September 8, 2026 • 34 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's that time. Lock and load.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
The Michael Derry Show is on the air.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
For 14 seasons, one man owned Kyle Field. From 1989
to 2002, he went 123 and 47 with two ties.
He's still the winningest football coach in Texas A &
M history. More wins than Bear Bryant. More than Jackie Sherrill.
More than anyone who has followed him. 78 and 28
(00:38):
in conference play. three straight Southwest Conference championships, then the
1998 Big 12 title when his Aggies knocked off top-ranked
Kansas State in double overtime and ended the Wildcats' run
at a national championship. His defense had a name, the
Wrecking Crew. In 91, it led the entire country in
(01:01):
total defense. At home, he lost 12 games in 14 years,
11 bowl trips, 64 players to the NFL, eight of
them in the first round. He never had a losing
season until his last one. A & M moved on
after a 6-6 finish in 2002. He never left the university.
(01:23):
College Football Hall of Fame. and a bronze statue outside
Kyle Field. Coach R.C.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Slocum.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
And it is on the occasion of the unveiling of
that beautiful bronze statue of R.C. Slocum that we asked
him to join us to talk more about life than coaching.
But that's always the vehicle that gets us there. First
of all, congratulations, Coach Slocum, and thank you for being
(01:58):
with us. Thanks for making time for us.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Good morning.
Speaker 5 (02:01):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
It's a great day to be alive, and I'm excited
to be on here with the whole Orange Boy.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
As you know, there is a kindred spirit between us
because of that. I want to dive in, and I
don't want to talk about football to start with. I
want to talk about your life and how you ended
up here. Winning as coach in Texas A & M
history and football history, people want to talk football. But
I want to talk about the man that is R.C.
(02:33):
Slocum that I know a bit more about and the
legend that is in Orange. When you gave your speech,
you talked as much about non-football things as you did football.
You talked about growing up in a government housing project,
and I don't think you said Riverside, but you and
I grew up a few years apart, but about a
block and a half, two blocks away in Riverside, in Orange,
(02:58):
and I want to play the clip of what you
said there for people to hear, 701.
Speaker 6 (03:05):
A fun journey. It wasn't always easy.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
I had a good start that taught me a lot
of care. I had great Christian parents. And we didn't
have a lot of financial things, but we had something
more important. I always thought I was special because I
was a child of God and Jesus loved me. And
I was taught that as a kid.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
That is your ministry. That is your testimony at a
football event. Not a lot of folks do that anymore.
Was that important to you?
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah, it was important. I mean, it's the most important
thing in my life, then and now. And, you know,
I went through that cancer thing here a few years,
starting in 2000, 2021. And I had stage four cancer. And,
you know, you could think, you know, and of course,
thought went through my mind, this might be the end
(03:59):
of the deal, but.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
my.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Faith kept me strong through that. Plus I, if it
was my time to go, I told the good Lord,
if it's not, that's such a great, wonderful life. I've
got no complaints. I've got no gripes. You've been great
to me throughout my life. And if it's my time
to go, then so be it. But thankfully he's brought
me so far. He must not have been finished.
Speaker 5 (04:21):
With me, you know, cause I'm still here.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
The cancer's gone. So, uh, It's always something that guided
me throughout my life.
Speaker 5 (04:35):
It was something that was.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Always there, always at belief. It always got me through
the rough spots and it kept me from getting too
carried away with the good spots. because I always knew
that everything was a blessing.
Speaker 5 (04:54):
My mother, one time, my.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Mother was out there, and she was on the service
road coming out of Orange, and she had a flat.
And I said, and she said, well, you know, it's
just a blessing. I said, mother, how on earth could
that be a blessing? She's on her way to Beaumont
to do some. She said, well, I could have been
all the way to Beaumont when it happened. I was
right there in Orange.
Speaker 5 (05:15):
I need people to call.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Whatever it was, she turned it into a blessing. You know,
I learned a lot of that from my mother.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
I do have one unpleasant thing to bring up. You
talked about your health treatment and you went to MD Anderson.
It is rumored that it was Longhorns who assisted you
in getting in there and getting you the proper care.
How do you respond to that?
Speaker 2 (05:39):
I respond that there's no truth to that at all.
Speaker 5 (05:44):
Dr.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Tom Buchholz had been a long-time vice president at MD Anderson.
I'd played on their team in the Houston Open. They
had the tournament they had before that. He's at now
at Scripps in California. So when I found out that
I had a problem, the first thought went through my mind,
(06:05):
I got to get the MD Anderson. I called him
on a Friday night. The next morning at 6 o'clock
my time, 6 o'clock California time, 8 o'clock my time,
he called me and he said, Coach, man, I'm so
sorry to hear that. Let me go to work on
this and bye.
Speaker 5 (06:23):
Another hour or so, the head of.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
The lymphoma department, Dr. Nathan Fowler, called me. He was
out walking his dog. He said, Coach, I'm sorry to
hear about your deal. And, you know, he's not really
in a long war. He went to University of Houston,
I think.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Oh, even better. That's my alma mater.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
I'm not sure where he went to medical school, but
he's a great doctor, and he was the head of
lymphoma at that time. And he said, when can you
get down here? And I said, when do you want me?
He said, can you be here Monday morning? I said,
I'll be there Monday morning. He got me in, and
he was a great, great doctor. He gave me great care.
He just about killed me. I told him one time,
(07:06):
I said, man, Doc, this is hard, man.
Speaker 5 (07:07):
I was taking four different medications and that chemo.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
It took 12 rounds.
Speaker 5 (07:12):
He said, yeah, I know how hard it is.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
I'm trying to balance between killing the cancer and killing you.
And I said, you're getting real close to killing me
right now.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Yeah, that's... But he got it done.
Speaker 5 (07:22):
I still, I'm back, you know, I'm not, I have
no pain. I feel great.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
I'm still playing some golf and went dove hunting yesterday
with my son and grandson, which is a real blessing.
But anyway, I'm good. I'm still going. I'm 81, be
82 in November.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
Yeah, you're three days older than me. You're November 7th,
I'm November 10th. We talked about that one time. Well,
I am glad to dispel this girlish rumor because while
my boys are at the University of Texas, and I
went to law school there. I just wanted to make
sure that Longhorn thing didn't in some way pollute your legacy,
and you have cleared that up for us.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
How'd you do it?
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Well, you know, I have to say that's a UT
medical center down there. I didn't want to bring that up.
So I gave them, and I said, you know, Mike
Brown and I did a deal down there about six
months ago, a fundraiser.
Speaker 5 (08:13):
We raised a million and a half.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Dollars in one night. and I sat with Dr. Pete's
tribute poster that night at my table.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Coach, hold with me for just a moment. Coach R.C.
Slocum is our guest. Come on. You are listening to
The Michael.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Berry Show.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
The Michael Berry Show.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
One hundred and twenty three wins.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Nobody in the history of Texas A & M football
has won more. Three straight Southwest Conference titles. The 98
Big 12 championship beat number one Kansas State in double
overtime and blew up their national title run. Fourteen years,
12 losses at Kyle Field.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Coach R.C. Slocum. The R.C.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
Slocum story is so much bigger than football, and I
love stories like this because they are inspiring.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
This was Coach.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
Slocum at Texas A & M University where they were
unveiling the bronze statue of him talking about growing up
where I grew up. This means something to me. Clip 701, please.
