Published: October 31, 2009 09:09 pm      

’89 title team attendees preach brotherhood

’Walter Ransom lost his dad while he was at Navarro. He found a father figure, and a team full of brothers.

The running back from Boyd was one of 12 players back in Corsicana Saturday as the 1989 national championship team was honored at halftime of the No. 2 Bulldogs’ 23-21 win over No. 1 Blinn.

The theme amongst them all was brotherhood.

“We come together, see each other again, and it’s like a big family,” Ransom said. “... Coach (Bob) McElroy was like a father to me. I still have my (real) brothers, but this was my new family.”

McElroy and assistant coach Tony Hensley were the only members of the staff on hand, and McElroy said it was “a wonderful, wonderful day.”

“It’s been marvelous,” he added. “... There has been lots of reminiscing about games, about practices, about what happened in dorms.”

These days, the offensive players on that team can laugh about practices. It was a different case that year, as the team posted four shutouts and held 10 opponents to less than 300 yards rushing ... all year.

“Shhh ...,” Dallas Hillcrest receiver product Pat Williams said about facing the defense, catching himself. “That was the best in the country. We could have beat some Division I schools.”

Pat Williams joined Ransom, Corsicana’s Orlando Williams and Keith Moore, James Bryant, Hunkie Cooper, Joe Dederian, James Prather, Bart Price, Vernon Shaw, Lance Tidwell and Greg White at the reunion.

“I told the guys I could die today and be OK,” said Cooper, who flew in from Las Vegas Friday.

Cooper, a quarterback from Palestine Westwood, had originally signed with Trinity Valley, but left and walked on at Navarro.

“When I left Trinity Valley, I didn’t know what I had here. But Coach Mac united us, committed to us and made us young men.”

“(The reunion) has been exciting,” White said. “We catch up and see where everybody’s at.

“It’s a celebration of what we accomplished in the past, and now this (2009) team has the possibility to go and repeat that. That would bring a lot of credibility to this school.”

It would also add to the legend, the brotherhood that only a national championship can create.

“This brings back a lot of memories,” said Orlando Williams, who still lives in Corsicana and is active in the community. “We were No. 2 and NEO was No. 1. It’s the same situation.

“We beat them, became No. 1, and played for the national championship.”

And everyone, especially the Bulldogs brothers, knows how that ended.