University of North Texas Athletics
Green Gang: The Catacombs Of Fouts Field Hide A Treasure
9/15/2009 12:00:00 AM | Return to Play
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| By Stephen Howard, Sept. 15, 2009 - 5:03 p.m. |
Taking a trip back to 1952, I was wandering the bowels of Fouts Field prior to last week's home opener and stumbled on one of the coolest pieces of memorabilia that now graces the North Texas Athletics Hall of Fame.
Across from a pile of crusty old shoulder pads and tattered paperwork were a set of ancient wooden cabinets. Curiosity and Mean Green intuition made me open the doors, and sitting there was the 2002 white road jersey of the Sun Belt Conference MVP, Brandon Kennedy.
"Whoa," was all that I could muster. Kennedy's jersey ranked behind Beulah Harris' skeleton and a family of rats on the list of things I thought I would find in the mold-infested catacombs of Fouts, but there it was.
Instantly I had a flashback to Austin in 2002, when Kennedy and the vaunted NT defense sacked Chris Simms eight times and held the Longhorns to a scoreless second half. Kennedy was wearing this jersey that day when he hauled in eight tackles and a sack, launching a career that would send him to stardom.
"Booger", as we knew him at the time, evoked fear in every opponent he faced for the next two seasons, and had North Texas fans believing in the second coming of "Mean" Joe Greene. He would go on to claim the 2002 and 2003 Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year awards, a Playboy All-America Team nod, 213 career tackles, 57 tackles for loss and 18 sacks.
Led by Kennedy and a host of all-conference talent, the North Texas defenses of 2001-03 still hold eight Sun Belt Conference records, including those eight sacks against Simms and the Longhorns that day.
That jersey has now taken its rightful place, next to Mitch Maher's helmet, Calvin Watson's jersey and the 1975 Tennessee game program in the North Texas Athletics Hall of Fame located at the Athletics Center on Bonnie Brae St. We have attempted to update the HOF displays with memorabilia that tell the stories of North Texas, and we invite you to come take a look next time you're in the area.
