Former Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry stood up for maintaining longstanding rivalries in football rather than scrapping them for dollars.
Making a visit Thursday to the Falcon Quarterback Club of Denver, DeBerry said that in his estimation the long rivalries that have been established over the years are among college football’s best resources.
“It saddens me to see that Oklahoma and Nebraska aren’t playing a game,” DeBerry said. “Or the possibility that Air Force wouldn’t play Colorado State or Wyoming. These were and are games that people respect. They’re games that are intense, enjoyable and build enthusiasm for college football.”
DeBerry’s comments were aimed at Nebraska’s departure from the Big 12 Conference to join the Big Ten, ending its series against Oklahoma. There also has been discussion that Air Force could leave the Mountain West for the Big East, possibly ending its local rivalries.
“I don’t think there’s any question that the all-mighty dollar influences a lot of directions and a lot of decisions in college athletics,” DeBerry said. “College football is big business, and everybody feels they have to be the best. It puts enormous pressure on administrations to keep up.”
DeBerry is being honored during halftime of Saturday’s Air Force-Wyoming game for his nomination into the College Football Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony is Dec. 6 in New York.
“I’m going to be like that turtle on top of a fence post that I talk about all the time,” DeBerry said. “You know I didn’t get up there on my own.
“To think that a little old single-parent kid from a little country town in South Carolina could be spoken in he same breath with the Hall of Fame in New York shows that anything is possible if you work hard and think big. I was blessed to have great players.”
