Sunday, October 19, 2008
Sports, "Hunt's Grunts"
No Stalling This Love
Remembering John Mark Stallings
By Hunt Archbold
“Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer! Give ‘em hell Alabama!’’ These days you don’t even have to be a casual fan of college football to know that Bama’s back. That’s because our city is full of those who view the world through crimson-colored glasses this time of year, and there’s a “Roll Tide!” being hollered every other minute or so. And while the red elephants have been trampling the opposition this season, when I think of Alabama this fall, I find myself thinking of a man named Stallings.
Many seasons ago, not long after Gene Stallings had returned to Tuscaloosa to help return Bama football to its past glory, I was assigned the Alabama beat writer for a local newspaper. I’ll never forget our first meeting in what was once Bear Bryant’s office, overlooking the team’s practice fields. I was working on some spring practice stories, and after I finished my round of necessary questions, I went into a long and probing inquiry with Stallings about the January 1981 playoff game between the Atlanta Falcons and the Dallas Cowboys.
A longtime Dallas assistant, Stallings was on the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium sidelines that brutally cold Sunday, and I wanted the inside scoop on exactly what led to Atlanta’s final-quarter meltdown and the Cowboys’ improbable comeback victory. Stallings gave me all the answers I asked for and more. And I think it must have amused him, or maybe he couldn’t remember my name at first, because for a period of time after that, in post-practice press gatherings, he would refer to me as “Falcon” with a chuckle, or say, “What, no questions about the Falcons?” As a ball coach, he was gruff and tough and wasn’t afraid to bark at anyone if he felt justified, and that came from having played for and coached under the legendary Bryant. But Stallings was also a man with as soft and caring a heart as you could ever find, and that came as a result of knowing someone else.
Whether you like her or not, I think you could say something similar about vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Certainly, she’s a polarizing figure with her supporters and detractors. She talks a tough game about helping working families, the wars America is fighting and Barack Obama’s past association with Bill Ayers. And there’s no doubt that she’s been inciting people across the country against Obama as a guy who “isn’t like them.” Yet when the subject comes around to her son Trig, who was born with Down syndrome seven months ago, her guard goes down and the parent in her comes through. Rightly or wrongly, she’s been criticized for utilizing her children as props in the campaign, but there’s no denying her love for her special needs child.
I don’t have any children yet, but when I look around and view how this world operates today, I question whether it’s fair to even bring a child into such madness. Given that there are already many children out there who are in need of a good home, there seems to be little reason to bring more into the world. Merely wanting children to have your own genes seems narcissistic and irrational. And yet last week, my friend Alfred posted the following online about his offspring:
“Is there anything that can possibly be more adored than a child? I mean more completely, more fully, more exclusively, more unconditionally. Seems sappy, I know. But I’m amazed by how full and proud and polished I feel when I think of my kids. … I feel I’ve done what was intended for me to do with this life every time I look at them.”
When I think of Alabama football this fall, it’s not Gene Stallings that comes to mind; it’s his son, John Mark, the one whom his father says was his hero. Like Trig Palin, “Johnny” was born with Down syndrome. Like his dad, Johnny would often blurt out “Falcon’’ when he would see me around the Alabama football complex. It was very touching. Johnny’s love shined on everyone. And he was loved in return, so much so that the school named its equipment room in his honor three years ago. He couldn’t count to 10, but he touched the lives of countless people. As UA athletics director Mal Moore recently put it, “for someone who never played a game or coached a game, I think John Mark may have touched more Alabama fans than any other person ever did.’’
Johnny died on Aug. 2 at the age of 46 of congestive heart failure, and the resulting outpouring of love from the Alabama football community has been immense. But no one summed up John Mark Stallings better than his father, who commented in depth about his son for the first time earlier this month. Said Gene: “Johnny saw the best in everybody.’’
That’s a lesson we all could learn.
Happy times … and I’m sure Johnny and Bear are enjoying this season together.
SP