Aug. 15, 2002
This is another "B" Line column, a periodic collection of news items of particular interest to members of the Baylor "B" Association. Contribute news about you or your teammates via e-mail to Dutch Schroeder (Dutch_Schroeder@baylor.edu), Reba Cooper (Reba_Cooper@baylor.edu), Kyle Penney,(Kyle_Penney@baylor.edu) or Jack Loftis (Jack.Loftis@chron.com). The mailing address is Baylor "B" Association, P. O. Box 8120, Waco, TX 76714
WHEN THE CALL CAME - As the nation prepares tributes to those who lost their lives in events of Sept. 11, 2001, the Rev. Sam Porter also will be reflecting on the call for aid he received immediately after the collapse of the first tower at New York's World Trade Center. The former Baylor defensive end now works for the Oklahoma Baptist Convention in Oklahoma City as Men's Ministry Director and also as the body's disaster relief specialist, involving 1,700 churches. In a recent letter to Roger Goree, the Baylor Athletic Department's all-around guy, Porter says he was contacted to assemble his teams primarily because of the experience they had gained while being involved in another national tragedy - the 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City. Porter graduated from Baylor in 1975 with a BA degree in Religion and pastored throughout Oklahoma for 20 years before assuming his current position with the OBC. After getting the call for help, it took Porter and five other volunteers two days before a private plane could be located and prepared for the mercy mission. "When I arrived I was placed in charge of the Chaplaincy in the temporary morgue at Ground Zero," Porter said. "We had access to the entire site and I can tell you that the Lord gave us strength during those days - encouraging firemen, police and construction workers and also praying with them. We literally laid hands on and prayed over every body bag that came out of the rubble for the first 1 1/2 weeks." . . .
THERE FOR CLOSING - Porter has made five subsequent trips to New York over the past 11 months, the most recent coming back in June when he and 21 other Oklahomans participated in the so-called "closing ceremony" at Ground Zero. He says hundreds of times New Yorkers have asked him 'Where is God in this?' "I would say, well God is in this by you and me, and thousands of people pulling together and praying together, rising up and saying, 'We're going to make it'" Porter said. Porter related to Goree that he believes that much of his NYC ministry reflects back to his days as a Baylor athlete. "Especially when I was discouraged over not getting to play, or when Baylor just could not get over the hump to win," he said. "All of us probably wanted to quit at some point, but hanging in there during the tough times molded our lives into something that trained us to lead others through tough times as well." Porter also promised Goree that if the minister could ever be of assistance to Baylor's athletes, he would be willing to share his testimony with them as a group or on a one-on-one basis. "I would be thrilled and would consider it a way to pay back to Baylor in a small way for paying my way through college," the letter concluded.
TEACHER VS. TEACHER - Many Baylor athletes should remember David McHam, who covered sports for the Waco Tribune-Herald while he was a BU student in the 1950s and again while he taught in the Baylor Journalism Department in the 1960s. He says one of his most memorable experiences occurred in 1962 following a University of Houston contest with Baylor in Waco. "It was a night game and it seemed to go on forever," McHam said. "I was assigned post-game coverage and went to the Bears' dressing room first. That went fine so then I went over to the UH dressing room and discovered that the writers had been locked out." McHam said he looked at his watch and realized deadlines were quickly approaching. That is when he began pounding on the door until a student manager opened it. "I demanded to see Yeoman and he finally came to the door," McHam said. "I told him I knew it was his first year in the big leagues - the Southwest Conference - but he must learn that you don't treat writers that way." Instead of getting mad, Yeoman - one of the greatest teachers in SWC history - just smiled and granted McHam - who would go on to gain national honors as a journalism professor - his interview. McHam said Yeoman never forgot the incident and still laughs about it. That's just fine - because they are apt to meet again. After working at Baylor, SMU and UT at Arlington, McHam is now in his second year of teaching at - where else? - UH.
JACK LOFTIS
CO-CHAIRMAN
COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
