North Carolina State University Athletics
PEELER: Byrd Was Imposing Player, Teacher & Coach
7/29/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
May 27, 2010
Editor's note: Dennis Byrd died on July 23, 2010. This memory of him was written after Byrd was elected into the College Football Hall of Fame in May.
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. -
Then he stopped in front of me.
It was at that point I first feared for my life: a 165-pound high school sophomore looking directly into the mouth of Hell.
Standing there was Dennis Byrd, one of the most decorated and fearsome defensive linemen in NC State football history. The former All-America defensive end, member of the feared "White Shoes" defense and NFL first-round pick wasn't there to talk about his accolades.
One of our clumsy quarterbacks had dropped the football during a goal-line scrimmage at practice that afternoon in the fall of 1980 and I apparently didn't go after it with the enthusiasm that Coach Byrd wanted. It's not like I knew that the ball was lying on the ground three yards behind me, though I didn't have a chance to mention that during our brief conversation. I was too worried about my chinstrap coming undone.
That's because Coach Byrd - whose honored No. 77 jersey hangs from the upper deck at Carter-Finley Stadium - had grabbed me by the facemask, lifted me one-handed off the ground and was holding me as close to his nose as the plastic cage of my helmet would allow. My feet dangled about 18 inches off the ground, scraping precariously at his kneecaps. He liked to lift players by their helmets because a buckled chinstrap prevented any movement of the jaw, and therefore, no possibility of backtalk.
Few people ever did that to Coach Byrd, who was still a hulking presence long after his playing days, both on the practice field or in the biology lab. There was no snickering in his classroom of sophomore boys when we touched, ever so briefly, on the chapter about sex education.
My dad once played tennis with him on the courts that were just beyond the south end zone at my high school football stadium. Dad was one of those annoying serve-and-volley players who returned everything, waiting for an opponent to make a mistake. Coach Byrd did, on several occasions, and when it came down to match point, he was frustrated.
Just after he hit the ball out of bounds, losing the match to someone who never came close to playing college athletics, Coach Byrd began pounding his racquet into the asphalt. He hit it four or five times and flung the mangled metal and catgut over the fence. It landed on about the 40-yard-line of the football field.
He began charging towards the net, straight at my father, who was frozen in his cross-trainers. He felt exactly like I did when Coach Byrd picked me up by the facemask.
"Don, it's been a pleasure," the coach said, sticking out his massive palm for a handshake. "Let's do it again sometime."
I don't think my dad was ever brave enough to do so. Byrd moved to Elizabeth City, N.C., soon after I graduated West Lincoln and enrolled at NC State to become an assistant coach, take advantage of the hunting opportunities and to reduce his blood pressure a little.
He was a frequent visitor at NC State games throughout the his former teammate Chuck Amato's era as head football coach and still occasionally visits Carter-Finley Stadium. His No. 77 is the only retired jersey of a former Wolfpack defensive player. He was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 2007, the same year he represented NC State at the ACC Football Legends event at the ACC Championship.
He has mellowed a great deal since those days on the sparsely grassed field at West Lincoln High School. I bet he couldn't even lift me six inches off the ground anymore, if I made him mad enough to try.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