I'm sorry, sorry, 702.
Speaker 6 (09:32):
We never bemoaned our circumstance.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
We lived in a government housing project that had been
built during World War II for shipyard workers in Orange
and Warwick. So they turned it into a low-rent housing deal.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
That low-rent housing was Riverside. And anybody who's ever been
through Orange on your way to Louisiana, before you cross
the Louisiana border, there's a street called Simmons Drive. If
you turn right there, you go down, I don't know,
a mile or so, and on the left is Riverside.
the old abandoned Navy housing built during World War II.
And Coach Slocum and I grew up very, very close
(10:06):
to each other. But you talked about, as a young man,
they called you Shine. And I think it's important to
understand how important that was as part of your– why
did they call you Shine?
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Why?
Speaker 5 (10:18):
You know, I.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Remember the supermarket in Riverside. They had a supermarket and
they had a barbershop in there.
Speaker 7 (10:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
And so the barbershop was down in the corner, so
I shined shoes there. And then we moved a time
or two. We went out to Bridge City. I started
school in Bridge City in the first grade. We lived
in Orange, moved to Bridge City. I started school and
then moved back to Orange to Manly. It was down
on Destroyer. Yep. and lived down there. So I had
(10:48):
a little shoebox and I went up there, I shined
shoes there and at one time we went back to
Bridge City and I shined shoes there at Martin's Barbershop
and He told me I had one job. My first
job was I had a single chair in the barbershop.
And down the road, there was a Martin's barbershop, and
they had two chairs.
Speaker 5 (11:08):
I said, you know what?
Speaker 2 (11:09):
I can make twice as much. So I kept my
first job. I went out and asked him, can I
be his shine boy? And he said, yeah, if you
keep all the hair swept up and everything. I said, okay, great.
Speaker 5 (11:20):
I'll be back tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
So I went back, told my first guy how much
I appreciated everything.
Speaker 5 (11:25):
But I got a chance to.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
increase my business I went down to two chairs and
that guy was so good to me and everybody they
didn't call me RC they called me Shine Shine come
over here we've got some hair over here to sweep
up and then when customers came in they called me
Shine and I still have that Shine box and last
week they honored me in a deal here at A &
M and they took my shine box, the people that
(11:50):
made the party ready, they took my shine box at
the head table and put flowers, and then they went
out and got shine boxes for every table and put
flowers on them, and I autographed all the shine boxes.
Speaker 5 (12:02):
Oh, man.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
And I've got a picture of my house here. I've
got the shine box, and then on the other wall,
I've got a picture of me with President George H.W.
Bush And I asked people once, and in the picture
is Mikhail Gorbachev and his daughter Irina. And I said,
what's wrong with this picture? You've got a former leader
of the free world, former leader of the Soviet Union,
(12:23):
from a shoeshine boy from Orange, Texas. Anyway, it's been
a fun ride.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
I think a lot of the boys that played for
you over the years.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
Could understand that about you because wherever they came from,
in whatever community you had come from tough times, and
you could understand that. And I think that gives you
a unique perspective and a great deal of credibility with them.
I want to go next to... Let.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Me quickly say that you can't describe living in Riverside.
They put no drainage in there, so every time it rained,
you had to get wheels up on the sidewalk.
Speaker 5 (13:03):
To get through the street.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
And the people I learned so much about in life,
almost all the people there were there because of lack
of education. And there were some sorry people there. But
there were some wonderful people there, hardworking. They were doing
whatever they could do.
Speaker 5 (13:20):
They were a good family, good parents.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
And they just were poor because most of them.
Speaker 5 (13:25):
Didn't have any education.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
So that became apparent to me very early. And my
parents stressed that to me, that, son, you've got to
get an education.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
Coach, it is so important for people to see these
stories and understand that the success in America is available
to whoever will get up and work hard.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
I want to play this next clip. This was R.C.
Speaker 4 (13:48):
Slocum over the weekend at Texas A & M University
where they were unveiling the bronze statue of him.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
This is important. This is beyond football here.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
So I got out there, started my career as a
young businessman, shining shoes. And I went a big part
of my childhood being called shine. They didn't call me.
I said, hey, shine, come on and clean this floor up. Anyway,
I learned the answer to that through newspapers. And then
I got a route where I sold the orange leader
(14:18):
and had a paper route.
Speaker 6 (14:19):
So I go collect. I knock on the door.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Some of the nicest people there because primarily.
Speaker 6 (14:24):
A lack of education.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
So at an early age, I had a strong sense
of how important education education is, to get from wherever
you are.
Speaker 6 (14:34):
If you're at a good level, that'll help you get higher.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
But if you're at a low level and you're scratching, clawing,
trying to get out of there, the best place to
turn to is church and hard work. And you can
get out of there. And I don't think we talk
about that enough in our country. You know, saying, you know,
you're not doomed to where you are.
Speaker 6 (14:53):
There's a way out.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
If you're living in America, you can get out of
where you are if you're willing to get up and
go to work and do good things and work with people.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
I think that's such an important message. You were born
December 7, 1944. I think that's just as important today
as it was in the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s
when you came up and were coaching. It's just important
that we tell young people that because I don't think
a lot of people are hearing that.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
They're hearing the contrary.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
No, I was with the guy yesterday, one of his
dove hunting, had an Aggie family that has a ranch
and a place. And he told me, he said, it's
just so hard now to find people that will work.
You can't get people like you. And, uh, You know,
I'll say this, too. One of the things I'm—and this
is not meant to be political at all— but, man, we're
(15:45):
so indebted. These Hispanic people that live in the state
of Texas, I don't know what.
Speaker 5 (15:50):
We'd do if we didn't have them here.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
And doing all kinds, all of our agriculture, all, every
time you go through these housing developments where houses being built,
I see a high percentage of Hispanic workers. They come
early and it seemed like they enjoy working. You know,
they got their music going and they're having it, but
they work from early morning to late afternoon. And, uh,
and that's kind of what, you know, I grew up
(16:16):
with that thing of get up and go to work,
you know, so come on, son, we got work to
do out here. And, uh, You learn how to work,
and you learn to take pride in your work.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Right there. Coach R.C. Slocum is our guest coming up.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
The Michael Berry Show.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Orange texas stark high school kid from the golden triangle
whose whole world was a football field and a chemical
plant And he went and became the winningest football coach
in the history of Texas A & M University. 123 wins.
Hall of Famer, our friend, Coach R.C.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Slocum.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
If you don't know the story of Hall of Fame
coach Ted Jeffries, much like R.C.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Slocum, it's a story far bigger than football. This is R.C.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
Slocum telling the story at his speech that he gave
during the unveiling of the statue in his honor at
Texas A & M over the weekend. Ted Jeffries is
his name. Remember that name.
Speaker 6 (17:39):
So I went out.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Next year, I had Coach Bob Woodruff, great coach, great man.
Then I played for a Hall of Fame coach, Ted Jeffries.
Speaker 6 (17:48):
Tell you what kind of guy he was.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
In 1941, on December 6th, his team at Wichita Falls
won the state championship in Texas. We all know what
happened December the 7th. December the 8th, he and all
of his seniors went out and signed up for the draft.
