Opinion: NFL Films boss would love to lead rally for CC football

Let's just say Steve Sabol, Colorado College Class of 1965, is troubled by his alma mater's decision to amputate its football team.

Sabol serves as president of NFL Films and he's blessed with a special gift to make boring games seem impossibly exciting.

He played fullback for the Tigers. He's a member of CC's Hall of Fame.

And he's trying to comprehend the football program's extinction.

"It's like having a family member die," Sabol said from his office in suburban Philadelphia. "It's hurtful. It's shameful. It's outrageous. You're talking about a program that goes back 140 years."

Actually, Sabol was told, the program began in 1882.

"Well, OK," Sabol said, "but just to dismiss it in this cavalier fashion. ... Just to have it torched like this. There should be a special circle in hell reserved for the people who made this decision, and you can quote me on that one."

For decades, the Tigers resembled the zombies from "Night of the Living Dead." The football team was alive, but only kind of.

The Tigers recorded one winning season in the past 32 years. Tiny crowds gathered at Washburn Field, the oldest stadium west of the Mississippi.

Sabol wonders why CC declined to ask alums to help rescue the program.

He would have offered time and money, he said, and he's sure dozens, maybe even hundreds, of former players would have joined the crusade.

It didn't have to end like this, Sabol said.

He remembers a rich history. Sabol grew up in Villanova, Pa. He wanted to attend Harvard.

But Harvard placed him on a wait list, and while he was waiting he saw a photo of CC football legend Dutch Clark standing proudly in front of the Rockies.

Clark ranks as one of the great players in the NFL's infancy and a once-in-a-century offensive force for the Tigers. Clark played for CC from 1927 to 1929. He died in 1978.

This looks cool, Sabol said as he looked at Clark's photo. The mountains. The tradition. The glamour.

Forget Harvard. Sabol was headed to Colorado Springs.

"Hell, it was the greatest decision that I ever made," he said.

Now, his devotion to his alma mater has transformed to disdain.

When asked if he would continue to contribute to CC, Sabol laughed. It was not a happy laugh.

"Oh, I wouldn't give anything to them," he said. "Nothing. Not that I was that great a giver to begin with, but they had my affection and I certainly donated to the football program.

"This severs all my relations with the college."

Sabol played for coach Jerry Carle, who led the Tigers 33 seasons.

At practice, Carle drove his team, as good coaches do, to the brink of exhaustion and rebellion.

Yet Carle always revealed the reason behind his ruthlessness.

The Tigers would be tough in the fourth quarter, he promised. They would be aggressive when their opponents were weary.

"I'll be damned if we didn't win four games that season coming from behind in the fourth quarter," Sabol said.

He paused.

"And that's what we could have done with this. That's what we could have done with the football team."

He paused again.

"If the school had just waved some kind of red flag," said Sabol, who would have loved to lead one last late rally.