PROVO — Tom Holmoe had just one crack at it. It had to be a perfect trajectory for a unique orbit, the organizing of a rendezvous of living matter that could be at one spot at one time and then never happen again.
By all accounts, BYU’s athletic director threaded the needle. LaVell Edwards could die just one time. His players would return to the site of their connection with him for this physical soliloquy but once. Then the moment would be gone.
On Friday, the lights above LaVell Edwards Stadium shined bright into the night while inside, under the stands, a reunion of former players and coaches of the departed BYU football coach became a celebratory gathering that lasted until the early hours of the next day.
When Patti Edwards took to the microphone, the crowded room filled with a rambunctious assembly turned to absolute silence. You could hear a pin drop, players say.
The now widowed matriarch of Cougar football only spoke a few words, according to players gathered for the private gathering, but her message was clear. She declared she and LaVell always considered these men part of their actual family and her husband loved them so much; that it was always more about life than football, according to Paul Gustavson, an offensive lineman from the early ’70s.
Holmoe told the group he had to put the Friday reunion together because the bittersweet timing of the gathering would be a once in a lifetime reunion. “I don’t know if anyone will ever be able to gather this group together again,” said Gustavson.
Nick Stewart, father of former QB Christian Stewart who came as a guest of former QB Royce Bybee, a backup to Jim McMahon and Marc Wilson, commented, “I’ve been to these player reunions before and they bring out about 25 percent of the “who’s who” of Cougar football, but this one had almost all of them, the entire cast.”
It was a cornucopia of emotions; friendships forged but fractured by time and distance and geographic direction.
Many of these grown men, now grandfathers, hadn’t seen teammates since the day they received their varsity blankets on graduation day. It was a feast of back-slapping, hugs, tears and tales of yesteryear.
It was a gathering Edwards could never have created while alive. But his death brought mandatory airline tickets, interrupted calendars and changed plans for an army of former Cougars.
“Only LaVell’s death could have brought this great and very diverse group back together in one spot,” said Stewart. “It was clear everyone present was making the most of it." The reminiscing went on and on and on, just as it would in any great reunion, and Bybee saw friends he hadn’t seen since college. “We left before 11 p.m., and 80 percent of those in attendance were still there,” said Stewart.
The group included players from the ’60s and every decade since. It included onetime NCAA reception leader Jay Miller, Hall of Fame quarterbacks Jim McMahon, Steve Young, Marc Wilson and Ty Detmer. It brought Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, who just happened to have a bye week from the NFL playoffs, retired offensive guru and former Hawaii head coach Norm Chow and current Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall and members of his staff. Utah coach Kyle Whittingham, his brothers Cary and Fred and some members of his Ute staff were there.
It included some of the best cornerbacks in school history, personalities like Rodney Rice and Rodney Thomas and QB John Walsh. There were close to 600 people gathered in the Varsity Club Room under the west stands, all with one purpose: to remember and indulge in football lore.
In true LaVell Edwards style, there was lots of laughter, storytelling, teasing and jokes. It included former heroic icons of BYU football who had now lost most of the hair atop faces featuring smiles and tears that would not go away.
Current BYU head coach Kalani Sitake spoke as part of the short program after Patti Edwards.
According to those present, Sitake quoted Benjamin Franklin who said, “All mankind is divided into three classes: those that are immovable, those that are movable and those that move.”
Sitake said many BYU players came to college as guys who were immovable and Edwards, through his love, example and personality got them to be movable and then they became movers in life, in the community, in their faith and in their families.
Sitake said many players came to Edwards broken and he molded them into men who became whole, people who may not have seen in themselves what Edwards saw all along.
Holmoe said all BYU players who had been coached by Edwards and his successors Gary Crowton and Bronco Mendenhall were part of the same family, the family of Edwards and a BYU brand he’d created and tended.
So, sandwiched in between a public memorial Friday and a private funeral service Saturday morning, was this closed-door event, created by circumstance. It was wall-to-wall, standing room only.
It was history relived, faces reappeared, personalities bound forever through the relationship they had with a departed legend. For those present, it was described as the perfect release, the ideal corporal scrapbook of flesh and blood, a living reverence of soldiers for an iconic general no longer in their midst.
On this night, far but not too big a distance from the turf and lights outside, Holmoe returned this pick for the ultimate six.
Here is a list of BYU players, coaches and staff who gathered Friday night for a reunion at LaVell Edwards Stadium. This list may not be complete, but is assembled by people who attended.
