker, and Mike Eklund, among others.
Coach David Norman knew what he had on the offensive side.
“’Sometimes, they’d line up with eight or nine in the box and we’d run
it anyway,’ a smiling Norman said in his office. ‘And we’d still get
four or five yards.’” The fact that a pro career was a possibility for
Kernek loomed large. From lineman Justin Watson: “The harder we block,
the better chance to get him into the NFL, and it’s a big plus for us
to get him there.”
The Red Shirt defense was also solid, holding
the Bulldogs to under 200 yards of total offense and just two trips to
the end zone. AC extended their record to 4-2, and their winning streak
to 3 games. They weren’t nearly done. Next up for the 2000 Roos? A
Homecoming date with Louisiana College. The Wildcats would head to
Sherman hoping for a victory. They wouldn’t get it.
2000 was a
special year for me. My family, career, and return home to Texas began
in the year 2000. I’m proud to say that this year also included a trip
to watch an exceptional football team: the 2000 Austin College
Kangaroos. It’s an honor to tell their story while I’m still enjoying
“my next thirty years.” Take it away Tim McGraw.
Members/family of the 2000 Austin College Kangaroos:
Sunday 12/1: Millsaps Thursday 12/5: Hardin-Simmons / Mary Hardin-Baylor Sunday 12/8: McMurry Thursday 12/12: East Texas Baptist (AC National Championship Day) Sunday 12/15: Texas Lutheran Thursday 12/19: Louisiana College Sunday 12/22: Mississippi College Thursday 12/26: Howard Payne / Sul Ross Sunday 12/29: NFL
Thursday 12/19: Louisiana College
Austin College is a family, and nothing says family like the 2000 AC Homecoming game against Louisiana College.
AC Coach David Norman knew. “I’d rather be playing against anybody
else,” he said. Norman’s Roos would be facing a Wildcat team led by
head coach Marty Secord. Norman and Secord were Kangaroo teammates on
the 1981 AC National Championship team. And that’s not all. Coach
Secord was in David & Margie Norman’s wedding. Now that’s family.
Secord did more than suit up with Norman in the early 1980s. He made
Austin College coaching a permanent part of his family. Marty Secord
married Kelli Morris Secord, daughter of Vance Morris & Paula Young Morris.
Coach Vance Morris was an assistant coach at AC for 24 years,
including the incredible championship year of 1981. In 2000, Morris was
Secord’s Defensive Coordinator at Louisiana College.
Assisting Morris on the LC defensive side was Buck Buchanan (h/t Michelle Brand Buchanan).
Buchanan was an All-American Kangaroo who played for Norman in the
late 1990s, and was an assistant coach in 1999. One year later, he had
moved on to Alexandria to help Secord and Morris bring the Wildcat
program back to life. After years without football, Louisiana College
had reinstated the game in 2000.
Secord didn’t have memories of
Austin College on his mind in Sherman. He was too worried about AC’s
dangerous running back Aaron Kernek. “He’s so big, he looks like he
might be from Nebraska. Whether it be Hardin-Simmons or Howard Payne,
he just runs through or over the defense. And downfield, he’ll punish
you.”
Kernek had broken the 200-yard mark in each of the last
three games. His 256-yard output against East Texas Baptist would today
be an all-time Top 10 performance in the NFL. Having already set the
career AC rushing record the week before in Seguin, Kernek only needed
103 yards to break the AC season rushing record held by Chris Sanders.
He’d get it and then some. Kernek ran for 186 yards and Keiston
Alexander threw for another 189. AC dominated time of possession,
holding the ball twice as long as the Wildcats. AC posted a dominating
21-3 and improved to 5-2.
A stingy Redshirt defense held
Louisiana College to just 88 total yards, including an incredible MINUS
37 on the ground. There was simply no ground game against the defensive
line of Ben Northington, John Palmer, Justynn Royal, and Duncan
McCallum, backed by linebackers Reed Heim, Marvin Nash, Charles Gurley,
and Kevin Cook. “’I feel like this has been the best game we’ve played
this year,’ said linebacker Charles Gurley.” In a tip of the cap to the
Roo secondary of Marcus Schulz, Jason White, Landon Powell, & Clint
Burns, Gurley said “a lot of my sacks were coverage sacks.”