Speaker 6 (18:05):
And then he went to Stephen F.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Austin.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
He coached Bum Phillips and Spike Dykes and Stephen F.
And then he retired. Then he came out of retirement,
came to Orange and coached me for two or three
years there and went to state semifinals my senior year.
Speaker 4 (18:21):
Those kinds of stories, we always tell the story, Coach,
I don't know if you're familiar with it, but Chad Nakanishi,
our executive producer, is from Hawaii and then went to.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
University of Oregon.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
And the University of Willamette happened to be at Pearl
Harbor when it happened, and those boys ran over and
they stood guard around the base after the attack, some
of them unarmed, but they were going to do whatever
they could to defend this country.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Those stories, man, that's That's a powerful, powerful thing.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Go ahead.
Speaker 6 (18:57):
Coach?
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
Those stories moved me, the story of Ted Jeffries that
you told.
Speaker 5 (19:05):
He was an awesome guy. He was a great coach.
Great leader.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
And I remember his speeches at the end of practice.
You know, he was such a great guy. Never heard
him say a curse word the whole time I played
for him. I never heard him. I never had coaches
grabbing me and throwing me around or curse me. And later,
when I got to recruiting, I'd go visit some schools.
And I said, Lord have mercy, man. I'm glad I
(19:32):
didn't play for that guy. I wouldn't want one of
my kids or grandkids playing for that guy. And so
that kind of guided seeing the guys that I had
as a young coach. Man, they changed my life. And
then I went to college at McNeese. I had the
same thing. Had the same kind of coaches, same kind.
Speaker 5 (19:50):
Of guys.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
So that was kind of my picture of what a
coach should do. He should polish an old guy, teach
him football. I was fortunate. I played on winning teams.
I played on one of the best teams ever in Orange.
Speaker 5 (20:03):
At that time, we.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Went to the state semifinal. Our quarterback, David Foster, was All-American,
and he separated his shoulder, broke his collarbone at the
bi-district game. Had he not got hurt, I have no
doubt we'd have won the state championship that year.
Speaker 4 (20:20):
You told the story during your speech that your coach
at McNeese State after the ball games, would go and
teach Sunday school the next morning.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
I thought that was a beautiful story.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Yeah. Last of all, last of all, he was a great,
great coach, you know.
Speaker 5 (20:36):
Had him, and then in.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
About halfway through, Jim Clark, the defensive coordinator, took over.
And just a wonderful guy. I spoke at his funeral
when he passed away. There's one of those guys left
named Hubert Bowles who coached at Jasper High School, went
to McNeese as head baseball coach and end coach. And
he was, for two years, my junior, senior year.
Speaker 5 (20:59):
He was my coach.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
He's 94. I still talk to him, and we hang up.
He says, I love you, R.C. Slocum. I said, I
love you too, Coach Bowles. I love you. And so
that's the kind of guys I had coaching me.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
You coached at a school of some pretty patriotic guys
as well. General Patton is reputed to have said, give
me an army of West Point graduates and I'll win
a battle. Give me a handful of Texas Aggies and
I'll win a war. That line has always stuck with me. Coach,
if I could ask you a question about the role
(21:32):
of a coach as a mentor. And this is what
you said during your speech.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
This is 705.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
I tell them one of the hard things, and I
experience this a lot, way too much. I had some
guys who had never had a man in their lives
that would put his hand on the shoulder and say, son,
I can't let you do that. That's not good for you.
I'm not going to let you stay out that later.
(21:59):
I'm not going to let you do.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
This or that.
Speaker 6 (22:02):
Or put his hand on his head and say, son,
I love you. I'm so proud of you, man.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
I never had that. And I wanted to be that
guy for a lot of them. And I got some
of them here. Some of them here call me dad.
And they call me on a regular basis. And it
was one of the real fun things. We won some games.
But the bigger mission that I had was saying, and
I always said this, someday when I meet the big
(22:26):
man upstairs, the big head coach, and he said, okay,
let's talk about what.
Speaker 6 (22:30):
You did down there. I gave you a hundred and.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Something young men every year for you to lead. And
let's talk about, yeah, I don't care about that.
Speaker 6 (22:38):
Not going for it on fourth down or any of that.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
I want to talk about those young men and what
you did for them, what kind of influence you were
with them. And I wanted to have good answers when
that time comes. And I think I do.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
Well, unfortunately, some of my best ideas come late in
the day. Last night, I sent a text to Jeff
Granger and Datwin and Bucky Richardson, who's written a little
something for us. And Shane Leckler and Shane Leckler was
able to turn around very quickly. A quick comment. I
asked him to talk about your role in his life.
And this is what Shane Leckler said.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Coach R.C.
Speaker 8 (23:13):
Slocum, 98 Big 12 champ coach.
Speaker 7 (23:16):
That was the top of the top whenever we played.
But it all goes back to 1994 when they recruited
me out of East Bernard, Texas. And I owe a
lot to that man because.
Speaker 8 (23:28):
18 years later, after I graduated from Texas A & M,
I had an NFL career that is not bad. But
it all goes back to probably the situation we got
put into that was kind of rough back conversation we
had in his office when he asked me to stop
playing quarterback and he was he made one of the
best decisions for me in my life if you could
(23:50):
just give yourself or your kids one lesson how about
just act like rc slocum in public that's how you're
supposed to act he didn't only teach it or preach
it he did it He changed the way I thought
about everything as far as football goes, as far as
family goes, as far as going to class goes.
Speaker 7 (24:10):
Although I had to run quite a bit because I
missed a few classes, but it's fine. He taught me that.
But whenever we got to the nitty gritty, like deep
down 1998 Big 12 championship game against Kansas State, no
one flinched because he didn't flinch. If he would have
flinched at any point in that game because they were
already chanting that they were going to go to the
(24:31):
national championship if we didn't beat them, we would have flinched.
He never blinked an eye, and we knew that that.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Was our leader.
Speaker 7 (24:39):
One of the best people I've ever met in my life,
and I don't mean as a coach.
Speaker 6 (24:43):
I mean as a human being, as.
Speaker 7 (24:45):
A man, and I want to thank him.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
I love him.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
I just have a few seconds left in this segment,
and then we'll come back to.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Our conversation with R.C. Slocum.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
I don't want him to have to start and stop.
But I hope this— look, I practically worship R.C.
Speaker 6 (25:08):
Slocum.
Speaker 4 (25:09):
I think so much of him. I'm so proud of
him because of the Orange Connection. First and foremost, it's
my dream that 16th Street and Simmons Drive would be renamed—
Wade and Bum Phillips Boulevard and R.C. Slocum Street or Drive.
I just that because of things like that, the lives
(25:33):
you change. But I hope everybody can take from that,
that we all should be more than just what our
job description says we are. Coach Slocum, thank you for
being with us.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Thanks for making time for us.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Mr. Michael Perry. It's a great day to be alive,
and I'm excited to be on here with the old
orange boy.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
They fired him in 2002. 6-6.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
His only losing season in 14 years. He could have
gone anywhere. He stayed. Worked for the school another 24 years.
