As Dad put it, it's the end of an era at the U.S. Air Force Academy, as well as in college football as a whole. Fisher DeBerry, the head coach of the Fightin' Falcons football team for the past 23 years, has resigned. Word is that he's being forced out. If true, that's pretty sad. Coach DeBerry says he's leaving for his family. I hope that's the case. Fisher was the epitome of class in his time at the Academy.
Sure, some people will be quick to point out two dark spots on his record, both coming within the past two years. In 2004, as the Academy was embroiled in controversy over religious descrimination, DeBerry was asked to remove a banner from the locker room that read, "I am a Christian first and last...I am a member of Team Jesus Christ."
The next season saw the controvery continue as Fisher caught a great deal of flak for saying that Air Force didn't have enough "Afro American" players, that there weren't enough athletes on the team to compete. Probably not the smartest thing to have said publicly, but just look around in the major professional sports (especially the NBA and NFL). Blacks are the minority in the population overall, but are much more prevalent in the highest levels of athletics. DeBerry was not being racist, merely making an observation; one, I might add, that most people that watch sports have probably made at one time or another.
Coach DeBerry represented the Academy with grace, humility, and honesty, and it's that honesty that got him in trouble. Sure, Air Force football has been struggling in recent years, but I think Fisher might have become a victim of his own success. He built the program to heights never seen before, and when the team wasn't living up to the lofty standards that he established, he thought it time to move on.
Fisher DeBerry resigns at a time when he had the third-longest head coaching regime among Division I active coaches, behind only Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden. Academy athletic director Hans Meuh hopes to have a replacement named by the holidays. I can only hope that he's half the man Fisher is.
1 comment:
Nice tribute to a well deserving individual. Interesting how the incidents that created a stir were both based in honesty. It bothers me how men of his generation get in hot water for calling things the way they see them. I hope they name the stadium or field after him. Go Falcons!
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