"Would the last person to leave Camden please shut the lights off?"
The year I fell in love with football
"Mr. Street? Do you think God loves football?"
In the first episode of Friday Night Lights, a young football player looks up at Dillon Panthers star quarterback Jason Street right before a team prayer and asks a question. "Do you think God loves football?" The quarterback responds, "I think that everyone loves football."
I'm not sure that's fully accurate, but I think it's fair to say a lot of people do love football. Some can even point to when they first loved football. I can't give you an exact day, but I know for me, I fell in love with football in 1990. That's when Camden High School etched their names in the books of football glory.
Through the Eyes of a Child
During that season I was a bright eyed nine year old, the youngest of three kids. My sisters attended Camden High in Camden, not much more than a 30-minute drive from Columbia. Camden football was a way of life for our family. It wasn't a question of "Are we going to the game Friday night?", but more of "Where is the game and what time do we need to leave to get there before kickoff?" That's not an exaggeration. We traveled to every game that season. It didn’t matter if it was to Clover High School in Rock Hill or across town at Lugoff-Elgin High School. Of course, most Friday nights we watched the Bulldogs from the stands at historic Zemp Stadium.
These games, these autumn moments of triumph and heartbreak shaped my view of sports and heroes. I carried my football onto the field after games, reenacting plays of the greats. I followed around players with blank index cards to get their autographs. I was enamored with the entire football scene: the dewy grass, the bright lights, the thousands of people screaming, singing, cursing refs and shouting "atta boy" to various players referred to by the number on their black and gold uniform.
The 1989 season was a roller coaster season. In September, the season was interrupted when Hurricane Hugo swirled through the Carolinas. Still, the team ran off an impressive 11-win season, only to get knocked out in the Upper State Championship by Greer.
As a little kid in 1990, I couldn't have been aware of any expectations for the team that season. My days were wrapped up in sorting baseball cards and trying to save the princess in Super Mario Bros. 3. But I looked forward to every Friday night. As much as a nine-year-old can understand about a complex game, I became enamored with every pre-game tailgate, every defensive hit, and every long pass from Andre Carter to Kerry Hayes or Bobby Engram, one of the greatest football players my eyes have ever witnessed.
The 1990 season was unlike any other. To put things into perspective, here are the highlights from the regular season:
The season started with a 48-35 win over Sumter who would go on to win the AAAA State Championship that year
Camden defeated Spring Valley, who won the 1998 AAAA state title
Camden blew out Andrew Jackson 42-14, a team that played in the AA state championship that year
6 teams Camden beat in the regular season made the playoffs
The 35 points Sumter scored was the only game all season any team scored more than 16 points on Camden
During the 11 regular season games, Camden allowed a total of 99 points, including three shutouts
Before Randy Moss and Odell Beckham, There Was Bobby Engram
The defining moment of the regular season came in the fourth game. Hartsville, a school roughly an hour away, came into Zemp Stadium in Camden with a 3-0 record. Camden was also 3-0, knocking off AAAA giants Sumter and Spring Valley before thrashing Andrew Jackson just a week earlier.
A decorated sign ran lengthwise along the fence beside the players' entrance reading Bulldog Menu Tonight: Fox Fillets. Or maybe Fried Fox Tails. Or Roasted Red Fox. In any case, it was a simplistic fun way to take a creative dig at the opposition, Hartsville High. The cheerleaders painted similar signs for each opponent. Trash talk hit different in the 90s.
The game was a defensive struggle from the kick. A 7-7 stalemate stood as the fourth quarter ended. Hartsville got the ball first, and was held to just a field goal. Camden got a chance to go on offense in an attempt to tie or win the game. On a third down play, quarterback Andre Carter sent wideout Bobby Engram on a fade pattern to the left corner of the end zone.
Then the magic happened.
Bobby Engram, a wideout with respectable speed, excellent route-running ability, and great hands leapt in the sky so high to the point some began looking for an attached cape. With one hand, he hauled in the perfectly placed pass and won the game. The crowd forgot to exhale and instead roared with excitement. Final: Camden 13, Hartsville 10.
You can see the plays now echo from history's corridors. Joe Montana to Dwight Clark. Eli Manning to David Tyree. Catches that changed the course of a team's fate and even the chart of the entire franchise. There are other plays as well that rocked boats, such as Auburn's Kick Six come to mind.
It wasn't as grand a scale, and no one would have known at the time, but Bobby Engram's one-handed grab to beat Hartsville is one of the biggest moments in Camden football history.
Playoffs? We’re Talking About Playoffs.
My love for football certainly began before 1990. My dad grew up in Six Mile, a tiny town smaller than even nearby Clemson. I grew up cheering for the Tigers every Saturday, and to this day my blood runs much more orange than any shade of red. But it was Camden where I felt the love of football. The love of sports. The passion of fandom. The passion of having fun, sure, but also chasing immortality.
The playoffs began on November 10, 1990. A 20-6 win over Greenville-area school Woodmont was expected. Then defending state champ Greer High came to Camden, a game played on a Saturday night due to bad storms the day before. Like every other game that season, Camden was unfazed. Final score: Camden 35, Greer 7.
