Wake Forest Magazine, March 2007 - Past Issues - Wake Forest ...

COACH JIM GROBEand his Wake ForestDeacons were a testamentin 2006 to the oldsaying that if you livelong enough, you’re liableto see anything. Onlythose who have sufferedwith the Deacons overtheir largely unrequited 105-year affairwith football can really appreciate whatGrobe and his resourceful, resilientteam did on their stunning run to anACC championship and trip to Miamifor the Orange Bowl.Of all the adjectives used to describethe Deacons’ 11–3 season that includeda title-gamevictory overGeorgia Techin Jacksonville, the mostappropriate is “incomparable.”For never before hadWake Forest won morethan eight games in a seasonand only three timeshad it won more thanseven. Never before hadWake Forest played on asgrand a national stage as the OrangeBowl, where the Deacons proved theybelonged against Louisville by taking alead into the fourth quarter beforefalling 24–13. Never before had WakeForest captured college football’s fancywith its steadfast refusal to be flooredwithout a fight. And only once beforein the fifty-three-year historyof the ACC had Wake Forestwon the conference title.That was accomplished in 1970 witha 6–5 record so nondescript that theDeacons weren’t even invited to playin a bowl.“In every category that you lookat what this team accomplishedthis year, there’s nothing to compareit to,’’ said Director of AthleticsRon Wellman.Wellman has been at Wake Forestsince 1992. Many fans, includingalumnus Ashby Cook (’71), have beenaround much longer. Some have beenaround long enough to rememberwhen the Deacons were a laughingstock,not just of the ACC but collegefootball in general. In the fifty-fouryears of ACC play, the Deacons havehad more winless seasons (eight) thanwinning seasons (seven) against otherWake Forest’s incomparable and improbable season saw the Deacons capture only the school’s second ACC Championship in a9–6 win over Georgia Tech in Jacksonville, Florida, on December 2. Sophomore place-kicker Sam Swank (top) provided all thepoints and sent the Deacons on to the Orange Bowl.8 WAKE FOREST MAGAZINE