The year 2000 came in like a lamb out like a lion. Global fears of
Y2K meltdown proved to be dramatically overblown in the first month, and
the closest election in American history threatened the social fabric
of the country in the last month. The country celebrated the longest
economic expansion in its history in 2000, only recently surpassed by
the current expansion which began in 2009. In many ways, the year 2000
was an idyllic period. It was a brief era after the struggles of the
Cold War and before the emergence of new, 21st century problems.
2000? It was a pretty good year.
Also, Austin College had a pretty awesome football team in 2000.
The Kangaroos of Coach David Norman
posted seven wins in 2000 and finished third in the powerful American
Southwest Conference (ASC). 2000 ASC champion Hardin Simmons would make
a run at a D3 national title that year, and 2000 ASC runner up Mary
Hardin Baylor was just beginning a run of dominance which continues
today. Austin College played both schools competitively while posting
six wins in a row along the way.
Mississippi College had earned a
D2 national championship back in 1989, and an ASC Conference
championship in 1997. The freshmen on that 1997 team were seniors when
Norman’s Kangaroos traveled to Clinton, MS for an ASC matchup.
Mississippi College held a 21-point lead in the 4th quarter and looked
to have the game on ice. But the never-say-die 2000 Roos refused to
quit, and engineered one of the most dramatic comebacks in Roo football
history.
The 2000 team was led by the rushing of Aaron Kernek.
One of the best athletes to ever wear the uniform, Kernek would finish
his senior season of 2000 as the conference’s leading rusher. He wasn’t
done. The Roo running back then signed with the Baltimore Ravens and
the New York Giants practice squads during the 2001 season, one year
after both teams had faced each other in the Super Bowl. While many
Roos have flirted with the professional ranks over the past 50 years,
only Kernek has actually made an NFL roster.
The HBO series “Hard
Knocks” follows the training camp fortunes of an NFL team each season.
In 2019, that team was the Oakland Raiders. The show has been around
since 2001, when it first profiled members of the defending Super Bowl
Champion Baltimore Ravens. In Episode 3 at the 33:55 mark, rookies
Kenny Jackson (Nevada-Reno) and Aaron Kernek (Austin College) take a
break from camp to travel to Philly, get a cheesesteak, and check out
the Liberty Bell. See the comments.
In 2016, we revisited Austin
College’s 1981 national championship season. In 2017, we went back to
1988 and Coach Mel Tjeerdsma’s TIAA conference title in Sherman. In
2018, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the 1968 Roos and their one
loss season at the hands of a famous Dallas Cowboy from America’s team.
In 2019, we’ll head back to 2000…..the year when AC was a dangerous
opponent in one of the top D3 conferences in the country. The 1988 and
1968 teams each won 7 games in a row, and the 2000 team nearly matched
it.
I’ve been collaborating over the summer with Travis Stein, AC
Quarterback in 2000. Travis has sent me a good amount of stories,
clippings, and images from that season. More stuff is requested from
his teammates; send me what you got 2000 Roos! Or, share this fall as
we go through the season. I’m also working to FB friend as many 2000
Roos as possible. Below is a tentative list; please add those I am
missing:
Many from the 2000 Roo football team will be in Sherman for Legends
2019, as teammate Marcus Schulz will be honored with the Kedric Couch
Alumni Coach of the Year award. I’ll be there too. Looking forward to
meeting those guys and hearing stories of their great season.
The
2000 team means a lot to me personally. I spent the 1990s on the east
coast, and felt like I’d been on the road for dang near all my life. I
woke up one morning on a cold Boston day in 1999 and realized it was
time to go home. I made my way home to Texas, met Dianne, started a
family, and began the career I still enjoy today. I also caught an
Austin College football game that year. A group of us headed to Seguin
from Austin and watched Norman and the 2000 Roos defeat Texas Lutheran
on a beautiful fall day.
George says it best. In the year Y2K, it was a great time to be somewhere down in Texas.
The 2000 AC football season will be told this fall. See y’all at Legends.
The
defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens opened up the 2001
season at home against the Chicago Bears. The date was Sunday,
September 9, 2001. There was very little on the minds of fans in
Baltimore other than the celebration of the organization’s first title.
The Lombardi trophy was presented to owner Art Modell, and Baltimore
beat Chicago 17-6. Every member of the Baltimore Ravens roster
celebrated.
That roster included an Austin College Kangaroo.
Aaron Kernek was a member of the Baltimore Ravens practice squad when
the 2001 season kicked off on September 9th. The Chicago Tribune
printed the Ravens roster that Sunday; Kernek was listed at #46,
alongside veterans such as TE Shannon Sharpe. Kernek was a member of
the 2000 Austin College football team which won 7 games, competed for an
ASC conference title, and pulled off the greatest comeback in AC
history.
The next day was September 10th. I picked up my fiancé
Dianne at the University of Texas Tower, and we headed home. Later that
evening, I made my way to Wayne Whitmire’s
place, where we watched a little Monday Night Football. The New York
Giants were in Denver, and the Broncos won a rather uneventful game. I
headed back home again, unaware that normalcy would soon end.
