Rites of Autumn- Quotes

Former Auburn Running Back Bo Jackson on the Auburn/Alabama Rivalry:
"There is a Passion that I can't explain, you have to grow up in the Southeast. You have to live it, you have to breathe it, you have to eat it. If Auburn and Alabama played on Sundays, there wouldn't be a word such as church in the state. There wouldn't be any Sunday school, there wouldn't be anything."

USC Coach John McKay on African American Sam Cunningham's Dominating Performance Against an All-White Alabama Team in 1970
"Martin Lurther King was a great man - a great man - but Sam Cunningham did more to integrate the South tonight than he did."

Wisconsin Alumnus Donna Shalala on the School's "5th Quarter" Tradition
"I learned how to do the chicken dance. It wasn't easy for a stuffy academic like me to learn the chicken dance. But if you wanted to be part of the "5th Quarter" you had to learn how to dance like a chicken."

Heisman Trophy Winner and Navy Midshipman Roger Staubach on the Army/Navy Rivalry
"The first day (at Annapolis) you get your head shaved and get an orientation by the superintendent and at the end you say "Beat Army," so right away you know that this is a big deal."

Heisman Trophy Winner Pete Dawkins on the Army Brotherhood
"All of us feel we're part of a very special brotherhood. Douglas MacArther was very much a part of our world. He talked to us and talked about now our responsibility wasn't just to our teammates and not just to the Army team, but to the ghosts of a million soldiers."

USC Alumnus Lynn Swann on the Trojans' Rivalry with UCLA
"My senior year, we were playing UCLA. They had on brand-new powder blue jerseys, they had brand new shoes. They were pumas with the blue stripe and they just looked, you know, unbelievably cool. You know? And they had little roses on their jerseys. They were going to the Rose Bowl. Not! Not that day. Not that year. You know, we took them apart. I mean, it was like the best feeling to see those guys over there crying on the sidelines 'cause they weren't getting to the Rose Bowl, because they were so arrogant and thought this was their time. It's never your time unless you make it your time. And USC wouldn't allow them to make it their time."

Former UCLA Bruin Mark Harmon on his Father's (Tom) Heisman
"I used to try and fall asleep in the shape of the Heisman Trophy, with a football, you know...you ever tried to sleep that way? Pretty Hard."

Cornell Red Radier Ed Marinaro (A Heisman Trophy Runner-Up) on Dreaming about College Football
"I dreamt about being an All-American more than I dreamt about being a pro football player. I remember as a kid watching the Bob Hope show and seeing them introduce the All-American team and I thought that was pretty cool."

Former Notre Dame All-American Joe Theisman on the Notre Dame Mystique
"I've been lucky enough to play in world championships and play in front of the biggest crowds that have ever seen football games. Nothing compares to that first opportunity when you run out of that tunnel into Notre Dame Stadium"

Beano Cook on Legendary Coach Knute Rockne
"The most important figure of the 20th century in college football is Knute Rockne. He won national titles. And he made people who had no interest in college football, care about college football"