They put a bronze statue of the man outside Kyle Field.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
They got that right. Coach R.C. Slocum. Coach, you heard
what Shane Leckler had to say.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
I want to read one other player comment before I
ask you to speak to raising young men. Bucky Richardson
got my text this morning, and he said, Good morning, Michael.
Thanks for letting me share a few thoughts about my coach, R.C.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Slocum.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
He's the winningest coach in Texas A & M history.
He's a College Football Hall of Famer, and it was
an honor to be there at his statue unveiling with
him on Friday.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Nobody is more deserving than Coach Slocum. I just think
it's really cool.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
That Coach has a statue outside of Kyle Field right
next to John David Crowe, Heisman Trophy winner. And I
know that John David Crowe and Coach Slocum were good buddies.
And that's just kind of a neat backstory. But when
you think about coaches' teams, you know in the past,
you think about the wrecking crew. Just the great defenses
that Coach Slocum had. He's an elite defensive coach, a
great leader. He won four conference titles in his head
coaching tenure, and I just loved playing for him. Coach
(27:29):
always emphasized character, accountability in life after football, and he
practiced what he preached, and it was an honor. Coach
was very demanding, but he was never mean to us,
and that's what great leaders do.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
And he always did things the right way.
Speaker 4 (27:43):
Coach, you know Coach won't tell you about some of
the stuff when he talks about life after football, but
a quick memory of mine. When my father passed in 2005,
it was a tough day for me personally, obviously losing
your father.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
And right before the service started.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
That day in Baton Rouge, I looked up and Coach
Slocum was walking down the aisle at the church to
be with me and to comfort me that day. And
those that have been through that know that that's something
I'll never forget. He did that for many former players.
So I'm speaking this morning on behalf of all those
former players. It was an honor to play for you, Coach.
Couldn't have asked for a better leader and mentor and
friend than Coach. Congrats on the statue.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
You deserve it. You're the best. And on behalf of
all your players, we all love you. Gig'em.
Speaker 4 (28:21):
I'm not sure what that final gig'em was for, but
I obviously felt the need to do that.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Coach, your family was there.
Speaker 4 (28:29):
You have a loving family, a loving wife. But to
have all these boys who you mean so much more
to them than a coach, that gets me choked up
to think about.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
What a difference you have made in these people's lives.
Speaker 5 (28:44):
Well, it's.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
The other day, I just ran out of time, but
every game I coached, we had a devotion before the game.
And it was, you know, come if you want to.
It wasn't a mandatory deal. But I'd say 90% of
the team showed up.
Speaker 5 (29:04):
I'd get a speaker from somewhere.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Dr. Rick Rigsby conducted a bunch of those or found
me a speaker. And I was there on the front row,
every one of those. I said, one reason why we
do this, This game is really important, but who you
are as a person and how we act today, all
that's more important. I want you to have your priorities right.
We're going out there to win and play to win,
(29:27):
but whatever we do, we're going to have some class
about it. I want you to know that the big
picture of things what's really important. So anyway, I'm really
proud of that fact.
Speaker 4 (29:39):
Coach, I wanted to get to one other thing to
make sure I got everything in from your speech that
was most important to me. And I think this says
a lot. I think this is a real life lesson
for all of us. After being dismissed, you tell the story.
Here you are coming back to A & M, and
you've never left.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
You're Mr.
Speaker 4 (29:56):
A & M to me and to a lot of people.
But this part of the story was most important, 706.
You know, I had opportunities, some good opportunities to go places.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
But the first night after I was dismissed, they had
press out in the front yard, and they wanted to
do interviews and everything. And both my sons at that
time were already Aggies, and they weren't happy. I said, hey,
we need to have a meeting. Get in here and
sit down. Texas A & M, number one, I got
into coaching. I knew how coaching worked. But Texas A &
(30:26):
M has been good to me. It's been good to
our family. It's been good to you. And I don't
want to hear one more word out of that.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
And I didn't.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
And because of taking that stand and not taking it
all somewhere else in a field of anger or pride
or whatever, now I've got all this beautiful picture of
all these Aggies, and it'll.
Speaker 6 (30:44):
Go on forever. I am so proud of that.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
In an era, not just in college football, but seemingly
in every aspect of life, the old-fashioned Orange, Texas values
of class and dignity, I think that's what you have displayed.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
And that is just so important.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Well, I just always I tried to do the right thing,
you know, and I probably didn't always do the right thing.
But that was very important to me just to take
the high road as you go through life. We all
have bad things happen to us, you know. And the
first I had a preacher tell me, the first human reaction,
I'll get them. I'll get him. It's the last thing
I ever do. He said, what you ought to do,
(31:30):
just back off. Don't fill yourself up with poison. Turn
them over to the Lord. He can look at them.
If they need to be gotten even with, he can
really do it. But don't you fill yourself up with poison.
So in this world, there's not one person that I
have any big grudge against. There are a couple I've
turned over to the Lord, but I don't do that.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
Coach, you are one of one, as the kids say.
Is there anything I didn't ask you you wanted to say?
I've got about a minute and a half, and I
know you've got to get.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Yeah, you know, I've got the McNeese SID calling me.
This next interview is the people at McNeese who I
want to do an interview with.
Speaker 5 (32:08):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
It's a great honor. They were great to me. That
school was great to me. And I've got a bunch
of dear teammates, great coaches and allowed me to be
the first guy in my family to go get a
college degree. I actually got two degrees. I got a
master's degree, too, before I went to Kansas City.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
Well, you are you are a living legend and so
much more than football to me.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
I'm proud that we're both from Orange and both from Riverside.
And you just.
Speaker 4 (32:34):
Just a couple of years behind my dad at Stark
High School. You have continued to make all of us
proud in every aspect of your life.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
You are a.
Speaker 4 (32:42):
Hallmark and a beacon of decency and goodness, and we
all love you, and I know I do, Coach.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
Thank you for taking time to share your story.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Appreciate all the nice comments, and I hope you have
a great day, my friend.
Speaker 4 (32:56):
And there you have it. And I'll say it one
more time at the risk of repetition. I would hope
that we take away from that not the greatness of R.C.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Slocum. He's made his mark.
Speaker 4 (33:11):
But that every single person, the secretary, the mid-level manager,
the CEO, the small business owner, the teacher, the coach,
the mailman, the mother who is taking care of those
kids in the household, the plant worker, the cop, the firefighter,
Every single one of us has an opportunity to be
(33:34):
so much more than our job title on our income
tax return and so much more than the primary vocation
or role that we think we play, whether we're a
caretaker or nurse or whatever that may be. And that
was the real reason I wanted to talk to R.C. Slocum, because,
you know, there's there's guys that have won a lot
(33:56):
of football games or baseball games or, in the Hall
of Fame as a player. But the real message to
me right here that every single one of us can
take away from that, I hope you will. So thank
you for your patience. If you're not an Aggie, I'm not.
I do admire what they do, which is bring the
damn bonfire back. But I do admire the school and
(34:19):
their values and what they have done. But thanks for
your patience through that, and I hope everybody got something
out of it.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
More Michael Perry shows.
Speaker 5 (34:29):
Here we go.
It's that time. Lock and load.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
The Michael Derry Show is on the air.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
For 14 seasons, one man owned Kyle Field. From 1989
to 2002, he went 123 and 47 with two ties.
