Football, Fame, and Good Fortune |
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The first time I saw a football as a little guy, my father had thrown it so high in the air I never thought I'd be able to catch it. As it turned out, I never did catch it very well, but I did learn to run and block and tackle. By the time I was 10, I knew I wanted to be a football coach. . . . My football career really started at the University of Maine after World War II. . . . It was then and there that the Delaware Wing T was actually created. . . . It was always my goal to be a head coach and I became one at Ithaca College in 1967, at age 40. Honestly, at the time, I would have preferred to be the head coach at Syracuse! The going was tough at Ithaca. After my first seven years, we had a 29-29 record, and I wasn't sure the job could be done there. . . . Suddenly, everything fell into place for us. In my eighth season we reached the Stagg Bowl and that started an incredible run of good fortune for our program. . . . So, I never made it to Syracuse but as it turned out, Ithaca was the perfect place for the Butterfields. Our football family, which has always included our coaches and our families, our athletic directors --- especially Bob Deming and Chuck Kerr --- sports information guys from Phil Langan to Pete Moore, President Jim Whalen, our faculty, staff, and students, and, most of all, our kids --- they all are the reason I'm in South Bend today.
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| Photos: Top, Butterfield signing autographs for fans; botttom, head football coach Mike Welch, Butterfield, and Pete Moore. | ||
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The following are excerpts from
the speech former Bombers head football coach Jim Butterfield gave at his
induction into the National Football Foundation's 
On behalf
of each member of our football family at Ithaca, I'd like to thank the National
Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame for this special honor.