For Kangaroo QB Travis Stein, the game was especially meaningful. Stein
was injured in a preseason game against Trinity, and had to endure the
first half of the season from the sidelines. Healthy again, Stein was
finally suited up against Louisiana College and ready to help his
teammates. Austin College is family, even when coaches leave for other
schools. From Stein: “This was the first game I suited back up,
desperate to get on the field after my preseason shoulder injury at
Trinity. Buck [Buchanan] and Coach Mo knew what I was battling and Coach
Morris wrote me a hand written note that I still cherish to this day.”
Marty Secord is today the Head Coach at Wakeland HS, in Frisco. You’ll
find Buck Buchanan in Conway AR, where he’s Head Coach of the Hendrix
Warriors. Buck and Hendrix returned to Sherman in 2019 and defeated the
Roos in a game I called with Kirk Hughes,
the “Voice of the Roos.” Vance Morris just recently retired after over
50 years of coaching; nearly 25 were at Austin College. His former
players, including Secord & Buchanan, recorded a wonderful
retirement video on behalf of Morris. See the comments.
The 2000
Roos owned a four-game winning streak, and looked forward to a trip to
Clinton, MS to extend it to five. Mississippi College would dominate
the game well into the second half, however, and it looked certain that
the streak would come to an end. But that’s when the 2000 Austin
College Kangaroos put together one of the most dramatic comebacks in
school history.
Members/family of the 2000 Austin College Kangaroos:
Sunday 12/1: Millsaps Thursday 12/5: Hardin-Simmons / Mary Hardin-Baylor Sunday 12/8: McMurry Thursday 12/12: East Texas Baptist (AC National Championship Day) Sunday 12/15: Texas Lutheran Thursday 12/19: Louisiana College Sunday 12/22: Mississippi College Thursday 12/26: Howard Payne / Sul Ross Sunday 12/29: NFL
Sunday 12/22: Mississippi College
“And now with no timeouts, I
think that the Patriots with this field position you have to just run
the clock out. You have to play for overtime now. I don’t think you
want to force anything here. You don’t want to do anything stupid,
because you have no timeouts and you’re backed up.” – John Madden
Tied 17-17 with 1:21 left in Super Bowl 36, Tom Brady and the New
England Patriots did not play for overtime. Commentator John Madden
initially expressed his disapproval at Brady’s aggressive play, but
eventually realized he was wrong. Brady drove the Pats 53 yards to set
up a championship winning field goal on the game’s final play. Just
before the final kick, Madden changed his tune:
“What Tom Brady just did gives me goosebumps.”
Founded in 1826, Mississippi College (MC), became the first
coeducational college in the United States to award degrees. Women
began receiving diplomas in 1831. Provine Chapel opened in 1860 and was
used as a hospital by General Grant during the Civil War. The
Robinson-Hale football stadium came much later, in 1985.
The
Choctaws were a Division II power in the 1980s. The peak was a D2
national championship in 1989, later vacated by recruiting violations.
The loss of the title coincided with a decision to drop to the D3
classification in the 1990s, where MC continued their winning ways. The
school won an American Southwest Conference championship in 1997. The
freshmen who did so were seniors in 2000.
Average attendance at
Robinson-Hale was one of the highest in Division 3, so it was no
surprise when nearly 5,000 showed up to watch MC take on the Austin
College Kangaroos. Mississippi College showed much of their old form in
the first half, dominating AC and taking a 30-9 lead into halftime.
The Roos, however, were not about to let their winning streak go quietly
into the night.
Needing a change in the second half to spark the
offense, Coach David Norman inserted QB Travis Stein. The AC rushing
game led by offensive linemen Josh Reynolds, Justin Watson, David
Gafford, Matt Walker, and Mike Eklund suddenly came to life. A third
quarter TD run by Josh DuBose cut the lead to 30-16. Just before the
4th, Stein took it in himself from 9 yards to reduce the margin to 7.
Late in the 4th, AC got the break they were looking for. Jason George
blocked a Choctaw punt, which set up a Stein-to-Roby-Nunn 11-yard TD
strike with 1:04 left. The Kangaroos had come all the way back to tie
the game. The 21-point second half deficit was gone. There was,
however, still time left for Mississippi College to pull it out.
The Choctaws looked like they just might do it. MC drove methodically
down the field and looked to be in position to set up a game winning
field goal. But a Marcus Schultz interception at the Austin College
33-yard line ended the threat. With 30 seconds left and deep in their
own territory, the Roos would run the clock out and play for overtime.
