Former Vikings Won’t Give Up on Western Washington Football

James Bible, a former running back, offers the thought in a manner as straightforward as a dive play.

“I wouldn’t be an attorney and the president of our NAACP chapter if I hadn’t attended Western Washington University and played football,” he said. “There’s no question in my mind.”

The oldest of 10 children, raised in a single-parent home, Bible has seen painful glimpses of what he could’ve been if not for Western Washington. He’s seen too many of his siblings go to jail. He’s had to bury one who was murdered. It’s not too dramatic to say the school — especially the Vikings football program — saved his life.

He found himself in Bellingham in the mid-1990s, after roaming from the Idaho and Washington football programs. During his time there, he struggled emotionally after learning his family was wandering around Seattle homeless, but the players and coaches in that football program kept him calm and focused.

“They spent so much time to make sure I carried through with what my objective was,” Bible said.

After reminiscing, he sighed.

“That’s why I’m so disappointed to hear that the football program has been eliminated,” Bible said.

And that’s why, nearly three weeks after the decision, he won’t quit making a big deal of it. Neither will hundreds of players and coaches who came through that program.

They have a Web site, www.savewwufootball.com. They’ve secured pledges to donate more than $500,000 to the athletic department if football is reinstated. And they anticipate the pledges will increase over the next few weeks.

They’ve sent thousands of letters and e-mails to people of influence — politicians, university officials, the board of trustees. They’ve held rallies and have another one planned for Monday in Olympia.

On Jan. 8, Western Washington President Bruce Shepard made the football axing public knowledge, citing the hefty expenses of running the program and cuts in state funding. But this football community cannot stomach that Shepard eliminated a 98-year staple of the university without first seeking help from the alumni. And now he’s saying the move is irreversible? They can’t take it.

Never tell a bunch of old football players it’s over. They won’t listen, especially if there’s no clock winding down to zero.

“We know the odds are against us,” said Jason Stiles, a former quarterback. “We liken it to being down in the fourth quarter. And we’ve never been taught to quit.”

If the concrete on Shepard’s decision was still wet on Jan. 8, it’s dry now — solid, cold and impenetrable. He’s made that clear in meetings with former football players.

Nevertheless, they will keep applying pressure. Why? The program means too much to them.

So in a hopeless time, they’re hopeful.

In a seemingly worthless pursuit, they’re pointing out why football is worthwhile.

“We don’t make it on our own,” Bible said. “We all need help.”

Bible remembers the athletic program posted a bulletin board touting the grade-point averages of its best students. He wanted to be on that board so bad. When he made it, he was so proud.

More than a decade later, he’s a lawyer and the leader of Seattle’s NAACP chapter. “On some levels, I don’t think my story is unique,” Bible said. “A lot of football players, especially African-American football players, found their way there.”

On the day the program was yanked, Bible was talking to a judge who also happened to be a WWU football alum. The judge told him, “If it wasn’t for Western Washington football, I’d be on somebody’s farm milking cows.”

Bible nodded knowingly. Then he told his story. On that day, the lawyer and judge joined the crowd, a bunch of athletes who won’t stop fighting to save a program that saved them.

Some might call their efforts futile. Good thing football taught them to focus.

Jerry Brewer: 206-464-2277 or [email protected]