I Caught a Pass From Ty – Part 1

Sports Illustrated - December 10, 1990 

It was Christmas morning 1990, about 4am. I snuck up the stairs of grandma’s house, one slow step at a time, being sure not to wake the adults. I knew if I were caught, I would be sent back to bed only to wait another few hours to see what Santa brought! This would not happen, it could not happen.

I was 10 years old, the Berlin wall had fallen, MC Hammer was making his entertainment entrance, and come to find out his grand finale. And most importantly, a junior quarterback at BYU had just won the prestigious Heisman Trophy, the first ever in school history. And to a 10 year old kid in southeast Idaho, and a raving BYU football fan, nothing was more exciting, or more inspiring.

As I reached the top of stairs, I turned left into the kitchen and made my way towards the dining room and into the living room. Every step, silently waiting to hear of movement anywhere else in the house. My queue to hurry back downstairs as fast as I could!

As the living room couch came into view, something caught my eye. While there were presents under the sparkling lit tree and a stocking full of snacks and goodies, even those mini cereal boxes Santa brought us every year, nothing else existed, save it be the shiny cover of Sports Illustrated, propped up against a red stocking, with a life size shot of Ty Detmer, back in the pocket ready to pass.

“Ty's Prize” was in big which bold letters across the top. I had adopted Ty as a hero that entire season. I had watched every game, I went crazy when they toppled Miami in September, and waited anxiously every Sunday for the new rankings to come out in the Sunday newspaper. (That’s what we had to do before ESPN.com existed!)

I remember throwing a football over and over, into a tire hanging by tree in the back yard. Mimicing every move Ty made that season, I dreamt of becoming a BYU quarterback great, like Jim McMahan, Steve Young, Robbie Bosco, and Ty.

I wrote him a couple letters and he even responded with a little card on BYU letterhead, “Dear Greg, Thanks for your support, Best W

ishes. Ty Detmer #14”. The day that came in the mail might have been one of the most valuable pieces of mail I’d ever receive, save it be a letter I received about 9 years later from church headquarters.

For the next several years, I followed his career into the NFL from the Packers, Eagles, to 49ers, Lions and Falcons. He was larger than life to me through my teenage years. It wasn’t until years later, as I sat across from him at a small table in a smaller BBQ joint in Austin, Texas, that the true measure of that man, and his value to those around him, hit me like a ton of bricks, and my childhood hero, became my lifelong hero.

To Be Continued...