Or would they?
Travis Stein entered the game and engineered a drive that John Madden
would have initially questioned. Three Stein passes over 27 seconds
carried the Roos all the way from their own 33 to the Mississippi
College 3-yard line. Over the middle for 26. Left sideline for 18.
And over the middle again for 20. Timeout. 3 seconds left. A Chad
Turner 20-yard field goal on the game’s final play capped one of the
most dramatic comebacks in AC history.
The Choctaw defense keyed
on Kernek, who was held under 100 yards for the first time all season.
That created opportunities for the passing game; Stein finished the day
with 15 completions for 256 yards. Austin College headed back to
Sherman with a 5-game winning streak.
The video quality is poor.
Old technology and the Mississippi sun setting in the west at dusk
makes it hard to watch. But you can watch that final drive in the
comments below. The AC interception by Schulz, the three quick strikes
by Stein, and the game winning field goal by Turner. I think you’ll
agree with both John Madden and me after watching:
“What Travis Stein just did gives me goosebumps.”
Members/family of the 2000 Austin College Kangaroos:
Sunday 12/1: Millsaps Thursday 12/5: Hardin-Simmons / Mary Hardin-Baylor Sunday 12/8: McMurry Thursday 12/12: East Texas Baptist (AC National Championship Day) Sunday 12/15: Texas Lutheran Thursday 12/19: Louisiana College Sunday 12/22: Mississippi College Thursday 12/26: Howard Payne / Sul Ross Sunday 12/29: NFL
Thursday 12/26: Howard Payne / Sul Ross
Couch fires. They’re a thing.
Probably not legal. But hey, it’s college. You head out to a rural
plot of land with a small house where your buds live. You celebrate the
game, plan your weekend, and catch up with your college family. The
beverages flow, and the stakes are raised. Furniture is moved to the
lawn. You know, the couch purchased for $15 at the Grayson County
Army/Navy store. The sun sets, the north Texas chill of an early fall
arrives, and somebody gets a bright idea.
Burn baby, burn.
Yeah, we had our share of couch fires in the early 90s at a little
place called Hickory. Not unique. There were Roo couch fires at
different times and places throughout the Sherman metropolitan area I’m
sure. But one was the most meaningful of all. The king of all AC couch
fires.
The 2000 Roos were on fire, sitting on a five-game
winning streak and headed back home after the dramatic comeback in
Mississippi. The late fall rains came hard, and left Jerry Apple
stadium as muddy as it had ever been. Howard Payne arrived, and ended
the streak. The Roo running game never got going in the slop. The
Yellow Jackets toughed out a 17-0 victory.
AC prepared for the
long trip to Jackson Field in Alpine to face Sul Ross State in the final
game of the season. Hardin-Simmons had defeated Mary Hardin-Baylor for
the ASC title a week before; a win over Sul Ross would secure third
place. After 9 games, Kernek had amassed 1,382 total rushing yards.
His 154 yards-per-game and nearly 6 yards-per-carry were tops in the
conference.
The Lobos gave the Roos all they could handle. Sul
Ross erased a third quarter AC advantage, and took a lead in the 4th. A
late Kangaroo drive against a weary Lobo defense, however, proved to be
the winner. Kernek churned up huge chunks of yardage behind offensive
linemen Josh Reynolds, Justin Watson, David Gafford, Matt Walker, and
Mike Eklund. With just over three minutes to play, he found the end
zone. AC led 28-27.
The Lobos had one last gasp, but the effort
went nowhere. With help from the defensive line of Ben Northington,
John Palmer, Justynn Royal, and Duncan McCallum, AC linebackers Reed
Heim, Marvin Nash, Charles Gurley, and Kevin Cook shut down Sul Ross’s
final drive. A desperation 4th down pass fell incomplete in tight
secondary coverage by Marcus Schulz, Jason White, Landon Powell, &
Clint Burns, and the Roos took over on downs. The season ended in
Alpine, with an ASC third place finished secured and seven wins
achieved. It was the highest win total since a 1990 Roos squad that
made the NAIA playoffs.
The 2000 Roos returned to Sherman to
celebrate the end of a successful season. Later that spring in 2001,
they gathered at a house much like any AC student house. The celebrated
and planned and laughed and lived like Roos have done in Sherman for
decades. Night fell, and a couch and tv were moved to the front lawn.
