The Last Chapter On Football 2007
Jim Amidon — Saturday night I had the pleasure to attend the banquet honoring the 2007 Wabash football team, which completed the season with an 11-2 record and won a third straight North Coast Athletic Conference championship. At a school where football has been played for 120 years, this past season was one of the all-time greats.
It was not, however, the most dominant team in Wabash history. The Little Giants didn’t really steam-roll the competition; they had their share of nail-biting victories and close calls. They had a real blue-collar work ethic, never getting too high after victory or low when things didn’t go well.
I had a chance to address the team at the banquet, and I told the players, coaches, and their families that I thought the 2007 season was one of the most important seasons ever played at Wabash.
You see, at Wabash, we imagine that participating in intercollegiate athletics goes far, far beyond statistics and wins and losses. We see sports as integral to the development of the whole person. We build on the Greek model of “Sound Mind, Sound Body” and ask our athletes to compete with the objective of achieving the College’s mission.
We see what happens on the playing field as utterly important to our players’ development as critical thinkers, responsible citizens, and leaders as they work toward a goal of becoming men of impact in all aspects of their lives.
I reminded the players that when offensive linemen were dropping like flies in training camp; when starting defensive players were breaking and dislocating bones in a daily effort to keep the training room hopping, it might have been easy to say, “We can’t win the conference. We can’t make the playoffs.”
When All-American quarterback Dustin Huff was carted off the field late in the first game, it would have been easy for the team to say, “Aw, heck with it. Our goals are lost. There’s no way.”
When one of their classmates and fraternity brothers died in a tragic accident, the football players rallied around those who felt his loss most closely. They dedicated themselves to Patrick Woehnker’s memory and to the men who loved him.
I attribute the success of the team to the seniors, who in August climbed Pike’s Peak in record time. Interestingly, the seniors almost didn’t make the summit, let alone set the record.
Guys were hurting, really hurting. They couldn’t breathe. Their bodies ached. Their legs cramped and their heads spun in the high altitude.
But one by one, they picked each other up. Different guys took turns taking the lead and others took the important responsibility of pulling up the rear, making sure no man was left behind.
Every single senior made the summit and they set the record, and they did so because they gave themselves over to their teammates.
That event was really a harbinger of things to come. Throughout the 2007 season, there were obstacles that seemed far too large to overcome, but each time a different Little Giant stepped up. Someone led and others followed. Someone was the cheerleader and someone else got busy cracking concrete with the sledgehammer.
The Little Giants persevered through so many hardships and they emerged as champions — champions of the North Coast Athletic Conference and champions of our hearts.
Those of us who don’t compete, who lived vicariously through the 110 players on the team this past autumn, are grateful to have shared in both their hardships and successes.
So that’s what I mean when I say it was, perhaps, the most important season in Wabash football history. The team created a legend. The players taught us all so much about what it takes to overcome, to persevere, to reach higher than you ever imagined you could, and they did all of those things with class, integrity, and pride.
All of us in this community who love Wabash football are grateful to the Little Giants for taking us along for the ride.