Tom Holmoe
Kalani Sitake
Andy Reid
Bronco Mendenhall
Garett Tujague
Kyle Whittingham
Ty Detmer
Ed Lamb
Reno Mahe
Steve Kaufusi
Norm Chow
Leon White
Adam Haysbert
Rodney Rice
Scott Giles
Mike Empey
Freddie Whittingham
Will Snowden
Ken Schmidt
Blaine Fowler
Hans Olsen
Bob Jensen
Royce Bybee
Waymon Hamilton
Marc Lyons
Matt Johnson
Ricky Frank
Tyler Anderson
Jason Chaffetz
Bryan Kehl
Alan Boardman
Courtney Smith
Tom Toolson
Eli Herring
Mark Atuaia
Terry McEwen
Henry Bloomfield
Ivan Marchello
Gregg Pitts
Roy Ward
Robert Sanouke
Jeff Blanc
Craig Carlson
Chuck Carlson
Eric Drage
Tim Hanshaw
Ryan Hancock
John Tucker
Steve Haymond
Kirk Holle
Matt Bellini
Mark Bellini
Spencer Reid
Rob Morris
David Neff
Layne Bates
Rodney Rice
Paul Shoemaker
Itula Mili
Chad Lewis
Jack Damuni
Truman Child
Manase Tonga
Louis Wong
Trevor Matich
Jim McMahon
Eddie Stinnett
Dustin Rykert
Jim Freeland
Val Hale
Chris Hale
Brandon Doman
Kevin Doman
Bryce Doman
Glen Tuckett
Kevin Nicholl
Ty Mattingly
Tom Ramage
Jim Paronto
Greg Croshaw
Patrick Mitchell
Justin Ena
Cory Ramage
Dave Allphin
Larry Harmer
Curt Cannon
Ben Cahoon
Setema Gali
Carlos Nuno
Andrew Rich
Chris Pella
Dallas Reynolds
Matt Reynolds
Lance Reynolds
Toby Christensen
Cory Cook
Tim Nowatzke
Vic Tarleton
Jim Herrmann
Gary Sheide
Lee Johnson
Roger Gourley
George Gourley
Robbie Bosco
Vai Sikahema
Chuck Cutler
Shawn Knight
Alema Fitisemanu
Scott Brumfield
Steve Lindsley
Marv Allen
Korey Rasmussen
Mike Lacey
Andy Boyce
Dan Plater
Blair Buswell
Steve Young
John Walsh
Jason Buck
Jay Miller
Chris Edwards
Brad Clark
Ted Tollner
Eldon Fortie
Margin Hooks
Cary Whittingham
Brady Whittingham
Mike Chronister
Keith Lever
Sean Covey
Chris Germann
Rondo Fehlberg
Sim Tiatia
Jason Cooper
Bob Stevens
Paul Gustavson
Keith Rivera
Steve Price
Earl Kauffman
Jim Edwards
Eddie Green
Pat Cabulagan
Richards Hobbs
Glen Kozlowski
Brian Hazelgren
Jeff Harris
Riley Nelson
Ralph Zobell
Mick Hill
Steve Pincock
Shirley Johnson
Mike Pistorious
Chris Farasopholus
Nick Eyre
Marc Wilson
Steve Clements
Tevita Ofahengaue
George Curtis
Bruce Jenne
Kelly Smith
Scott Collie
Blake Murdock
Jeff Nilsson
John Vander Wouden
Jason Walker
Tyler Nelson
Todd Lewis
Jason Campbell
Donnie Atuiaa
Kevin Nicoll
Jon Tucker
Brad Oates
Ken Anderson
Scott Robinson
David Henderson
David Mills
Eddie Keele
Danny Hansen
Chris Edwards
Dave McKee
Matthew Edwards
Richard Hobbs
Brian Hansen
Steve Jones
Joe Evans
Brian McDonald
Alan Hyatt
Robert Jones
Gary Samples
Brandon Condie
Scott Phillips
Gary Stoddard
Steven Draeger
Kevin Mitchell
Daniel Major
Jan VandeMerwe
Bob Stephens
Ryan Keele
Kyle Roberts
John Dowell
Guy Hale
Johnny Slavens
Christopher Turpin
Charlie Peterson
Jeff Couch
Brandon Flint
Mark Walker
David King
Andrew Fales
Richard Kozlowski
Joe Liljenquist
Aaron Hutchins
David Miles
Todd Marriott
Corey Pace
Derik Stevenson
Craig Leishman
Jason Strickland
Nate Soelberg
Joe Herrick
Jason Andersen
William Marriott
Cody Fonnesbeck
Darren Handley
Logan Deans
Brad Hunter
Darrin Lambert
Ted Nelson
Hyrum Summers
Logan Hunter
Alema Harrington
Isaac Herring
Ryan Denney
Shawn McLeod
Justin Yarro
Robert Allphin
Danny Frazier
Desmond Lomax
Austin McNaughton
Teag Whiting
Tacoma Fontaine
Steve Peterson
Colby Bockwoldt
Josh Lowe
Richard Kozlowski
Blake Jensen
Mike Preston
Brian Sanders
George Harris
Tim Mahoney
Jon Burbidge
Lance Lindley
Barry Lamb
David Clark
Bill Bryant
Nathan Meikle
Jimmy Edwards
Lou Andrus
Stan Larson
Lloyd Eldredge
Bob Kittell
Gary Webster
Ted Dawson
Matt Schneck
Scott Jackson
Brandon Stephens
Soren Halladay
Corey Lindley
Paul Peterson
Ross Varner
Paul Clifford
Preston Miller
Dick Legas
Steve Miller
Regan Andrews
Lennon Ledbetter
Rodney Wilkerson
Shane Shumway
Jason Campbell
Eric Thomas
Jimmy Richards
Dustin Johnson
Todd Shell
Glen Titensor
Robert Davis
Fotu Katoa
Byron Frisch
Rex Burningham
Ken Wilks
Marty Lloyd
Kyle Tew
TJ Sitake
Dan Gerber
Ifo Pili
Rich Herlin
David Tuckett
Ryan Slater
Frank Christianson
Marshall Pettit
Neil Balholm
Margin Hooks
Robert Salazar
Eric Bergeson
Glen Gardner
Curg Belcher
Max Huber
Garen Jeppesen
Timothy Clark
Kerry Edwards
Kyle Wilson
Dean Paynter
Chris Conners
Dennis Carlston
Conrad Roberson
Jeff Wilcox
Ben Archibald
David Hoggan
Scott Pettis
Houston Reynolds
Royal Erickson
Pam Aupiu (wife of David, deceased)
Kelly Harris
John Moeaki
Matt Zundel
Jim Phillips
Keith McCullough
Scott Moberly
Doug Stone
Larry Kiser
Jeff Holtry
Tim McKeon
Randy Tidwell
Bret Engemann
Troy Long
Tau Harrington
Gorm Klungervik
Jay McDonald