He's still the winningest football coach in Texas A &
M history. More wins than Bear Bryant. More than Jackie Sherrill.
More than anyone who has followed him. 78 and 28
(00:38):
in conference play. three straight Southwest Conference championships, then the
1998 Big 12 title when his Aggies knocked off top-ranked
Kansas State in double overtime and ended the Wildcats' run
at a national championship. His defense had a name, the
Wrecking Crew. In 91, it led the entire country in
(01:01):
total defense. At home, he lost 12 games in 14 years,
11 bowl trips, 64 players to the NFL, eight of
them in the first round. He never had a losing
season until his last one. A & M moved on
after a 6-6 finish in 2002. He never left the university.
(01:23):
College Football Hall of Fame. and a bronze statue outside
Kyle Field. Coach R.C.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Slocum.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
And it is on the occasion of the unveiling of
that beautiful bronze statue of R.C. Slocum that we asked
him to join us to talk more about life than coaching.
But that's always the vehicle that gets us there. First
of all, congratulations, Coach Slocum, and thank you for being
(01:58):
with us. Thanks for making time for us.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Good morning.
Speaker 5 (02:01):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
It's a great day to be alive, and I'm excited
to be on here with the whole Orange Boy.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
As you know, there is a kindred spirit between us
because of that. I want to dive in, and I
don't want to talk about football to start with. I
want to talk about your life and how you ended
up here. Winning as coach in Texas A & M
history and football history, people want to talk football. But
I want to talk about the man that is R.C.
(02:33):
Slocum that I know a bit more about and the
legend that is in Orange. When you gave your speech,
you talked as much about non-football things as you did football.
You talked about growing up in a government housing project,
and I don't think you said Riverside, but you and
I grew up a few years apart, but about a
block and a half, two blocks away in Riverside, in Orange,
(02:58):
and I want to play the clip of what you
said there for people to hear, 701.
Speaker 6 (03:05):
A fun journey. It wasn't always easy.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
I had a good start that taught me a lot
of care. I had great Christian parents. And we didn't
have a lot of financial things, but we had something
more important. I always thought I was special because I
was a child of God and Jesus loved me. And
I was taught that as a kid.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
That is your ministry. That is your testimony at a
football event. Not a lot of folks do that anymore.
Was that important to you?
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah, it was important. I mean, it's the most important
thing in my life, then and now. And, you know,
I went through that cancer thing here a few years,
starting in 2000, 2021. And I had stage four cancer. And,
you know, you could think, you know, and of course,
thought went through my mind, this might be the end
(03:59):
of the deal, but.
Speaker 5 (04:00):
my.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Faith kept me strong through that. Plus I, if it
was my time to go, I told the good Lord,
if it's not, that's such a great, wonderful life. I've
got no complaints. I've got no gripes. You've been great
to me throughout my life. And if it's my time
to go, then so be it. But thankfully he's brought
me so far. He must not have been finished.
Speaker 5 (04:21):
With me, you know, cause I'm still here.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
The cancer's gone. So, uh, It's always something that guided
me throughout my life.
Speaker 5 (04:35):
It was something that was.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Always there, always at belief. It always got me through
the rough spots and it kept me from getting too
carried away with the good spots. because I always knew
that everything was a blessing.
Speaker 5 (04:54):
My mother, one time, my.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Mother was out there, and she was on the service
road coming out of Orange, and she had a flat.
And I said, and she said, well, you know, it's
just a blessing. I said, mother, how on earth could
that be a blessing? She's on her way to Beaumont
to do some. She said, well, I could have been
all the way to Beaumont when it happened. I was
right there in Orange.
Speaker 5 (05:15):
I need people to call.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Whatever it was, she turned it into a blessing. You know,
I learned a lot of that from my mother.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
I do have one unpleasant thing to bring up. You
talked about your health treatment and you went to MD Anderson.
It is rumored that it was Longhorns who assisted you
in getting in there and getting you the proper care.
How do you respond to that?
Speaker 2 (05:39):
I respond that there's no truth to that at all.
Speaker 5 (05:44):
Dr.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Tom Buchholz had been a long-time vice president at MD Anderson.
I'd played on their team in the Houston Open. They
had the tournament they had before that. He's at now
at Scripps in California. So when I found out that
I had a problem, the first thought went through my mind,
(06:05):
I got to get the MD Anderson. I called him
on a Friday night. The next morning at 6 o'clock
my time, 6 o'clock California time, 8 o'clock my time,
he called me and he said, Coach, man, I'm so
sorry to hear that. Let me go to work on
this and bye.
Speaker 5 (06:23):
Another hour or so, the head of.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
The lymphoma department, Dr. Nathan Fowler, called me. He was
out walking his dog. He said, Coach, I'm sorry to
hear about your deal. And, you know, he's not really
in a long war. He went to University of Houston,
I think.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
Oh, even better. That's my alma mater.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
I'm not sure where he went to medical school, but
he's a great doctor, and he was the head of
lymphoma at that time. And he said, when can you
get down here? And I said, when do you want me?
He said, can you be here Monday morning? I said,
I'll be there Monday morning. He got me in, and
he was a great, great doctor. He gave me great care.
He just about killed me. I told him one time,
(07:06):
I said, man, Doc, this is hard, man.
Speaker 5 (07:07):
I was taking four different medications and that chemo.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
It took 12 rounds.
Speaker 5 (07:12):
He said, yeah, I know how hard it is.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
I'm trying to balance between killing the cancer and killing you.
And I said, you're getting real close to killing me
right now.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Yeah, that's... But he got it done.
Speaker 5 (07:22):
I still, I'm back, you know, I'm not, I have
no pain. I feel great.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
I'm still playing some golf and went dove hunting yesterday
with my son and grandson, which is a real blessing.
But anyway, I'm good. I'm still going. I'm 81, be
82 in November.
Speaker 4 (07:41):
Yeah, you're three days older than me. You're November 7th,
I'm November 10th. We talked about that one time. Well,
I am glad to dispel this girlish rumor because while
my boys are at the University of Texas, and I
went to law school there. I just wanted to make
sure that Longhorn thing didn't in some way pollute your legacy,
and you have cleared that up for us.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
How'd you do it?
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Well, you know, I have to say that's a UT
medical center down there. I didn't want to bring that up.
So I gave them, and I said, you know, Mike
Brown and I did a deal down there about six
months ago, a fundraiser.
Speaker 5 (08:13):
We raised a million and a half.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Dollars in one night. and I sat with Dr. Pete's
tribute poster that night at my table.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Coach, hold with me for just a moment. Coach R.C.
Slocum is our guest. Come on. You are listening to
The Michael.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Berry Show.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
The Michael Berry Show.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
One hundred and twenty three wins.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
Nobody in the history of Texas A & M football
has won more. Three straight Southwest Conference titles. The 98
Big 12 championship beat number one Kansas State in double
overtime and blew up their national title run. Fourteen years,
12 losses at Kyle Field.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Coach R.C. Slocum. The R.C.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
Slocum story is so much bigger than football, and I
love stories like this because they are inspiring.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
This was Coach.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
Slocum at Texas A & M University where they were
unveiling the bronze statue of him talking about growing up
where I grew up. This means something to me. Clip 701, please.
I'm sorry, sorry, 702.