The
Giants were unaware as well. After the defeat, New York boarded an
overnight flight and landed at Newark Airport just after dawn. As the
team deplaned at Newark, United Airlines Flight 93 was preparing to
board in the same airport. That flight was scheduled to arrive in San
Francisco. Instead, it ended in a Pennsylvania field.
“The gate next to where we landed was the flight that went and crashed in Pennsylvania.”
– Ernie Accorsi, NY Giants General Manager
“And here we are walking out of an airport, and you realized that we were passing the guys who did this.”
– Michael Strahan, Giants DE
“It’s haunting to realize that you saw people walking by you that would never take another breath.”
– Tiki Barber, Giants RB
I dropped off Dianne
at the UT Tower that morning, where she watched events unfold along
with the rest of us. Dianne received an email that morning from her
Director via University of Texas President Larry Faulkner; anyone in the
Tower who felt uncomfortable should feel free to vacate, they said. We
both spent that afternoon at home glued to scenes coming out of New
York City.
New York City is the greatest city in the world.
After 9/11, all Americans were New Yorkers. We felt their pain, and we
were inspired by the resiliency of the community in the Big Apple. The
city’s residents banded around its sports teams for healing. One of
those teams was the New York Giants. All NFL games were cancelled on
Sunday 9/16 in the wake of the tragedy; their resumption one week later
was a national opportunity for recovery.
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 been traded from Baltimore to the New York Giants
practice squad the week after 9/11. 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.’”
“’We’ll go from feeling somber,
to reflecting and thinking about the tragedy, to hopefully trying to
focus on some of the good during the national anthem, on the recovery
effort, and the American spirit,’ Comella said.”
Ethnic and
religious extremists are the natural enemy of the global community.
9/11 is a day we’d like to forget, but we cannot nor should not.
Instead, it’s a reminder that those of us who reject this hostility
should stand tall with open and inclusive arms. In America and around
the world, we should all be on the same humanist roster.
You better believe that roster is gonna include a whole bunch of Austin College Kangaroos.
Aaron Kernek and the Austin College Kangaroos had quite a campaign back
in the year 2000. Their season should be celebrated, and it will be.
Roo Tales likes to look back at one AC football season every year; we’ll
do so for the 2000 squad this fall. I’m having fun collecting
newspaper clippings, and am excited to start writing. I’m also hopeful
that the members of the squad will provide lots of color commentary
alongside the play-by-play. See you this fall 2000 Roos.
The 2019 AC football team recently concluded a dramatically improved
season. The Roos more than doubled their win total, and defeated
nationally ranked Centre College at home. Senior QB Colt Collins
broke Bo Miller’s 60-year old records for career passing and
all-purpose yards. Aaron Kernek’s career rushing record at AC is safe
for now, however. Kernek was a member of the 2000 AC football team.
The five wins earned by AC were nearly more. In two losing contests,
the Roos were tied in the fourth quarter. With a few lucky bounces of
the football, the 2019 squad could very well have notched a total of
seven wins this year. 7 wins? That’s the number earned by the 2000 AC
football team.
It’s becoming something of a tradition. Every
December, we tell the story of a Roo football season from the past. We
kicked off this venture in 2016 with the best team of them all: the
1981 AC national championship squad. We followed in 2017 by reliving
the season of the 1988 TIAA conference champions. Last year the
nationally ranked 1968 squad was celebrated on their 50th anniversary.
This December, we’ll go back to the year 2000. The fightin’ AC Roos of David Norman
finished 3rd in the powerful American Southwest Conference (ASC),
fought every opponent for four quarters, and secured one of the greatest
comebacks in school history. Mississippi College earned a D2 National
Championship in 1989, and a D3 ASC championship in 1997. The Choctaws
held a 21-point second half lead in Mississippi in 2000, but watched as
the Roos slowly clawed all the way back. An AC field goal as time
expired sealed a comeback win for the ages. Next time I’m driving by
Clinton, MS, I plan on taking a pit stop at Robinson-Hale stadium to
salute.
Congratulations to the 2019 squad on an exciting season. It was a thrill to call a game once again with Kirk Hughes.
Kirk and I have been watching a lot of AC football over the past few
years. We both know that while the Roos may win some and lose some
along the way, there’s never any lack of discipline or quit with this
bunch. Looking forward to 2020.
I’m busy writing Kirk Hughes
style play-by-play for the 2000 season story, and am looking forward to
the month of December. I’ll need color commentary help though from
members of the 2000 team. Only those Roos on the squad know the “rest
of the story.” Not too late to send me articles & photos if you’ve
got them, and please help me track down other 2000 Roos not listed
below. Thank you in advance.
Members/family of the 2000 Austin College Kangaroos:
The story of the 2000 season kicks off in December on the following schedule:
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
See you then.
It’s Thanksgiving weekend, which means football. Drew Brees and the
New Orleans Saints play tonight. Tom Brady and the New England Patriots
play this Sunday. Happy Thanksgiving everybody.
Sunday is also
December 1st, the day we kick off the story of the 2000 Austin College
Kangaroo football team. The last chapter will be posted on Sunday,
December 29th. That story will be told throughout the month of December
on the following schedule:
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
Drew Brees and Tom Brady are arguably the two best quarterbacks to ever
play the game of football. On the other hand, the 2000 Austin College
Kangaroos were just a small, D3 football team in north Texas. Now why
on earth would I put those two together?