But this would be no ordinary AC party viewing. This night, part of the
football team, alongside friends and family, would be watching the NFL
draft. An Austin College Kangaroo just might be a part of it.
There was a possibility that Aaron Kernek would be drafted in the later
rounds, maybe round 11 or 12. In the end, no NFL team picked Aaron
Kernek that night. But it didn’t matter. That evening, Kernek got a
phone call.
“Welcome to the Baltimore Ravens”
Aaron Kernek
learned that he would be invited to Baltimore Ravens training camp.
He’d have a shot to earn a spot on the Ravens roster. According to QB
Travis Stein, one Roo was especially helpful in ensuring Kernek was not
overlooked by NFL scouts: Mr. Gene Babb, the Dean of AC football and
the father of the NFL Scouting Combine. Babb, whose name sits on the AC
scoreboard, passed just last year.
The draft party shifted into
high celebration mode. Yes, somebody had a match. Yes, it was struck.
Yes, that $15 Army-Navy store couch went up in flames that evening in
2001, just like many a couch in Sherman before and since. But this
couch fire topped them all, for this party’s celebration was unique and
special.
A Roo was headed to the NFL.
Members/family of the 2000 Austin College Kangaroos:
Sunday 12/1: Millsaps Thursday 12/5: Hardin-Simmons / Mary Hardin-Baylor Sunday 12/8: McMurry Thursday 12/12: East Texas Baptist (AC National Championship Day) Sunday 12/15: Texas Lutheran Thursday 12/19: Louisiana College Sunday 12/22: Mississippi College Thursday 12/26: Howard Payne / Sul Ross Sunday 12/29: NFL
Saturday 12/28: NFL
New York City is the greatest city in the world.
And after September 11, 2001, the greatest city in the world was
suffering. New Yorkers turned to their neighbors, communities, fellow
citizens for healing. They also turned to their beloved sports teams.
The Yankees World Series run coincided with a return of the New York
Giants to the gridiron.
The defending NFC champion New York
Giants played their first post-9/11 game at Kansas City against the
Chiefs. The date was Sunday, September 23, 2001. There was very little
on the minds of fans in Kansas City other than the lives of those
impacted by the attacks. Fans paid tribute to America, and New York beat
Kansas City 13-3. Wearing NYPD & FDNY baseball caps in the postgame
locker room, every member of the New York Giants roster celebrated.
That roster included an Austin College Kangaroo.
Aaron Kernek had reported to the Baltimore Ravens training camp in July
of 2001. He was considered a potential substitute for injured Pro
Bowler Jamal Lewis in August, and was competing hard for a spot on the
roster of the defending Super Bowl champions. Kernek even briefly made
an appearance in the NFL documentary “Hard Knocks” (see the comments).
Week after week, Kernek survived one round of cuts after another. The
roster was finally set on Wednesday, September 5th. He had made it.
Austin College Kangaroo Aaron Kernek was signed to the Ravens practice
squad. He was on the roster when Baltimore kicked off their season
against the Chicago Bears on September 9th. The Ravens celebrated their
Super Bowl triumph before kickoff, and defeated Chicago to begin a
defense of their title.
Two days later, the world stop turning.
As New York and the nation recovered from the September 11th attacks,
Aaron Kernek was traded from Baltimore to the New York Giants practice
squad. On September 19th, the New Jersey Record reported in its “Giants
Notebook” that New York had “waived receiver Pat Woodcock and practice
team safety Kelly Herndon, replacing them with defensive end Gillis
Wilson and running back Aaron Kernek.”
The Record also reported
more somber news within its Giants Notebook: the visit by head coach Jim
Fassel to Ground Zero in Manhattan, and the thoughts of Giants RB Greg
Comella:
“Jim Fassel’s halting words and heavy pauses said as
much about his visit to the World Trade Center devastation as his
descriptions did Wednesday afternoon. The Giants coach spent much of
Monday evening in lower Manhattan, overwhelmed by the response from
rescue workers who wanted to talk with him about the Giants or pause to
pose for pictures. ‘Even with all the death and destruction, I look at
those guys and they’re doing their jobs,’ Fassel said. ‘I will never,
ever, ever feel sorry for myself in a press conference after a loss
again.’”