Speaker 6 (09:32):
We never bemoaned our circumstance.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
We lived in a government housing project that had been
built during World War II for shipyard workers in Orange
and Warwick. So they turned it into a low-rent housing deal.
Speaker 4 (09:46):
That low-rent housing was Riverside. And anybody who's ever been
through Orange on your way to Louisiana, before you cross
the Louisiana border, there's a street called Simmons Drive. If
you turn right there, you go down, I don't know,
a mile or so, and on the left is Riverside.
the old abandoned Navy housing built during World War II.
And Coach Slocum and I grew up very, very close
(10:06):
to each other. But you talked about, as a young man,
they called you Shine. And I think it's important to
understand how important that was as part of your– why
did they call you Shine?
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Why?
Speaker 5 (10:18):
You know, I.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Remember the supermarket in Riverside. They had a supermarket and
they had a barbershop in there.
Speaker 7 (10:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
And so the barbershop was down in the corner, so
I shined shoes there. And then we moved a time
or two. We went out to Bridge City. I started
school in Bridge City in the first grade. We lived
in Orange, moved to Bridge City. I started school and
then moved back to Orange to Manly. It was down
on Destroyer. Yep. and lived down there. So I had
(10:48):
a little shoebox and I went up there, I shined
shoes there and at one time we went back to
Bridge City and I shined shoes there at Martin's Barbershop
and He told me I had one job. My first
job was I had a single chair in the barbershop.
And down the road, there was a Martin's barbershop, and
they had two chairs.
Speaker 5 (11:08):
I said, you know what?
Speaker 2 (11:09):
I can make twice as much. So I kept my
first job. I went out and asked him, can I
be his shine boy? And he said, yeah, if you
keep all the hair swept up and everything. I said, okay, great.
Speaker 5 (11:20):
I'll be back tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
So I went back, told my first guy how much
I appreciated everything.
Speaker 5 (11:25):
But I got a chance to.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
increase my business I went down to two chairs and
that guy was so good to me and everybody they
didn't call me RC they called me Shine Shine come
over here we've got some hair over here to sweep
up and then when customers came in they called me
Shine and I still have that Shine box and last
week they honored me in a deal here at A &
M and they took my shine box, the people that
(11:50):
made the party ready, they took my shine box at
the head table and put flowers, and then they went
out and got shine boxes for every table and put
flowers on them, and I autographed all the shine boxes.
Speaker 5 (12:02):
Oh, man.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
And I've got a picture of my house here. I've
got the shine box, and then on the other wall,
I've got a picture of me with President George H.W.
Bush And I asked people once, and in the picture
is Mikhail Gorbachev and his daughter Irina. And I said,
what's wrong with this picture? You've got a former leader
of the free world, former leader of the Soviet Union,
(12:23):
from a shoeshine boy from Orange, Texas. Anyway, it's been
a fun ride.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
I think a lot of the boys that played for
you over the years.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
Could understand that about you because wherever they came from,
in whatever community you had come from tough times, and
you could understand that. And I think that gives you
a unique perspective and a great deal of credibility with them.
I want to go next to... Let.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Me quickly say that you can't describe living in Riverside.
They put no drainage in there, so every time it rained,
you had to get wheels up on the sidewalk.
Speaker 5 (13:03):
To get through the street.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
And the people I learned so much about in life,
almost all the people there were there because of lack
of education. And there were some sorry people there. But
there were some wonderful people there, hardworking. They were doing
whatever they could do.
Speaker 5 (13:20):
They were a good family, good parents.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
And they just were poor because most of them.
Speaker 5 (13:25):
Didn't have any education.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
So that became apparent to me very early. And my
parents stressed that to me, that, son, you've got to
get an education.
Speaker 4 (13:35):
Coach, it is so important for people to see these
stories and understand that the success in America is available
to whoever will get up and work hard.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
I want to play this next clip. This was R.C.
Speaker 4 (13:48):
Slocum over the weekend at Texas A & M University
where they were unveiling the bronze statue of him.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
This is important. This is beyond football here.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
So I got out there, started my career as a
young businessman, shining shoes. And I went a big part
of my childhood being called shine. They didn't call me.
I said, hey, shine, come on and clean this floor up. Anyway,
I learned the answer to that through newspapers. And then
I got a route where I sold the orange leader
(14:18):
and had a paper route.
Speaker 6 (14:19):
So I go collect. I knock on the door.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Some of the nicest people there because primarily.
Speaker 6 (14:24):
A lack of education.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
So at an early age, I had a strong sense
of how important education education is, to get from wherever
you are.
Speaker 6 (14:34):
If you're at a good level, that'll help you get higher.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
But if you're at a low level and you're scratching, clawing,
trying to get out of there, the best place to
turn to is church and hard work. And you can
get out of there. And I don't think we talk
about that enough in our country. You know, saying, you know,
you're not doomed to where you are.
Speaker 6 (14:53):
There's a way out.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
If you're living in America, you can get out of
where you are if you're willing to get up and
go to work and do good things and work with people.
Speaker 4 (15:03):
I think that's such an important message. You were born
December 7, 1944. I think that's just as important today
as it was in the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s
when you came up and were coaching. It's just important
that we tell young people that because I don't think
a lot of people are hearing that.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
They're hearing the contrary.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
No, I was with the guy yesterday, one of his
dove hunting, had an Aggie family that has a ranch
and a place. And he told me, he said, it's
just so hard now to find people that will work.
You can't get people like you. And, uh, You know,
I'll say this, too. One of the things I'm—and this
is not meant to be political at all— but, man, we're
(15:45):
so indebted. These Hispanic people that live in the state
of Texas, I don't know what.
Speaker 5 (15:50):
We'd do if we didn't have them here.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
And doing all kinds, all of our agriculture, all, every
time you go through these housing developments where houses being built,
I see a high percentage of Hispanic workers. They come
early and it seemed like they enjoy working. You know,
they got their music going and they're having it, but
they work from early morning to late afternoon. And, uh,
and that's kind of what, you know, I grew up
(16:16):
with that thing of get up and go to work,
you know, so come on, son, we got work to
do out here. And, uh, You learn how to work,
and you learn to take pride in your work.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Right there. Coach R.C. Slocum is our guest coming up.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
The Michael Berry Show.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
Orange texas stark high school kid from the golden triangle
whose whole world was a football field and a chemical
plant And he went and became the winningest football coach
in the history of Texas A & M University. 123 wins.
Hall of Famer, our friend, Coach R.C.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
Slocum.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
If you don't know the story of Hall of Fame
coach Ted Jeffries, much like R.C.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
Slocum, it's a story far bigger than football. This is R.C.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
Slocum telling the story at his speech that he gave
during the unveiling of the statue in his honor at
Texas A & M over the weekend. Ted Jeffries is
his name. Remember that name.
Speaker 6 (17:39):
So I went out.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Next year, I had Coach Bob Woodruff, great coach, great man.
Then I played for a Hall of Fame coach, Ted Jeffries.
Speaker 6 (17:48):
Tell you what kind of guy he was.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
In 1941, on December 6th, his team at Wichita Falls
won the state championship in Texas. We all know what
happened December the 7th. December the 8th, he and all
of his seniors went out and signed up for the draft.
Speaker 6 (18:05):
And then he went to Stephen F.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Austin.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
He coached Bum Phillips and Spike Dykes and Stephen F.
And then he retired. Then he came out of retirement,
came to Orange and coached me for two or three
years there and went to state semifinals my senior year.
Speaker 4 (18:21):
Those kinds of stories, we always tell the story, Coach,
I don't know if you're familiar with it, but Chad Nakanishi,
our executive producer, is from Hawaii and then went to.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
University of Oregon.
Speaker 4 (18:32):
And the University of Willamette happened to be at Pearl
Harbor when it happened, and those boys ran over and
they stood guard around the base after the attack, some
of them unarmed, but they were going to do whatever
they could to defend this country.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Those stories, man, that's That's a powerful, powerful thing.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Go ahead.
Speaker 6 (18:57):
Coach?
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
Those stories moved me, the story of Ted Jeffries that
you told.
Speaker 5 (19:05):
He was an awesome guy. He was a great coach.
Great leader.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
And I remember his speeches at the end of practice.
You know, he was such a great guy. Never heard
him say a curse word the whole time I played
for him. I never heard him. I never had coaches
grabbing me and throwing me around or curse me. And later,
when I got to recruiting, I'd go visit some schools.
And I said, Lord have mercy, man. I'm glad I
(19:32):
didn't play for that guy. I wouldn't want one of
my kids or grandkids playing for that guy. And so
that kind of guided seeing the guys that I had
as a young coach. Man, they changed my life. And
then I went to college at McNeese. I had the
same thing. Had the same kind of coaches, same kind.
Speaker 5 (19:50):
Of guys.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
So that was kind of my picture of what a
coach should do. He should polish an old guy, teach
him football. I was fortunate. I played on winning teams.
I played on one of the best teams ever in Orange.
Speaker 5 (20:03):
At that time, we.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
Went to the state semifinal. Our quarterback, David Foster, was All-American,
and he separated his shoulder, broke his collarbone at the
bi-district game. Had he not got hurt, I have no
doubt we'd have won the state championship that year.
Speaker 4 (20:20):
You told the story during your speech that your coach
at McNeese State after the ball games, would go and
teach Sunday school the next morning.
Speaker 1 (20:29):
I thought that was a beautiful story.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Yeah. Last of all, last of all, he was a great,
great coach, you know.
Speaker 5 (20:36):
Had him, and then in.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
About halfway through, Jim Clark, the defensive coordinator, took over.
And just a wonderful guy. I spoke at his funeral
when he passed away. There's one of those guys left
named Hubert Bowles who coached at Jasper High School, went
to McNeese as head baseball coach and end coach. And
he was, for two years, my junior, senior year.
Speaker 5 (20:59):
He was my coach.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
He's 94. I still talk to him, and we hang up.
He says, I love you, R.C. Slocum. I said, I
love you too, Coach Bowles. I love you. And so
that's the kind of guys I had coaching me.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
You coached at a school of some pretty patriotic guys
as well. General Patton is reputed to have said, give
me an army of West Point graduates and I'll win
a battle. Give me a handful of Texas Aggies and
I'll win a war. That line has always stuck with me. Coach,
if I could ask you a question about the role
(21:32):
of a coach as a mentor. And this is what
you said during your speech.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
This is 705.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
I tell them one of the hard things, and I
experience this a lot, way too much. I had some
guys who had never had a man in their lives
that would put his hand on the shoulder and say, son,
I can't let you do that. That's not good for you.
I'm not going to let you stay out that later.
(21:59):
I'm not going to let you do.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
This or that.
Speaker 6 (22:02):
Or put his hand on his head and say, son,
I love you. I'm so proud of you, man.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
I never had that. And I wanted to be that
guy for a lot of them. And I got some
of them here. Some of them here call me dad.
And they call me on a regular basis. And it
was one of the real fun things. We won some games.
But the bigger mission that I had was saying, and
I always said this, someday when I meet the big
(22:26):
man upstairs, the big head coach, and he said, okay,
let's talk about what.
Speaker 6 (22:30):
You did down there. I gave you a hundred and.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Something young men every year for you to lead. And
let's talk about, yeah, I don't care about that.
Speaker 6 (22:38):
Not going for it on fourth down or any of that.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
I want to talk about those young men and what
you did for them, what kind of influence you were
with them. And I wanted to have good answers when
that time comes. And I think I do.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
Well, unfortunately, some of my best ideas come late in
the day. Last night, I sent a text to Jeff
Granger and Datwin and Bucky Richardson, who's written a little
something for us. And Shane Leckler and Shane Leckler was
able to turn around very quickly. A quick comment. I
asked him to talk about your role in his life.
And this is what Shane Leckler said.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Coach R.C.
Speaker 8 (23:13):
Slocum, 98 Big 12 champ coach.
Speaker 7 (23:16):
That was the top of the top whenever we played.
But it all goes back to 1994 when they recruited
me out of East Bernard, Texas. And I owe a
lot to that man because.
Speaker 8 (23:28):
18 years later, after I graduated from Texas A & M,
I had an NFL career that is not bad. But
it all goes back to probably the situation we got
put into that was kind of rough back conversation we
had in his office when he asked me to stop
playing quarterback and he was he made one of the
best decisions for me in my life if you could
(23:50):
just give yourself or your kids one lesson how about
just act like rc slocum in public that's how you're
supposed to act he didn't only teach it or preach
it he did it He changed the way I thought
about everything as far as football goes, as far as
family goes, as far as going to class goes.
Speaker 7 (24:10):
Although I had to run quite a bit because I
missed a few classes, but it's fine. He taught me that.
But whenever we got to the nitty gritty, like deep
down 1998 Big 12 championship game against Kansas State, no
one flinched because he didn't flinch. If he would have
flinched at any point in that game because they were
already chanting that they were going to go to the
(24:31):
national championship if we didn't beat them, we would have flinched.
He never blinked an eye, and we knew that that.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Was our leader.
Speaker 7 (24:39):
One of the best people I've ever met in my life,
and I don't mean as a coach.
Speaker 6 (24:43):
I mean as a human being, as.
Speaker 7 (24:45):
A man, and I want to thank him.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
I love him.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
I just have a few seconds left in this segment,
and then we'll come back to.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Our conversation with R.C. Slocum.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
I don't want him to have to start and stop.
But I hope this— look, I practically worship R.C.
Speaker 6 (25:08):
Slocum.
Speaker 4 (25:09):
I think so much of him. I'm so proud of
him because of the Orange Connection. First and foremost, it's
my dream that 16th Street and Simmons Drive would be renamed—
Wade and Bum Phillips Boulevard and R.C. Slocum Street or Drive.
I just that because of things like that, the lives
(25:33):
you change. But I hope everybody can take from that,
that we all should be more than just what our
job description says we are. Coach Slocum, thank you for
being with us.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Thanks for making time for us.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
Mr. Michael Perry. It's a great day to be alive,
and I'm excited to be on here with the old
orange boy.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
They fired him in 2002. 6-6.
Speaker 3 (26:16):
His only losing season in 14 years. He could have
gone anywhere. He stayed. Worked for the school another 24 years.
They put a bronze statue of the man outside Kyle Field.
Speaker 1 (26:30):
They got that right. Coach R.C. Slocum. Coach, you heard
what Shane Leckler had to say.
