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I hold a brief and memorable encounter in my heart every
time I hear Bryan Urlacher’s name. On a cold winter night almost one and a
half decades ago, I watched him play basketball against my son’s high
school team. It was a hard-fought battle as Bryan’s team scored more points than my
son’s team did. Lovington always beat Artesia in basketball, but Artesia
got them in football every time.
Bryan
was a perpetual progress of hard work and success in everything he did.
After his high school graduation from Lovington
High School, we read in the
Albuquerque Journal he was playing football for the University of New
Mexico. He was an inside linebacker in his
freshman and sophomore years at the University, then was moved to the
lobo/free-safety position his junior and senior years by UNM S head coach
Rocky Long.
My husband and I made the one-way, four hour trip to Albuquerque several
times to watch Bryan Urlacher play football. It was no surprise to us to
learn of his 442 career tackles which won him the NCAA Division I Defenders
Award with 178 tackles in 1998.
“How did playing basketball help him on the football
field?” I asked my husband driving home one night after watching Bryan help defeat the New Mexico State Aggies from Las Cruces.
“Not sure, but today he was a one-man wrecking machine.”
“Maybe the Cowboys will draft him. Wow! How exciting
that would be?” I drifted into dreamland knowing the Cowboys would again be
on top.
“The Cowboys could use him, that’s for sure.” Pat
answered with his smile.
New Mexicans view Bryan
as: The Best, The Chosen One, A Media Icon, One of the State’s Favorite
Sons, and URL. He was the 1999 Mountain West Conference Player of the Year
and a Thorpe Award finalist for the country’s best defensive back. He was
also an All-American. I think New
Mexico knows a good thing when they see it.
In the April 14, 2000, Albuquerque Journal, Mel Kiper
Jr., a draft analyst for ESPN, rated Bryan
as the fifth-best senior college prospect in America. He was picked ninth by
the Chicago Bears making him the highest selected player from the University of New Mexico breaking Robin Cole’s
1977 twenty-first pick by the Pittsburg Steelers. Bryan was listed, in the draft, as his
character being his strongest point. Again, I say New Mexico knows a good thing when they
see it.
One night, our oldest son called to say he had tickets
to the Dallas Cowboys/Chicago Bears game at Texas Stadium. Excitement rose
as game day finally arrived. We were again going to see New Mexico’s Favorite, and we could not
wait to get to the game. We made a sign that read:
Bryan Urlacher
you played
basketball
against my son
About halfway
into the third quarter, the announcement came that Bryan did not make the trip due to
illness. My poster suddenly became very heavy. Most of the people in the
stadium were wearing his jersey. Moans rang out. Oh Well! The Cowboys won
the game.
Bryan’s
basketball skills are not known by many, but he hosted an AFC ALL-STARS vs.
NFC ALL-STARS Basketball Extravaganza in Albuquerque in 2001. Fifteen National
Football League players participated in this event and proceeds went to
benefit the New Mexico America Football League. Thousands of youngsters
have benefited from this football showdown.
But basketball
is not his talent. This Chicago line backer
who was named as the 2005 National Football League’s Defensive Player of
the Year, and is deemed Chicago’s
poster boy, has been pegged as the silent quarterback for his Bear’s team.
His intelligence for defensive signals allows him to think beyond the game
and helps him guide the Bears defense against the opposing offenses.
He is all
business on the field and has been the key factor in bringing the Bears
their participation in Super Bowl XLI against the Colts. (I found an
interesting stat, both teams have scored 427 points this football season.)
For Super Bowl
XLI, move over Dallas, the Bears are playing
for the championship with New
Mexico s Favorite Native Son leading the way. And
New Mexico
will salute him once more, as their chosen one, the most successful Lobo
football player ever.
2007 Carol Dee
Meeks
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