ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, October 1, 1996 TAG: 9610010041
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE ELLERBROCK
AS SUBSTITUTE chaplain for the Virginia Tech football team at its first game against the University of Akron, I met some impressive people. Though I accepted the invitation with some skepticism about what I might experience, I found the players and coaches to be wonderful people and excellent representatives of the university community. Here's some of the insight I gained over three days in the bus, airplane, hotel and locker room that you seldom see or hear in the media.
The team is painfully aware of the harm done by a few players and all are hurting from the misdeeds of a few. They dress and behave nicely. They told me about their lives: They study hard; one starter said he has never missed church in his life; another starter wearing his Tech football jacket played the piano in the lobby of the hotel for the public and also plays classical guitar; they are proud of their parents, siblings and girlfriends, and introduced me to them; they help provide Christmas gifts to needy families. These are good people. The pilot said it was the most well-behaved team ever among the hundreds he has flown. According to President Paul Torgersen, the Sugar Bowl hotel in New Orleans had the same reaction.
One coach got the Hokie Bird to sign autographs for a bunch of kids. At one meal, a coach overheard a senior order a freshman to get him some dessert and reprimanded the senior loudly and clearly that Tech doesn't do that kind of stuff. During the game, one coach noticed I was without a raincoat and took the time to find me one. At halftime, with the score tied, one coach commented to me, "Helluva a way to make a living!" I was impressed that, during the heat of the action, he could maintain perspective and reflect on the bigger picture. When someone from either team got injured, our players and coaches reacted with compassion and no one was pressured to re-enter the game.
In one dramatic moment, Coach Beamer reminded the players of their moral responsibilities to themselves, the team, university and others. And he reiterated, in no uncertain terms, his commitment to enforce those values at any cost. I was impressed. Here was a person - paid a great deal of money to win football games - standing up for what is right, regardless of the consequences. I believe Beamer meant what he said, and his actions before and since that game have proved it true. It was a privileged experience in my life. I wish everyone who cares could have been there.
Mike Ellerbrock of Blacksburg is deacon at St. Mary's/Newman Catholic Community and associate professor of agricultural and applied economics at Virginia Tech.
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