What It Means to Love the Game

Came across a powerful testimony to what it means to "love the game."

“I had the opportunity in my life to know Bear Bryant. He had great teams and everywhere he ever was, there was a tremendous amount of discipline that took place. They played hard for this man. When he took the job at Texas A&M they had not won a game the year before — they were 0-10.

They had practiced three weeks and nothing was happening; he wasn’t pleased with the response of his team. He had heard there was an old army barracks about 60 miles north of College Station that had been abandoned after World War II and he made arrangements to lease it. He pulled seven buses up and they loaded 123 football players on these buses.

In mid-August - in a Texas desert, he took them to this camp to find out if they really loved football and wanted to be players. 123 football players started practicing twice a day and it was 110 degrees in the shade. He practiced them in the middle of the morning and in the middle of the afternoon when it was hottest. He told me, ‘I could never do again what I did there,’ it was inhuman. They quit in droves. He was trying to find eleven who would stand up and say, ‘I love it, I love it more than anything else.’

An All-Conference center walked in and said, ‘Coach, I don’t love it, I want to pack it in.’ He gave it up as a senior. After six weeks in the desert it was time to return to campus. Ladies and gentlemen, they only needed one bus that day. Only 27 young men out 123 climbed on to that bus. The rest had packed it in.

Bear Bryant stood in front of them and I know some of them. Some have told me it was the greatest thing they have ever done in their lifetime. One died not long ago and there was an article in the Atlanta paper that mentioned his name and said he was one of the 27 survivors in the desert of Texas. They are legendary. Bryant stood in front of them on the bus that day and said, ‘I love you. I want you to know that. I will to the day I die. You can always come to me.’ He hired them, he got them jobs. It was incredible. He loved them. They created something. They created a foundation, a beginning, and three years later they won the National Championship. Just because 27 said ‘I love it, I am willing to discipline myself totally to make it happen. You can if you think you can!”

As told by former LSU Athletic Director Joe Dean

As a footnote to this story, the movie "The Junction Boys" was based on the above incident. And for those of you who don't know who Bear Bryant is...ask Olivia...she knows. Also, you probably saw his character in Forrest Gump.

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