The Secrets of William and Mary Part 3: A Letter for the Football Team

On the Rough Road to Victory

When the football season started this year, students of the College of William and Mary believed that it was going to be just another year. A year full of empty stands at games, a year full of failed passes, and a year of quite frankly, apathy on the part of the students. But around 11 p.m. Friday night on a chilly December 11, sounds could be heard all across not only campus, but the city of Williamsburg as our team came one point away from a bid for the national championship.

But while our players may be thinking and hitting themselves in the locker room of what pass they could’ve caught more, what kick they could’ve kicked further, what tackle they could’ve hit harder, I really hope they realize just how big and instrumental an accomplishment they achieved for us today. A football team single-handedly united the College to become what we really are and what we really stand for: a Tribe. And that’s what makes them, quite frankly, amazing, and one of the well known secrets at William and Mary.

For to the untrained eye focused only on the likes of VT and UVA, they will never see just how much our football team describes the essence of the College of William and Mary.

At a nearby Buffalo Wild Wings where I was watching the game with buddies, the store was crowded with people when kickoff started at 8. With every block and tackle, the store yelled out in satisfaction. And when No. 81 Cameron Dohse (WR) caught a long pass and took it in for a 98 yard touchdown, I swear the whole store exploded with cheers.

The Tribe football team runs out of the locker rooms at the start of one of their home games. (Photo by Philip Delano - The Flat Hat)

Up until now, I guess I never really realized what exactly the meaning of “Tribe” stood for. It seems a bit awkward at first, because it’s not really a thing we can picture like a Cavalier or a Hokie. But as I looked around, as all throughout the College, eyes were turned to this game, whether it was on the large screen in the Sadler Center Commonwealth or the small TV in the language houses, I finally realized just how powerful the meaning of a
Tribe is.

A Tribe is the proud connection that we all share as students of the College of William and Mary. Superficially, we may associate ourselves as people of different ethnicities, hometowns, and social background, but deep down, we are, a Tribe. When one of our own falls down, the rest of us helps out, when one of our own is suffering, the rest of us cheer them on, when one of our own loses faith, the rest of us are along the sidelines, yelling for them to take that one extra step to the goal.

That is the meaning of the Tribe, and it’s a connection that is so often lost among the stresses of everyday life for a student. But it’s also something that no one loss could ever defeat. So while the rest of the world may remember today’s game as a one point loss for a bid to the championship, I urge the players of our football team to think
of it as a one point gain. For you all have accomplished something that many football teams have wished to achieve, but few ever do.

You guys have made your school and me proud to call ourselves members of the College of William and Mary Tribe.