SFA88 said:

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The writers at www.arizonasports.com named SFA alum, Larry Centers, as one of the Cardinals 5 best draft day steals.

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Watched him play several times, including in the 1-AA National Championship game at Georgia Southern. (A game we could have - should have - won.) He was a good one at both the collegiate and pro levels.

Jacks4460 said:

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I played with LC at SFA and he was a beast on the practice field which is what made him so good in the games.. Only person that would work harder was Pat Jackson a WR from John Tyler.. These two would practice running the length of the field like they were scoring a TD on every play..

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Memories! I was at a few games during the National Championship playoff run, including the final in Statesboro, GA. Did you play that year? I still have the program and (I think) the local Statesboro newspaper from the day of that game.

I came in with the 89 signing class on full scholarship..Redshirted that 89 season which made me a scout team leader.. I can tell you we worked our butts off because if we didn't have our head on a swivel then LC and Frog(Anthony Landry) would light us up.. best story I have is coach Graves taking David Whitmore's helment from him because he was hurting to many people at practice... It didn't matter to Whit tho he would still hit you...i did travel to Statesboro for the Championship Game.. what a great experience..

Jacks4460 said:

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...i did travel to Statesboro for the Championship Game.. what a great experience..

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Yeah. There was a "massive" crowd of about 100 SFA fans there in that overflow crowd of about 20,000. I remember Lee Greenwood singing "God Bless the USA" to a thunderous applause after the game. That helped to ease the pain of the loss... a little. The better team didn't win that day.

edstile said:

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Jacks4460 said:

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...i did travel to Statesboro for the Championship Game.. what a great experience..

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Yeah. There was a "massive" crowd of about 100 SFA fans there in that overflow crowd of about 20,000. I remember Lee Greenwood singing "God Bless the USA" to a thunderous applause after the game. That helped to ease the pain of the loss... a little. The better team didn't win that day.

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Amen sir we sure didnt win.. I also love coach Graves.. I am not sure on why he even got fired or quit. We would do anything for that man. Think that showed that year.. What a coaching staff we had.. Bradley Dale,Coach Zamanski,Gary DeLoach,Coach Phil Bounds...

I mean, in fairness had we won that game we would've been known as that school who had a national title stripped for violation of NCAA rules, so looking back on it it's almost as if that game never even counted for us.

I can see your point.. What were the rules violations anyways?

I think something really stupid, but enough that the NCAA would have vacated the title had we won.

I heard it was the coach paying players for doing odd jobs on the side.

I was on that team as a fresh and I never saw the guys with alot of cash. I know LC and Whit would always borrow my car to go back to Tatum or Dangerfield and they would bring it back full of gas and clean. I hung around with them and they really never had alot of cash so to say.. They were roomates at University Woods...Those two really didnt have anything and if coach was getting them money then he didnt get them very much.. We were told it was because of some academic issues with some of the players that played..But who really knows.. We had a hell of a squad.. He has passed away but who from Nac remeber Mervin Jones?? Lived next to him for 2 years in Hall 20... I loved going to his grandmas on the southeast side of town on Sundays evenings for supper... Cornbread,kneck bones,rice,and always something sweet.. RIP Big Merv!!

Honestly I'd love to see a story about the 1989 SFA team.
Dare I say the best FCS team to not win a title? Probably not. But let's go with it.

That would be great.. I couldn't write the story but I could give a lot of good info and get the story writer whomever he/she would want to interview...