So then you have what Camden historians would argue was the biggest game ever played at Zemp Stadium. D.W. Daniel High School, home of the Lions, sat just a few minutes from Clemson. It's where my dad went to high school. It's where many on his side of the family went to high school. Uncles, aunts, cousins. A perennial force on the football field, the Lions entered the game with Camden boasting their own undefeated record. Prior to the 1990 season, Daniel had never lost to Camden.
The game's atmosphere was surreal. To say "standing room only" would be a gross misrepresentation. People were standing at the gates three rows deep. Fire codes were being violated that night in Zemp Stadium, but for the sake of potential football glory, no one dared complain.
The game that many thought would be a grinder until the end didn't happen. Camden controlled things from the opening kick and went on to win 27-7. To put the win into perspective, that playoff loss for Daniel in November 1990 would be their only loss until October of 1993. It still ranks as Camden's only win over Daniel.
The next Saturday was the state title game in Columbia. The town of Camden seemed empty. One shopkeeper put up a sign in the window saying "Would the last person to leave Camden please shut the lights off?" Everyone was heading to Columbia. The chance to see your hometown team compete for gold championship rings and a big trophy doesn't come along very often.
The game was played at Williams-Brice Stadium, home to the University of South Carolina Gamecocks. Our entire family was there, and it was a monumental day. But I can't pretend the feeling was the same as it was on many other game days that season in Camden where we'd tailgate before games and scream after every big play along with thousands of others clad in black and gold. On Saturday, December 1, 1990, Camden beat Hilton Head 13-3, winning the AAA State Championship.
The season ended with one of the most dominating performances from any high school football team in state history. Camden allowed 23 points total in the postseason. Multiple players were included on Shrine Bowl rosters. The team garnered a national Top 25 ranking from USA Today. Multiple players went on to play in college. Bobby Engram received a scholarship to Penn State where he won the first-ever Biletnikoff Trophy, awarded to the nation's top wide receiver. He along with defensive lineman Vonnie Holliday went on to play in the NFL. Offensive lineman Shawn Elliott is the head coach at Georgia State.
Everybody Loves Football
1990 was decades ago. The memories from that season seem to get more and more blurry over time. But sometimes they come back with amazing clarity. When I smell fresh-cut grass, I remember running around the field post-game, throwing little plastic footballs with my friends, tucking them tight as we ran into the endzone. Funny how large a cathedral a football stadium appears when you're a kid.
And whenever I smell cigarette smoke, I'm there. Back in Zemp Stadium. No one in my family smoked, but enough fans did in the stands to where even a half-used Marlboro brings a smile to my face. Because I'm back there, yelling V-I-C-T-O-R-Y as the band plays with every touchdown. Funny how large the sound of a high school marching band feels when you're a kid.
Sometimes, I need a time machine. I want to go back to those days before we were all consumed with staring at little screens in our hands. Back when we soaked up the atmosphere we were in. The sounds. The smells. The look of the things around us. The thrill of not knowing what might happen next. The joy of winning. Back when all of our senses were engaged at once.
There’s not much footage of the 1990 season found on the internet, save for a grainy few videos from Clinton’s game with the Bulldogs. I can remember sitting on terrible wooden bleachers that game, watching Camden win 20-0. I’ve watched the videos and paused at times when the camera pans up at the bleachers, trying to catch a glimpse of nine-year-old me, bundled in a coat sitting with mom and dad, eyes glued to the field. But I can’t find myself. I’m there somewhere. I’m sure I am. But then I doubt myself. Because so much of that season feels surreal now. Like a Greek myth that never really happened.
I wish I could go into the Camden Bulldogs locker room in 1990. Was there a large boombox to pump up the team? Were they playing the year's smash hits like AC/DC's Thunderstruck or LL Cool J's Mama Said Knock You Out? What did Coach Ammons tell the team before that game against Daniel? Were any of the boys so nervous they had to throw up before leaving the locker room? Did they have a chant before running out on the field? I don't know. But I can imagine how a 17-year-old on the precipice of gridiron glory might feel. And I bet it was glorious.
Tomorrow, Camden plays Daniel for the AAA State Championship. Daniel is 14-0 and comes in as heavy favorites. Camden hasn't won a state title since 2001. Daniel seems to do nothing but win state titles. Here's hoping Camden pulls off the upset.
The game won't be at Williams-Brice Stadium. It will be at South Carolina State. And that's fine. Neutral fields are a balancing ground to give both teams playing an even shot. But I wish the game was at Zemp Stadium. That's a place where heroes were made from mere teenage boys. A place where community gathers. A place where families living off nearby Bull and Church streets can hear the band playing as they sip sweet tea from their front porches. A place that from the outside looks like little more than a massive stone structure with yellow cinder block walls. But inside, it remains a hallowed ground where champions have walked, run, yelled, and most important of all, won.
After Jason Street’s response to the boy that he thinks everyone loves football, the boy responds, “Me too.” I don’t think that’s true. I know plenty of people that could care less about football or any sport, frankly. And that’s fine. I’m okay with everyone having their own interests.
But when something grabs you tightly as a child and makes you fall in love with it, you can’t help but give at least a sliver of your heart to it then. And not just then, but forever.