Gold Rush Feature: Band of Brothers
10/8/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 8, 2010
This article was originally published in the Sept. 25 edition of Gold Rush.
By Jay Reddick
The 1970 Wake Forest football team holds a special place in history as the school's first ACC champions.
But after 40 years, the players on that team don't always remember the football first -- they focus on the brotherhood.
More than 50 members of that landmark team gathered for a reunion Sept. 10 and 11 in Winston-Salem. Throughout the weekend, you could see players renewing old acquaintances and lifelong friends enjoying each other's company.
"It's always better than you think it's going to be, and it's always better the next time than the last," said running back Phil Holt, now a banker in eastern Tennessee. "It's not even the reminiscing, it's seeing the folks you went through a war with. We'll always have a different bond than people with other kinds of associations."
Most longtime Deacon fans know the story of the 1970 team, a squad dismissed as an also-ran in the conference race. After an 0-3 start, expectations were even lower. But the Deacons won six of their next seven games, including five straight in the league (and dramatic home victories down the stretch over North Carolina and N.C. State), to become champions.
But the story of that team started long before game time, the players said. Coach Cal Stoll's brutal workouts in the spring and the preseason caused many players to quit. It shortened the team's bench, but it also hardened the resolve of those who remained.
"There were a lot of good athletes, a couple of great athletes, but that's not what made us great," said tight end David Doda, who runs an information-technology company in northern Virginia. "We just played as a team. We didn't care who did what or when, we just went through a lot of hard times together up to that point, and we just didn't stop."
The stories flowed all weekend, especially during receptions at Bridger Field House Friday night and Saturday before the current Deacs beat Duke.
"One thing I'll always remember was before a big road game, Coach turned out all the lights in the locker room, played the 'Battle Hymn of the Republic' and gave this great pregame speech," said split end Neville Chaney, who owns an office-equipment business in Boone. "Everybody was waiting to burst out the door, but then we had to stop -- the door opened in instead of out."
For the game on that Saturday, all of the returning players were given Wake Forest jerseys with the number 70 and "ACC CHAMPIONS" stitched across the back. But for many, the jerseys were unnecessary -- just the smiles on everyone's faces were enough to spot the honorees.
"There's quite a few guys here that I haven't seen in 20 years or even 40 years," said offensive tackle Bryan Cobb, now a pediatric dentist in Greensboro. "But it's the same bunch of characters. The ones who were the cut-ups then are the cut-ups now."
The 1970 team was among the first to play in what is now BB&T Field, and for those who hadn't been back to campus in a while, seeing the stadium improvements was a real eye-opener. The team's recent success has also been a thrill for the alumni, who were not invited to a bowl in 1970, victimized by a system that rewarded traditional powerhouses.
"I've always wanted there to be a small school that the big bowls would be forced to take," Chaney said. "For that to be Wake Forest (in the 2007 Orange Bowl) is mighty special."
"We waited and waited, hoping every year that this would be the next ACC champs," said defensive tackle Steve Komondorea, who now works in real estate in Florida. "When those guys came through, I was ecstatic. It brought tears to my eyes."
It's easy to boil the historic impact of the 1970 Deacs down to a few standout players, but at this reunion, the importance of the whole was valued more than any of its better-known parts.
"Sometimes before one of these things, you start thinking, how much of that was I really a part of?" said Komondorea, who was a sophomore benchwarmer on the 1970 squad. "You come back to a reunion and you see the guys, and immediately they welcome you and you welcome them. It's like the Big Bang theory. Everything explodes and goes out into the universe, we all go our separate ways, and all of a sudden, whoosh! It comes right back in. It's just wonderful."