Roy Exum: What Makes Auburn Special
by Roy Exum
posted October 23, 2010
Roy Exum |
Last Saturday, only hours before Auburn and Arkansas would stage one of the most explosive football games ever seen in the Southeastern Conference, there occurred a moment that has nothing to do with football at all.
As the great sea of Orange and Blue parted to joyously proclaim its warriors as they walked solemnly to Jordan-Hare Stadium in the traditional "Tiger Walk," 13-year-old Peyton Williams tentatively reached out and got to actually touch head coach Gene Chizik and star quarterback Cam Newton in the very moment the Tigers advanced to meet rugged Arkansas.
Payton's grandmother, Betty Williams, had driven Peyton and his friend, Wesley Burns, all the way down to "The Plains" earlier in the day. They left early that morning from Boaz, the small but proud Sand Mountain town in the northern, more mountainous part of the state.
You need to understand that sometimes it's hard to even whisper "War Eagle" on Sand Mountain, since the place has had a decidedly Crimson hue since Scottsboro's legendary Pat Trammel first went to play for "The Bear" about a half-century ago.
But Auburn's faithful are a devout and hearty lot and those who haven't seen Toomer's Corner when it is draped snowy white with toilet paper, or eaten a platter of cold fried chicken off a pickup truck tailgate on a crisp afternoon in the lot next to the Coliseum, can never quite understand the magnetic draw of the place that each and every graduate will neither be able nor dare to ignore.
Auburn, as insiders know, is actually a feeling, a mystical spirit of all that is good and wonderful and magical and divine, and last Saturday, after Peyton Williams felt his body literally tremble with thrills as the swirling crowd began its pregame roar, he texted his dad a quick note, which read "just touch gene chizik and cameron newton. will never wash my hand again."
The game itself was a storybook, a wonder to behold for young Peyton and his buddy Tim. With both teams launching enough firepower for a combined 1,036 yards in offense, the shoot-out resulted in the highest-scoring game ever played in SEC history. And when the dazzling Newton sparked a late 28-point scoring spree that would all stunningly happen in less than five minutes, surely Payton felt the brush of heaven's lips as the huge JumboTron would soon flash the final, "Auburn 65, Arkansas 43!"
for a sellout crowd that also never quit its roar.
Oh, glory, even grandmother Betty got swept up in the wild melee. It was the greatest night of young Peyton's life, no doubt, or at least we hope it was. Yu see, when they finally headed for home, this about 2:30 on Sunday morning, "Miss Betty" lost control of the car on U.S 280.
According to Highway Patrol reports, the car drifted and when she, surely exhausted after herding Peyton and Wesley all day long, swerved back onto the roadway she over-compensated, then losing control of her 2005 Ford Focus and a horrifying wreck occured.
Peyton, the young teenager who swore he would never wash his hand, apparently did not have his seat belt fastened and was thrown from the car. The officer's report stated he died instantly. Betty and Wesley were whisked to East Alabama Medical Center, where both were treated and soon released, but the story doesn't stop there. Not in Auburn.
By mid-afternoon on Sunday, after the dreadful news swept across the campus, Peyton's daddy got an immediate email from the game's now-heartsick star, quarterback Cam Newton, during the tremendous outpouring of sorrow. Gene Chizik, the coach, had a personal note hand-delivered to the Williams family in Boaz.
It was also learned that Peyton had aspirations of perhaps swimming on the AU team so among the children from Boaz Middle School who came hurrying with condolences, there appeared Auburn head swim coach Brett Hawke with his wife, bearing an Auburn swim team pullover and a cap, both bearing the embroidery, "Peyton Williams." An assistant athletic director from the university attended the funeral that was held earlier this week.
Allen Johnson, the principal at Boaz Middle, acknowledged, "It's bad. So many of my teachers have children that are the same age as Peyton and grew up with him. It's almost like losing one of their own. Peyton was a strong Christian young man and so full of life. He loved his friends, his family and his church. He was blessed to grow up in the family he did."
After all, one of the principal's closest friends is Peyton's father, Patrick, who teaches at the school and is the basketball coach at the high school. "We are going to make it through this. We're a close-knit bunch," Allen told the local newspaper, The Sand Mountain Reporter.
The people of Auburn will make it through, too, but never lose sight of the fact when that car flipped on Highway 280, young Peyton was also a member of a bigger family and I'll bet a dime to your doughnut that when he entered heaven's Gate, the Master leaned to gently say, "War Eagle."
That's what makes Auburn so very special. And tomorrow, on what would have been young Peyton's 14th birthday, I'll cherish that I can recognize such a blessing.
royexum@aol.com |
