The year was 1957 and a young assistant coach at the University of New Mexico, named Marv Levy had a voracious appetite for football knowledge. With aspirations of becoming a head coach, Levy traveled across the country attending countless coaching clinics to obtain every ounce of wisdom any proven college or professional coach was willing to offer.
"The first few summers I was in coaching I followed around three coaching icons at the time," said Levy. "Bud Wilkinson (Oklahoma), Woody Hayes (Ohio State) and Paul "Bear" Bryant (Alabama). I spent my whole summer following them around the country going to their clinics."
One of the more publicized clinics was being held in Santa Barbara, California that year the first week in July and Wilkinson and Bryant were both scheduled to lecture.
"Dave E. Nelson from the University of Delaware spoke too," recalled Levy. "He was running the great new offense at the time, the Wing-T which we had adopted. Dan Devine, who at that time was the coach at Arizona State, and then later at Missouri and Notre Dame was also there."
The star-studded lineup drew close to 2,000 coaches.
"Most were from California," said Levy. "But there were coaches from all over."
At that time most clinics dealt with the 'x's' and 'o's' of coaching, and coaches like Wilkinson and Bryant who were wildly successful often espoused the virtues of their respective offenses and defenses.
Scheduled to speak on July 3, the last day of the clinic, was Bryant who was due to fly in from Tuscaloosa July 2.
"Bryant, who at one time was the winningest coach in collegiate football history was certainly an icon for anybody in coaching," said Levy.
But at the conclusion of the lectures on July 2 it was announced that Bryant wouldn't arrive in time to speak on July 3 due to a flight delay. However, Bryant agreed to conduct his lecture the following day if anyone was willing to extend their stay an extra day.
Even though it was "Bear" Bryant there weren't many takers. But Levy was one of the few.
"That next morning he walked in to the lecture room and of the 2,000 people that attended there were five of us who stayed," said Levy. "We had purposely changed our travel arrangements, booked another night in the hotel and gave up our Fourth of July holiday to hear Bryant speak."
When Bryant walked into the giant ballroom he was a bit taken aback that anyone bothered to show up.
"We were worried he would throw his arms up and walk out, but he didn't," said Levy. "He was quite bemused by the whole thing. Bryant said, 'You guys must really like football.' And he gave his lecture."
Levy estimates that the lecture lasted about an hour to an hour and a half. But what would come next was something Levy and his fellow aspiring coaches never expected.
"When Bryant finished he said, 'Hey my plane doesn't leave until 4 o'clock this afternoon, come on up to my hotel room," Levy recalled.
"Bryant was wonderful," said Levy. "He responded to all of our questions and ordered lunch up for us. We profited tremendously from it."
The five coaches who chose to spend their Fourth of July holiday talking football with a coaching legend also got to know each other pretty well. Levy said a special bond was formed among them that carries on to this day.
"None of us had known each other prior to that," said Levy of the small group of young coaches.
So who were those four other wide-eyed young coaches?
"Among the four other men who were there with me was a high school coach from Fremont, California named Bill Walsh," said Levy. "There was a high school coach from Napa Valley named **** Vermeil. There was a high school coach from Richmond, Virginia named Bobby Ross and a graduate assistant from Cal named Mike White."
And later in his college coaching career Levy tried to hire them all at one point or another.
"I hired Bill Walsh, I hired Mike White and I hired Bobby Ross," said Levy. "I was on the brink of hiring **** Vermeil when I left Cal. **** was around our practices all the time and in our meetings. We practically considered him part of our staff. He was an assistant at a high school or junior college at the time."
Obviously all of the aforementioned coaches enjoyed wide ranging success in football.
Walsh was a three-time Super Bowl champion coach of the San Francisco 49ers, and twice was honored as NFL Coach of the Year.
Vermeil took two of his teams to the Super Bowl, winning one title with the Rams in 1999. He also has the rare distinction of being named Coach of the Year at the high school, junior college, college and NFL levels.
Bobby Ross led the San Diego Chargers to a Super Bowl and Georgia Tech to a national championship.
Mike White was named National Coach of the Year twice while the head man at Cal and was UPI Coach of the Year in 1983 while at the University of Illinois. He was also the head coach of the Oakland Raiders for two seasons.
And most everyone is familiar with Levy's credentials. Levy and Walsh are also enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
"We didn't know how much we'd see of each other again," said Levy. "But amazingly we did."
And what they accomplished as coaches was pretty amazing as well.
