Jason Campbell
After a delightful meal on the evening of Monday, October 10, 2016, Gulf Coast Athletic Club President David Lee welcomed all to the fourth bi-weekly meeting of the club with a rousing “WAR EAGLE” in honor of our Guest Speaker for the evening, former Auburn Quarterback Jason Campbell.
After introduction of guests and new members, Membership Chairman David DeMeyer announced we were at 101 members this year.
Gulf Shores High School Head Football Coach Jamie Williams again thanked the Club for the $5,000 contribution to buy new uniforms for the Varsity and Junior Varsity. Although the season has not been a rousing success, Coach stated, “We look good doing it!”. He ended his comments by saying the team is “learning a life lesson”.
President Lee brought the Club up to date with the weekly Office Football Pool. After six weeks, it appears that “Girls Rule”.
Dec McClelland did his usual excellent job of running the Team Reports. The Crying Towel was awarded to Bill Durmer and Rutgers University for their performance or lack thereof.
Our Guest Speaker was introduced as a native of Laurel, Mississippi. Jason Campbell led Auburn to an undefeated season in 2004, was SEC Player of the Year, and Most Valuable Player in the 2005 Sugar Bowl win over Virginia Tech. He was drafted by the Washington Redskins as the 25th overall pick in the First Round of the NFL Draft. In November 2006, he was the Redskins’ starting Quarterback. His career lasted 10 years with Washington and four other NFL teams. He will draw his NFL retirement starting at age 55. Last December, he was selected as an SEC Football Legend.
Campbell says he loves golf and is currently volunteering his time coaching football at Northview High School in Atlanta. He noted that some kids today believe they are entitled and don’t want to work hard to achieve goals, but believing they should be paid for those efforts. He said these kids generally have no plan, so it’s his job to help them get a plan.
Our Speaker said his brother went to Mississippi State and he almost went to LSU, but his Mother didn’t like Coach Saban, so he went to Auburn. He said the secret of Auburn’s success as a team that year was simple. “We had players praying for each other and playing for each other, encouraging each other.” Religion is very important to him.
Drafted by NFL Coach Joe Gibbs was big for him. “Don’t forget where you came from and be respectful.” Campbell said Gibbs told him to take advantage of opportunities and prepare to be a man, not just a football player. He stated “Life is so much bigger than football, at the end of the day, we all leave with nothing.”
After the 50/50 drawing, the meeting ended at 8:25pm.
