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Notes, Quotes and Slants
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Pirate
Notebook No. 242
Friday, May 27, 2005
By Denny O'Brien |
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Garrard worthy of
first-ballot induction
©2005 Bonesville.net
I sometimes overhear my older
colleagues discussing former East Carolina football greats with whom I am
vaguely familiar through black-and-white photos and statistics in the media
guide.
Their names emerge most often in press box debates over whose legacies are
most deserving of enshrinement in the Pirates' athletics Hall of Fame.
Because I know these purple-to-the-core warriors primarily as names and
numbers, my contributions in those conversations are minimal.
In fact, my knee-jerk reaction in such situations is to reach deep into my
archive of East Carolina football memories and propose a few names whose
storied careers will no doubt be represented one day in the Hall.
Junior Smith, Troy Smith, and Marcus Crandell are a trio of names that
immediately come to mind. They are but a small sample of men whose
accomplishments in purple and gold have made a permanent deposit in my
memory bank of Pirate football.
With Purple Heaven's gates now open for the annual discussion about upcoming
inductions, I can't help but fast forward to the 2011 class and question if
ECU's flagship player from its most successful era will be rightfully
honored with a first-ballot enshrinement.
Based solely on how ECU has treated some of its most decorated alums, I'm
guessing he won't. David Garrard may be forced to wait until his physique
has completed its metamorphosis from the well-chiseled frame he now sports
to the one often carried by athletes whose careers have vanished into the
twilight.
Former quarterback Jeff Blake was an exception to that unwritten rule (he
has been elected to the Hall, but not yet installed), and rightfully so
considering the key role he played in escorting East Carolina from relative
obscurity into the spotlight of major college sports. Though Blake's career
essentially was compressed into that magical 1991 season, he made more of an
impact in one year than most make in a career.
But where Blake penciled the Pirates onto the college football map, Garrard
applied the permanent ink. A starter for nearly four years, he not only
upheld the tradition of outstanding East Carolina quarterbacks, he set the
new standard by which future successors would be measured.
Garrard was one of those rare talents whose skills were spread evenly
between his rocket right arm and powerful legs. In the era of the mobile
quarterback, he was one of few who was adept enough with both to beat good
opponents using only one dimension.
That memorable 1999 comeback victory over No. 9 Miami showcased the
precision of a right arm strong enough to carry the burden of an entire
region that was barely a week removed from this state's biggest natural
disaster. Against West Virginia and N.C. State that same year, it was his
tree trunk-sized legs that towed the Pirate ship to victory.
There are other examples throughout his career that
reinforce this
point: No quarterback — make that no player — engineered more victories
over high-profile opponents, or experienced more pressure as a result.
Just as compelling as the accomplishments he made on the field is the
difficult path the "Beer Truck" traveled. There couldn't be a better
personification of that us-against-the-world mantra that has become East
Carolina's motivational theme.
Though a high school star under center, Garrard was told by nearly every
Division I program that his future was at tight end. And when suitors
visited his home, they were greeted by the siblings who raised him after his
mother lost her bout with cancer.
To understate his career, Garrard had it all. He had the victories and
records, gave East Carolina the type of exposure over an extended period
that it had never experienced, and fully embodied the essence of what it
meant to wear the purple headgear.
Yet for reasons still unexplained, Garrard's No. 9 can still be spotted each
fall Saturday on the back of a current Pirate who couldn't possibly live up
to the legacy that was created from 1998-2001. And since appealing for a
jersey retirement likely is a wasted effort — ECU doesn't visibly honor
former players — I'll settle for a first-ballot election to the Hall of
Fame.
None of this is meant as a slight to the many figures whose contributions to
ECU athletics are deserving of enshrinement in the school's Hall. Many
former student-athletes, coaches, administrators, and influential
journalists have played a key role in those uphill battles in which East
Carolina emerged victorious despite the longest of odds.
Those battles have occurred on the field, in board rooms, in the
legislature, and within the media, and each is equally significant to ECU's
ascension from an ambitious lower-level program to the major Division I
ranks.
But when it boils down to the question of who shattered the most records,
ushered ECU into more households and gave it the most focus in water cooler
conversations, for me the answer couldn't be more clear. That's why anything
less than a first-ballot induction for Garrard would bring into question the Hall's
selection process.
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02/23/2007 02:00:00 AM |
