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Wednesday, December 8, 2010

The Legend of Staubach


Roger Staubach was one of my heroes growing up, and I must admit he still is. Staubach still maintains a mythical status at the U. S. Naval Academy, from which he graduated in 1965.

One of the legends goes like this:

Staubach was a plebe in his first summer at the U.S. Naval Academy. Like all plebes, he was expected to be unobtrusive in the presence of upperclassmen. At breakfast one Sunday, however, an upperclassman began prodding Roger. He was backup quarterback on the football team, and was well aware that soon Roger would be in competition with him. “Hey, Staubach!” he barked. “I hear you’re going to take my job away. Is that right?”

“No, sir,” replied Roger.

The upperclassman pressed the issue. “That’s strange,” he said. “I’m sure that’s what I heard.”

“What is your job, sir?” asked Roger.

“Number two quarterback,” the upperclassman announced.

“I’m not going to take your job away, sir,” Roger assured him.

The upperclassman seemed satisfied until Roger added, “It’s the starting-quarterback job that I’m going to take, sir.”

Of course, Staubach won the starting job as a sophomore and went on to win the Heisman trophy.

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