You ever see the movie
“Fools Rush In?” There’s that one scene where the preacher looks at
Matthew Perry’s character and says “You look lost. There are signs
everywhere to help you find your way.” There are ALWAYS Roo ties. You
just have to see the signs.
Drew Brees and Tom Brady are perhaps
the best to ever play the game. They are both still active, and sit at
#1 & #2 in career passing yards. Brees is #1, having thrown for
just over 76,000 yards. Brady is at #2, with nearly 74,000 yards. No
other active player is anywhere close to these numbers. Their yardage
records are locked in for a generation. But there’s more.
Peyton
Manning’s career touchdown passing record of 539 may just fall this
year. Tom Brady is at #2 with 532 TDs; Brees is right behind him at
531. At their current paces, Brady and Brees are both projected to
catch Manning’s record on Sunday, December 29th, the final weekend of
the 2019 season. Why, that’s awfully convenient. Sunday, December 29th
is the final chapter of the story about the 2000 Austin College
Kangaroos. We’ll get to watch Brees & Brady chase the record as we
tell this Roo story.
So again, you’re thinking. The Toms & Drews. The 2000 Roos. What’s the point? I don’t get it.
You look lost. There are signs everywhere to help you find your way.
Before he was a future Hall of Fame quarterback for New Orleans, Drew
Brees was a high school QB in Texas. He was a starter for the 1995
Austin Westlake Chaparrals, a school at that time looking for its first
state title. Brees and the Chaps jumped out to a 4-0 record in 1995,
but had a pivotal district battle in week #5. At historic House Park in
Austin, Westlake met the 4-0 Austin High Maroons for first place in the
district race. The Maroons had a solid QB of their own:
2000 Austin College quarterback Travis Stein.
Brees & Westlake defeated Stein & AHS that evening, and were on
their way towards a district championship and playoff appearance. One
year later, Brees and the Chaps completed a perfect season and brought
home the first (and still only) state title for Austin Westlake high
school. A great photo of Stein & Brees was taken at House Park
immediately after the 1995 game. See the comments. Both Travis &
Drew had a lot more hair back then.
Oh, but we ain’t done.
A young Tom Brady took over for injured veteran Drew Bledsoe in 2001,
and led New England to its first Super Bowl championship. Brady’s
performance in Super Bowl 36 was legendary. With the score tied, New
England had the ball on their own 17 with no timeouts and just 1:30
left. Instead of playing for OT, Brady led the Pats down the field for
title winning field goal on the last play of the game. The birth of the
Brady legend was born.
Brady’s next game was the first
pre-season contest of the 2002 season. The Patriots were in New York to
kick off their title defense against the Giants. The Boston Globe
previewed the Patriots season, and published a roster of both teams for
the nationally televised broadcast. On the Patriots? #12 Tom Brady,
author of the dramatic Super Bowl victory. On the Giants?
2000 Austin College running back Aaron Kernek.
Austin College’s all-time leading rusher Aaron Kernek was able to
secure spots on NFL rosters during the 2001 and 2002 seasons. As a
Baltimore Raven in 2001, Kernek got plenty of touches in a number of
preseason games; Stein was in attendance for one of them. The Giants
were so impressed that New York acquired Kernek from Baltimore for the
2002 season. For those of us who are familiar with the modesty of AC
football, his presence on an NFL roster alongside Tom Brady is nothing
short of phenomenal. Brady was 7-for-11 and 104 yards in a loss to
Kernek’s Giants. See the comments for the roster.
Brees and
Brady were at it again last week. Brees led the Saints on a last minute
drive to secure a three point win on the game’s final play. That
sounds an awful lot like Stein’s performance against Mississippi College
in 2000; you’ll want to check out that chapter on 12/22. Brady threw
for 190 yards and a touchdown in a win over Dallas; Cowboys fans were
not happy with the play calling. Go back and look at that 2002
Brady/Kernek roster in the comments again. Kernek’s teammate in 2002?
QB Jason Garrett.
Who do I want to see in the Super Bowl this
year? Well before I didn’t really have a dog in this hunt. But now? I
kinda wanna see New England & New Orleans go toe to toe. I can’t
think of any better way to pay tribute to the 2000 Austin College
Kangaroos in January, after we’ve told their story in December. We’ll
update the 2019 NFL Career Passing Touchdowns race on every 2000 Roos
chapter as we make our way towards the end of the regular season on
December 29th:
NFL Career Passing TDs as of November 28th: Peyton Manning: 539 Kernek’s buddy Tom Brady: 532 Stein’s buddy Drew Brees: 531
Brees & Stein. Brady & Kernek. 2000 Roos and American
football. Austin College & the world. After hearing these words,
you look confused. You look lost. But there are signs everywhere to
help you find your way. You just need to see the signs.
The story of the 2000 Roos kicks off this Sunday, December 1st. See you then, and Happy Thanksgiving everybody.
Members/family of the 2000 Austin College Kangaroos:
