A GREAT DAY OF MEMORIES
I’ll begin this story on August 13, 1989. I had gone back to college and was out of school for the summer. We had just had our third child Kaleb and decided to spend the summer with Lori’s parents in Chula Vista, California. In February Jerry Jones had bought the Dallas Cowboys and fired Tom Landry. He hired a new coach, Jimmy Johnson to head my beloved Dallas Cowboys. As it turned out the first game that would be played under Johnson’s leadership would be in San Diego against the Chargers in Jack Murphy Stadium.
My oldest son TJ was only 5 years old and I decided the chance to take him to a Cowboys game in San Diego was too good to pass up. The two of us headed to Jack Murphy Stadium, parked the car and walked to the stadium with no tickets, intending to buy them there. There was a lot of buzz in the press all across the nation, about the coach who had succeeded one of the most iconic coaches in history. I had no expectation we would get good seats. As we were headed to the box office I saw a blonde guy that looked like Crocodile Dundee, (the movie was only 3 years old) standing with two tickets in his hand. I ask if he was selling the tickets and was a little surprised that he had a thick Australian accent. He said: “I was waiting for me mates, but it doesn’t look like they are going to show, here, take ’em.” And that is how it started. We found our seats on the lower level at the fifty yard line, in the shade.
The Cowboys won that game 20 to 3 but would only win one regular season that year against the Washington Redskins. It was a terrible season but TJ was hooked as a fan. We endured another losing season in 1990 (7-9), then the next year they won a wildcard spot in the playoffs, beat the Bears but lost to the Lions.
In 1992 TJ was still only 7 years old and a staunch Cowboys fan. The names on the roster are now Iconic but then they weren’t so much. Names like Aikman, Smith, Ivin, Johnston, Novacek and Bates are now as familiar as family members. Among that team was a standout special teams player named Kenny (The Shark) Gant. Whenever he would make a big play “The Shark” would put his hand on his helmet like a shark fin and a legend was born. Nobody expected the Cowboys to win the Super Bowl that year but they did. TJ and I were elated and I took him to the victory parade up Commerce Street in Dallas to celebrate.
Now I’ll fast forward to yesterday. One of my best friends, Sammy Walker had invited TJ and I to play in the Olympian/Paralympian Golf Invitational Golf Tournament at Stonebriar Country Club in Frisco. Sammy is a former Olympian and in his youth was one of the strongest men in the world. There are a lot of other people who count Sammy as one of their best friends. His tournament attracts not only Olympians but political leaders, film stars and professional athletes like. Yesterday as we sat in our golf cart ready to start TJ said: “Look two carts down.” I looked but couldn’t figure out what he was talking about. He said: “That’s Kenny Gant.”
Without hesitation I said: “Let’s get a picture with him.” We got out of the cart to meet a man who had a golf shirt with sharks all over it. He even had sharks on his socks. We talked to him and asked if he would take a picture with us and he gladly agreed to. As we were getting ready TJ said: “Thank you so much, this is a memory from my childhood.” Without missing a beat “The Shark” said: “Well if this is a memory from your childhood, let’s do it right.” He took something off of his finger and handed it to TJ. My son almost melted. It was Kenny’s ring from Superbowl XXVII. TJ put the ring on his finger and took the picture.
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