Kernek spent the rest of the 2001 season on the New
York Giants roster. He’s a part of the team photo. It’s an incredible
picture. Alongside the Kangaroo are a lot of familiar faces.
Quarterbacks Jesse Palmer and Kerry Collins. Hall of Fame kicker Morton
Andersen. Running back Tiki Barber. Heisman winner Ron Dayne.
Current Saints coach Sean Payton. Cornerback Jason Sehorn. Receiver
Amani Toomer. Defensive End Michael Strahan. In the team photo, Kernek
is seated next to running back Damon Washington.
The defending
NFC champion New York Giants stumbled to a 7-9 season in 2001, in part
because of poor rushing. Tiki Barber, Ron Dayne, and Damon Washington
all went down with injuries early, as NFC East contests with the
Philadelphia, Washington, and the Dallas Cowboys loomed. An October
9th, 2001 article mentioned the injury problems, and noted that Giants
Coach “Fassel could sign another running back, probably practice squad
fullback Aaron Kernek. Short of that, he remained hopeful either
Barber, Dayne, or both would get back to practice.” Just before Super
Bowl 36, the first of many won by the New England Patriots, Kernek was
signed by the Giants for a second season.
Giants training camp in
the summer of 2002 was a positive one for the Kangaroo. Meanwhile,
Barber and Dayne continued to struggle with injuries. So did rookie
Charles Stackhouse. In an August 1st article, the injuries wreaking
havoc with the Giants running game were mentioned, as was the increasing
reliance on reserves. “Aaron Kernek, Adam Wright, and Darian Barnes
are reaping the benefit, getting plenty of reps” noted a local New York
paper.
Kernek saw plenty of touches during the 2002 preseason,
just as he had one year earlier. He was in New York on Sunday, August
11th when the Giants hosted the New England Patriots at home. The
Boston Globe printed the rosters of both squads before the first game of
the 2002 season. A young Aaron Kernek was on the Giants list; a young
Tom Brady can be found on the Patriots side. Kernek saw action in the
game at the Meadowlands against Brady and the defending Super Bowl
Champions.
His appearance in the game was one of the high points of Austin College athletics.
It was also the end of the road. Kernek sustained a neck injury in the
game, which would eventually force the Giants to release him weeks
later. The Green Bay Packers had interest in the Roo after his release,
and invited Kernek to join the squad. However, Green Bay doctors would
not clear Kernek to play after examining the injury. His NFL career
was effectively over.
From Roo Quarterback Travis Stein:
“Green Bay tried to pick up Kernek [after his release from the Giants].
He had suffered a neck injury which still gives him fits to this day.
The Green Bay team doctor wouldn’t pass him. That was the year Green
Bay’s top two running backs went down and a no name third stringer had
the year of his life. That would’ve been Aaron.”
Every athlete
has a ceiling, and every athlete could probably have broken through that
ceiling with just a bit more luck. But what a ceiling for this member
of the 2000 Austin College Kangaroos. He was a member of the defending
Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens in 2001, and had seen preseason
playing time as a New York Giant in 2002. Playing time against Tom
Brady and the defending Super Bowl champs. At the Meadowlands. In New
York City. The greatest city in the world.
Now that’s quite a
ceiling. In the comments, you’ll find a clip of a Kernek touchdown run
against McMurry at Louis Calder stadium. Watch it! You’ll see why this
Roo is at the very top of the AC rushing yardage list.
One
purpose of Roo Tales is to create a little pride in our alma mater.
Years ago, someone who I had not yet met messaged me after a story. He
said the stories make me “proud to be a Roo.” Yes! Me too. That
thought has stayed with me for some time. It’s not just the history,
community, and memories. It’s the pride. The big boys in Austin and
College Station don’t need any additional pep rallies on their behalf,
but little ol’ Austin College could stand to benefit from some of that
spirit.
The appearance of Aaron Kernek in the National Football
League is obviously something to make us all proud. However, this
year’s Roo “season in review” was not about one person. It was about an
incredible team of coaches and players who put together a very special
season. Thanks to the 2000 squad for letting me tell your story. I’ve
already met a number of you, and am looking forward to meeting more at
Legends, Homecoming, or around my hometown of Austin, TX. The 2000
Austin College Kangaroos certainly make me “proud to be a Roo.”
A happy 2020 to all. We’ll pick another AC football season in December 2020 and do it all again.
Members/family of the 2000 Austin College Kangaroos:
