PM Show Hr 2 | Talking to College Football Legend Coach R. C. Slocum

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

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

(00:40):
in conference play. Three straight Southwest Conference Championships.

Speaker 4 (00:44):
Then.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
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 total defense. At home, he lost 12 games in

(01:05):
14 years. 11 bowl trips, 64 players to the NFL,
8 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. College Football Hall of Fame and a

(01:25):
bronze statue outside Kyle Field.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
Coach R.C. Slocum.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
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.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
Than coaching.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
But that's always the vehicle that gets us there. First
of all, congratulations, Coach Slocum, and thank you for being
with us. Thanks for making time for us.

Speaker 4 (02:00):
Thank you. It's a great day to be alive and
I'm excited to be on here with the old orange boy.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
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 people want to Football history, people want to
talk football, but I want to talk about the man

(02:32):
that is R.C. 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

(02:54):
in Riverside. In orange, and I want to play the
clip of what you said there for people to hear. 701.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
A fun journey.

Speaker 4 (03:05):
It wasn't always easy.

Speaker 5 (03:08):
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 2 (03:28):
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 4 (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,
started in 2000, 2021. And I had stage four cancer. And,
you know, if you could And of course, thought went
through my mind, this might be the end of the deal,

(03:59):
but my faith kept me strong through that, plus, And
if it's my time to go, I told the good Lord,
I've had 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.

(04:20):
He must not have been finished with me, you know,
because I'm still here. The cancer's gone. So it's been,
you know, it's always something that, it guided me and
do throughout my life, you know, it was something that
was always there, always at belief, always, it always, you know,

(04:41):
got me through the rough spots and it kept me
from getting too carried away with the good spots because
I always knew that, uh, it was, everything was a blessing. And, uh, my,
my mother, one time my mother was out there and, uh,
She was on the service road coming out of Orange,
and she had a flat. And I said, and she said, well,

(05:05):
you know, it's just a blessing. I said, mother, how
on earth could that be a blessing? She was 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. I need
people to call me. Whatever it was, she turned it
into a blessing. You know, I learned a lot of
that from my mother.

Speaker 2 (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.

Speaker 1 (05:36):
How do you respond to that?

Speaker 4 (05:38):
I respond that there's no truth to that at all.

Speaker 1 (05:41):
Is that right?

Speaker 4 (05:43):
Dr. 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

(06:03):
my mind, I've got to get to 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 by another hour or so, the

(06:25):
head of the lymphoma department, Dr. Nathan Fowler, called me.
He was out walking his dog, and he said, Coach,
I'm sorry to hear about your deal. And, you know,
unless he's, you know, he's not really in a long war.
He went to University of Houston, I think.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
Oh, even better. That's my alma mater.

Speaker 4 (06:44):
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 to?
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,

(07:05):
I said, man, Doc, this is hard, man. I was
taking four different medications in that chemo. It took 12 rounds.
He said, yeah, I know how hard it is. 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. Yeah, that's... He got it done. I'm back.
I have no pain. I feel great. I'm still playing

(07:27):
some golf. I went dove hunting yesterday with my son
and grandson, which is a real blessing. Anyway, I'm good.
I'm still going.

Speaker 6 (07:37):
I'm 81.

Speaker 4 (07:37):
I'll be 82 in November.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
Yeah, you're three days older than me. You're November 7th.
I'm November 10th.

Speaker 2 (07:43):
We talked about that one time. I am glad to
dispel this scurrilous 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 (07:59):
How did you do it?

Speaker 4 (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.
And so I said, you know, Mike Brown and I
did a deal down there about six months ago, a fundraiser.
We raised a million and a half dollars in one night.
And I sat with Dr. Pete's tribute poster that night
at my table.

Speaker 1 (08:19):
Coach, hold with me for just a moment. Coach R.C.
Slocum is our guest. You are listening to the Michael
Berry Show.

Speaker 6 (08:24):
123 wins.

Speaker 3 (08:24):
Nobody in the history of Texas A & M football
has won more. The 98 Big 12 Championship beat number
one Kansas State in double overtime and blew up their
national title run. 14 years, 12 losses at Kyle Field.

Speaker 1 (08:50):
Coach, R.C. Slocum. The R.C.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
Slocum story is so much bigger than football, and I
love stories like this because they are inspiring. This was
Coach 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 5 (09:17):
We never bemoaned our circumstance. 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 2 (09:31):
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

(09:53):
to each other. But you talked about, as a young man,
they called you Shine. And I think it's important to
understand that.

Speaker 1 (09:50):
You know, I remember the supermarket in Riverside. They had
a supermarket and they had a barbershop in there.

Speaker 4 (10:12):
Yeah, 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. We was
down on Destroyers. Yep. and lived down there. So I

(10:37):
had a little shoebox and I went up there, I
shined shoes there and then 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,

(10:57):
and they had two chairs. I said, you know what?
I can make twice as much if I want. 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. I'll be back tomorrow. So I
went back and told my first guy how much I
appreciated it and everything. But I got a chance to...

(11:19):
increased 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

(11:43):
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. Oh, man.
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.

(12:06):
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,
from a shoeshine boy from Orange, Texas. Anyway, it's been
a fun ride.

Speaker 2 (12:25):
I think a lot of the boys that played for
you over the years 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.

Speaker 4 (12:48):
Let 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 to
get through the street. And the people, I learned so
much about life. Almost all the people there were there

(13:08):
because 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. They were good family, good parents.
And they just were poor because most of them didn't
have any education. So they became a parent to me
very early on. And my parents stressed that to me, that, son,

(13:31):
you've got to get an education.

Speaker 2 (13:34):
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 (13:45):
I want to play this next clip. This was R.C.

Speaker 2 (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 5 (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.
You know, I learned the answer to that through newspapers.

Speaker 1 (14:14):
And then I.

Speaker 5 (14:15):
Got a route where I I sold the orange leader
and had a paper route.

Speaker 1 (14:20):
So I go collect.

Speaker 5 (14:21):
I'm not going to door some of the nicest people
there because primarily.

Speaker 1 (14:25):
A lack of education.

Speaker 4 (14:27):
So I had an early age.

Speaker 5 (14:29):
I had a strong sense of how important education is,
to get from wherever you are. If you're at a
good level, that'll help you get higher, 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.

Speaker 1 (14:47):
Hard work and you can get out of there.

Speaker 5 (14:49):
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. There's a way out. 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 2 (15:06):
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.

Speaker 1 (15:19):
Came up and were coaching.

Speaker 2 (15:21):
It's just important that we tell young people that because
I don't think a lot of people are hearing that.

Speaker 1 (15:25):
They're hearing the contrary.

Speaker 4 (15:27):
No, I was with the guy yesterday when we was
dove hunting and 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

(15:50):
so indebted. These Hispanic people that live in the state
of Texas, I don't know what we'd do if we
didn't have them here. They're doing all kinds, all of
our agriculture. Every time you go through these housing developments
where houses are being built, I see a high percentage
of Hispanic workers. They come early, and it seems like

(16:11):
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 that's kind of... You know, I
grew up with that thing of get up and go
to work. You know what I'm saying? Come on, son.
We've got work to do out here. You learn how
to work, and you learn to take pride in your work.

Speaker 1 (16:30):
Right there.

Speaker 2 (16:31):
Coach R.C. Slocum is our guest coming up. Orange, Texas.

(16:51):
Stark High School.

Speaker 3 (16:52):
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.

Speaker 1 (17:07):
Hall of Famer. Our friend, Coach R.C. Slocum.

Speaker 2 (17:13):
If you don't know the story of Hall of Fame
coach Ted Jeffries, much like R.C. Slocum, it's a story
far bigger than football.

Speaker 1 (17:22):
This is R.C.

Speaker 2 (17:24):
Slocum telling the story at his speech that he gave
during the unveiling of the statue in his honor at
Texas A & M.

Speaker 1 (17:31):
Over the weekend. Ted Jeffries is his name. Remember that name.

Speaker 4 (17:35):
So I went out.

Speaker 5 (17:36):
Next year, I had Coach Bob Woodruff.

Speaker 4 (17:37):
Great coach, great man.

Speaker 5 (17:39):
Then I played for a Hall of Fame coach, Ted Jeffries.
I'll tell you what kind of guy he was. In 1941,
on December 6th, his team at Wichita Falls won the
state championship in Texas. We all know what happened December 7th.
December the 8th, he and all of his seniors went
out and signed up for the draft. And then he

(18:02):
went to Stephen F.

Speaker 4 (18:02):
Austin.

Speaker 5 (18:03):
He coached Bum Phillips and Spike Dykes and Stephen F.
And then he retired. Then he came out of retirement
and came to Orange and coached me for two or
three years there. And we went to state semifinals my
senior year.

Speaker 1 (18:17):
Those kinds of stories.

Speaker 2 (18:19):
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.

Speaker 1 (18:27):
To University of Oregon.

Speaker 2 (18:28):
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. Those stories move me,
the story of Ted Jeffries that you told.

Speaker 4 (18:49):
He was an awesome guy. He was a great coach.
Great leader. 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. You know,
they just didn't. I never had coaches grabbing me and
throwing me around or curse me. And later, when I

(19:11):
got to recruiting, I'd go visit some schools. And I said,
Lord have mercy, man. I'm glad I didn't play for
that guy. And 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.

(19:32):
Had the same kind of coaches, same kind of guys.
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.
At that time, we went to the state semifinal. Our quarterback,

(19:54):
David Foster, was All-American. 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 2 (20:05):
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. I thought that was
a beautiful story.

Speaker 4 (20:16):
Yeah. Blessed of all. Blessed of all. He was a great,
great coach, you know. Had him, and then.
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

(20:38):
to McNeese as head baseball coach, and... in coach and
he was for two years my junior senior year here's
my coach he's 94 i still talk to him and
we hang up he said i love you rc slocum
i said i love you too coach bowl and so
that's the kind of guys i had coaching.

Speaker 2 (20:56):
Me 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.

Speaker 4 (21:08):
And I'll win a war.

Speaker 1 (21:10):
That line has always stuck with me.

Speaker 2 (21:12):
Coach, if I could ask you a question about the
role of a coach as a mentor. And this is
what you said during your speech.

Speaker 1 (21:22):
This is 705.

Speaker 5 (21:23):
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 was put his hand on the shoulder and said, son,
I can't let you do that. That's not good for you.
I'm not going to let you. I'm going to let

(21:44):
you stay out that later. I'm not going to let
you do this or that. Put his hand on it
and said, son, I love you. I'm so proud of you, man.
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.
They call me on a regular basis. And it was
one of the real fun things. We won some games.

(22:07):
But the bigger mission that I had was saying, and
I always said this, someday when I meet the big
man upstairs, the big head coach, and he said, okay,
let's talk about what you did down there. I gave
you a hundred and something young men every year for
you to lead. And let's talk about, yeah, I don't
care about that. Not going for it on fourth down
or any of that. I want to talk about those

(22:28):
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 2 (22:38):
Well, unfortunately, some of my best ideas come late in
the day. Last night, I sent a text to Jeff
Granger and Dat Wynn 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 4 (22:59):
Coach R.C.

Speaker 7 (22:59):
Slocum, 98 Big 12 champ coach.

Speaker 8 (23:02):
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.

Speaker 7 (23:13):
Because 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 conversation we had
in his office when he asked me to stop playing quarterback.
And he was, he made one of the best decisions

(23:34):
for me in my life. If you could just give
yourself or your kids one lesson.

Speaker 1 (23:40):
How about just act like R.C. Slocum in public? That's
how you're supposed to act.

Speaker 7 (23:44):
He did He didn't only teach it or preach it,
he did it.

Speaker 6 (23:48):
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, although I had to run
quite a bit because I missed a few classes, but
it's fine.

Speaker 1 (24:01):
He taught me that.

Speaker 4 (24:02):
But whenever we.

Speaker 6 (24:03):
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 national championship if we
didn't beat them, we would have flinched.

Speaker 1 (24:22):
He never blinked an eye, and we knew that that
was our leader.

Speaker 6 (24:25):
One of the best people I've ever met in my life,
and I don't mean as a coach. I mean as
a human being, as a man, and I want to
thank him.

Speaker 1 (24:33):
I love him.

Speaker 2 (24:39):
I just have a few seconds left in this segment,
and then we'll come back to.

Speaker 1 (24:45):
Our conversation with R.C. Slocum.

Speaker 2 (24:47):
I don't want him to have to start and stop.
But I hope this— look, I practically worship R.C.

Speaker 1 (24:55):
Slocum.

Speaker 2 (24:56):
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

(25:20):
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. Thanks for making time for us.

Speaker 4 (25:35):
Mr. Michael Berry. It's a great day to be alive,
and I'm excited to be on here with the old
orange boy.

Speaker 2 (25:42):
They fired him in 2002.

Speaker 3 (25:52):
Six and six. His only losing season in 14 years.
He could have gone anywhere.

Speaker 1 (25:59):
He stayed.

Speaker 3 (26:00):
Worked for the school another 24 years. They put a
bronze statue of the man outside Kyle Field.

Speaker 1 (26:07):
They got that right. Coach R.C. Slocum. Coach, you heard
what Shane Leckler had to say.

Speaker 2 (26:16):
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 1 (26:31):
Slocum.

Speaker 2 (26:32):
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 (26:40):
Nobody is more deserving than Coach Slocum.

Speaker 2 (26:43):
I just think it's really cool 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

(27:05):
titles in his head coaching tenure. And I just loved
playing for him. Coach always emphasized character, accountability in life
after football.

Speaker 1 (27:13):
And he practiced what he preached. And it was an honor.
Coach was very demanding.

Speaker 2 (27:18):
But he was never mean to us, and that's what
great leaders do. And he always did things the right way. 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. And right before the service started that day

(27:38):
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
that's 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

(27:59):
friend than Coach. Congrats on the statue.

Speaker 1 (28:01):
You deserve it. You're the best. And on behalf of
all your players, we all love you. Gig'em. I'm not
sure what that final gig'em was for, but I felt
the need to do that.

Speaker 2 (28:12):
Coach, your family was there. 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, man,
that gets me choked up to think about. What a
difference you have made in these people's lives.

Speaker 4 (28:31):
Well, I thought that was what I was supposed to do.
You know, one thing hasn't been mentioned. 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.

(28:53):
I'd get a speaker from somewhere. 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. And

(29:14):
I want you to have your priorities right. We're going
out there to win and play to win, but whatever
we do, we're going to have some class about it.
And I want you to know that the big picture
of things is what's really important. So anyway, I'm really
proud of that fact. I love that.

Speaker 2 (29:31):
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 (29:48):
You're Mr. A & M to me and to a
lot of people. But this part of the story was
most important, 706.

Speaker 5 (29:55):
You know, I had opportunities, some good opportunities to go places, 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, you know. I said, hey,
we need to have a meeting. Get in here and
sit down. Texas A & M, number one, I got

(30:18):
into coaching.

Speaker 4 (30:19):
I knew how coaching worked.

Speaker 5 (30:21):
But... Texas A & M has been good to me.
It's been good to our family.

Speaker 4 (30:26):
It's been good to you.

Speaker 1 (30:27):
And I don't want to hear one more word out
of that. And I didn't.

Speaker 5 (30:32):
And because of taking that stand and not taking off
somewhere else in a fit of anger or pride or whatever,
now I've got all this beautiful picture of all these Aggies,
and it'll go on forever.

Speaker 4 (30:43):
I'm so proud of that.

Speaker 2 (30:49):
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,
and that is just so important.

Speaker 4 (31:09):
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, he said, first human reaction,
he said, I'll get them, I'll get him, it's the

(31:30):
last thing I ever do. He said, what you ought
to do, just back off, don't fill yourself up with poison,
turn them over to the Lord. If they, 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, you know. So, in this world, there's
not one person that I have any big grudge against
or anything like that. There are a couple I've turned

(31:50):
over to the Lord, but I don't do that.

Speaker 2 (31:58):
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 4 (32:05):
Yeah, you know, I've got the McNeese SID calling me
this next interview. The people at McNeese want to do
an interview with me, which is a great honor. They
were great to me. That school was great to me.
I've got a bunch of dear teammates, great coaches, and
allowed me to be the first guy in my family

(32:25):
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 2 (32:32):
Well, you are a living legend and so much more
than football to me. I'm proud that we're both from
Orange and both from Riverside, and you just 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. You are a hallmark and
a beacon of decency and goodness, and we all love you,

(32:54):
and I know I do, Coach.

Speaker 1 (32:56):
Thank you for taking time to share your story.

Speaker 4 (32:58):
Appreciate all the nice comments, and I hope you have
a great day, my friend.

Speaker 2 (33:05):
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 (33:16):
Slocum. He's made his mark.

Speaker 2 (33:20):
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

(33:43):
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

(34:05):
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

(34:28):
their values and what they have done. But thanks for
your patience through that, and I hope everybody got something
out of it.

Speaker 4 (34:40):
Good night.