Speaker 4 (26:39):
I want to read one other player comment before I
ask you to speak to raising young men. Bucky Richardson
got my text this morning, and he said, Good morning, Michael.
Thanks for letting me share a few thoughts about my coach, R.C.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Slocum.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
He's the winningest coach in Texas A & M history.
He's a College Football Hall of Famer, and it was
an honor to be there at his statue unveiling with
him on Friday.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
Nobody is more deserving than Coach Slocum. I just think
it's really cool.
Speaker 4 (27:06):
That Coach has a statue outside of Kyle Field right
next to John David Crowe, Heisman Trophy winner. And I
know that John David Crowe and Coach Slocum were good buddies.
And that's just kind of a neat backstory. But when
you think about coaches' teams, you know in the past,
you think about the wrecking crew. Just the great defenses
that Coach Slocum had. He's an elite defensive coach, a
great leader. He won four conference titles in his head
coaching tenure, and I just loved playing for him. Coach
(27:29):
always emphasized character, accountability in life after football, and he
practiced what he preached, and it was an honor. Coach
was very demanding, but he was never mean to us,
and that's what great leaders do.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
And he always did things the right way.
Speaker 4 (27:43):
Coach, you know Coach won't tell you about some of
the stuff when he talks about life after football, but
a quick memory of mine. When my father passed in 2005,
it was a tough day for me personally, obviously losing
your father.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
And right before the service started.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
That day in Baton Rouge, I looked up and Coach
Slocum was walking down the aisle at the church to
be with me and to comfort me that day. And
those that have been through that know that that's something
I'll never forget. He did that for many former players.
So I'm speaking this morning on behalf of all those
former players. It was an honor to play for you, Coach.
Couldn't have asked for a better leader and mentor and
friend than Coach. Congrats on the statue.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
You deserve it. You're the best. And on behalf of
all your players, we all love you. Gig'em.
Speaker 4 (28:21):
I'm not sure what that final gig'em was for, but
I obviously felt the need to do that.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Coach, your family was there.
Speaker 4 (28:29):
You have a loving family, a loving wife. But to
have all these boys who you mean so much more
to them than a coach, that gets me choked up
to think about.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
What a difference you have made in these people's lives.
Speaker 5 (28:44):
Well, it's.
Speaker 2 (28:49):
The other day, I just ran out of time, but
every game I coached, we had a devotion before the game.
And it was, you know, come if you want to.
It wasn't a mandatory deal. But I'd say 90% of
the team showed up.
Speaker 5 (29:04):
I'd get a speaker from somewhere.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Dr. Rick Rigsby conducted a bunch of those or found
me a speaker. And I was there on the front row,
every one of those. I said, one reason why we
do this, This game is really important, but who you
are as a person and how we act today, all
that's more important. I want you to have your priorities right.
We're going out there to win and play to win,
(29:27):
but whatever we do, we're going to have some class
about it. I want you to know that the big
picture of things what's really important. So anyway, I'm really
proud of that fact.
Speaker 4 (29:39):
Coach, I wanted to get to one other thing to
make sure I got everything in from your speech that
was most important to me. And I think this says
a lot. I think this is a real life lesson
for all of us. After being dismissed, you tell the story.
Here you are coming back to A & M, and
you've never left.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
You're Mr.
Speaker 4 (29:56):
A & M to me and to a lot of people.
But this part of the story was most important, 706.
You know, I had opportunities, some good opportunities to go places.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
But the first night after I was dismissed, they had
press out in the front yard, and they wanted to
do interviews and everything. And both my sons at that
time were already Aggies, and they weren't happy. I said, hey,
we need to have a meeting. Get in here and
sit down. Texas A & M, number one, I got
into coaching. I knew how coaching worked. But Texas A &
(30:26):
M has been good to me. It's been good to
our family. It's been good to you. And I don't
want to hear one more word out of that.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
And I didn't.
Speaker 2 (30:34):
And because of taking that stand and not taking it
all somewhere else in a field of anger or pride
or whatever, now I've got all this beautiful picture of
all these Aggies, and it'll.
Speaker 6 (30:44):
Go on forever. I am so proud of that.
Speaker 4 (30:50):
In an era, not just in college football, but seemingly
in every aspect of life, the old-fashioned Orange, Texas values
of class and dignity, I think that's what you have displayed.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
And that is just so important.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Well, I just always I tried to do the right thing,
you know, and I probably didn't always do the right thing.
But that was very important to me just to take
the high road as you go through life. We all
have bad things happen to us, you know. And the
first I had a preacher tell me, the first human reaction,
I'll get them. I'll get him. It's the last thing
I ever do. He said, what you ought to do,
(31:30):
just back off. Don't fill yourself up with poison. Turn
them over to the Lord. He can look at them.
If they need to be gotten even with, he can
really do it. But don't you fill yourself up with poison.
So in this world, there's not one person that I
have any big grudge against. There are a couple I've
turned over to the Lord, but I don't do that.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
Coach, you are one of one, as the kids say.
Is there anything I didn't ask you you wanted to say?
I've got about a minute and a half, and I
know you've got to get.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Yeah, you know, I've got the McNeese SID calling me.
This next interview is the people at McNeese who I
want to do an interview with.
Speaker 5 (32:08):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
It's a great honor. They were great to me. That
school was great to me. And I've got a bunch
of dear teammates, great coaches and allowed me to be
the first guy in my family to go get a
college degree. I actually got two degrees. I got a
master's degree, too, before I went to Kansas City.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
Well, you are you are a living legend and so
much more than football to me.
Speaker 1 (32:30):
I'm proud that we're both from Orange and both from Riverside.
And you just.
Speaker 4 (32:34):
Just a couple of years behind my dad at Stark
High School. You have continued to make all of us
proud in every aspect of your life.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
You are a.
Speaker 4 (32:42):
Hallmark and a beacon of decency and goodness, and we
all love you, and I know I do, Coach.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
Thank you for taking time to share your story.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Appreciate all the nice comments, and I hope you have
a great day, my friend.
Speaker 4 (32:56):
And there you have it. And I'll say it one
more time at the risk of repetition. I would hope
that we take away from that not the greatness of R.C.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Slocum. He's made his mark.
Speaker 4 (33:11):
But that every single person, the secretary, the mid-level manager,
the CEO, the small business owner, the teacher, the coach,
the mailman, the mother who is taking care of those
kids in the household, the plant worker, the cop, the firefighter,
Every single one of us has an opportunity to be
(33:34):
so much more than our job title on our income
tax return and so much more than the primary vocation
or role that we think we play, whether we're a
caretaker or nurse or whatever that may be. And that
was the real reason I wanted to talk to R.C. Slocum, because,
you know, there's there's guys that have won a lot
(33:56):
of football games or baseball games or, in the Hall
of Fame as a player. But the real message to
me right here that every single one of us can
take away from that, I hope you will. So thank
you for your patience. If you're not an Aggie, I'm not.
I do admire what they do, which is bring the
damn bonfire back. But I do admire the school and
(34:19):
their values and what they have done. But thanks for
your patience through that, and I hope everybody got something
out of it.
Speaker 1 (34:26):
More Michael Perry shows.
Speaker 5 (34:29):
Here we go.
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