thedrifter
07-11-06, 06:59 AM
Former Bruin makes mark in Marines
By Mike Tupa
E-E Sports Editor
Exactly 10 years ago this July, Shawn Tate's life revolved around football and his senior year at Bartlesville High.
Coming back from an injury which had derailed him during part of his junior campaign, Tate's biggest concern was helping to continue to lift Bartlesville out of the losing doldrums which had overtaken the Bruin football program since the early 1990's.
From 1993-95, the Bruins had won a total of just one football game - a 10-7 upset of Tulsa Washington in 1995.
The Bruin quarterback that game? Tate.
As the summer of ‘96 inched by, Tate and his Bruin senior teammates looked to build on that one win.
They did.
Under the guidance of then-new football coach Lee Brower, and the 1,000-plus-yard passing of Tate, the Bruins went 3-7 in ‘96, including a stunning defeat in week seven of unbeaten and top 10-ranked Sand Springs.
Tate's class indeed had turned the program around. In the nine seasons since, the Bruins have won at least three games eight times.
During those same 10 years, however, Tate's priorities have been molded, shaped and changed.
Enlistment in the Marine Corps and three tours in Iraq will do that to an individual.
A decade since his gridiron heroics for the Bruins, Tate currently is stationed with the Marine Corps honor guard in Washington, D.C., busy raising his family of two boys (with a third one due to make his imminent appearance) along with his wife.
“I've been here since the end of January,” said Tate, who went into boot camp in April of 2002 and recently re-enlisted.
Tate didn't join the Marines in a fit of patriotic fervor to kick Saddam's posterior.
Operation Iraqi Freedom was still nearly a year off when he entered the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, Calif.
“When I joined the Marines, I never imagined seven months after boot camp I'd be fighting in the streets in Iraq,” he said. “I've stepped into a whole other realm with the Marines. I'm definitely proud of where I've been and what I've done. I owe a lot to my family and to God.”
Tate's three tours in Iraq have included a stint during the actual fighting in Bagdad, participating in the action in Fallujah to put down insurgents and spending time in Ramadi for approximately seven months in his latest duty there.
Rather than broil in turmoil about being in harm's way and putting his life on the line, Tate chooses to be grateful.
“I've grown up as a Christian man,” he said. “God's been really good to me. He's brought me home every time from these tours without a scratch. It humbles you and makes you grow up pretty fast.
“I've have two beautiful boys and a beautiful wife. I feel really blessed. I couldn't ask for any more.”
Tate also remains appreciative of his memories of growing up in Bartlesville and playing football.
One of his favorite places on earth to spend time is inside Custer Stadium, where he shed so much sweat, endured so much pain and dreamed so many dreams.
“Ever since I started playing football as a sixth-grader I wanted to play for Bartlesville,” he said. “I remember the great quarterbacks when I was growing up like Jason Strope, Eric LeFlore and others.
“Once I was lucky enough to be a part of it, I just enjoyed being on the field. During the off-season, I went to the track at the stadium and ran or went out and threw the football.
“There's something about Custer Stadium which kept a spark in me. Whenever I come home (his parents Pam and Larry Tate still live here), I still find my way up there to Custer Stadium...There's something about it being there.”
Following his playing days at Custer, Tate anxiously eyed a collegiate football career at Kansas Wesleyan.
But, that didn't work out. A year later, Tate felt that Northeastern Oklahoma A&M would give him an honest chance to complete for a spot.
Three days into practice, and after he had enrolled in school, the coach told him he would be ineligible because of some technicality with his waiver from Kansas Wesleyan.
Tate said he believed the real reason was the football squad had brought in too many players and was looking to trim down.
Regardless of the reason, Tate faced a crossroads at that point in his life.
He either had to give up his yearning to play college football or find another way.
He found another way.
“It wouldn't have done any good to just sit out and mope,” he explained.
Hearing of a possibility at West Texas A&M, Tate went down and tried, in what he calls “a leap of faith.”
He made the team, although the coaches switched him to receiver.
Tate stayed there a couple of years and eventually joined the Marines.
He's hoping to eventually transfer back to Bartlesville after his military service and possibly teach and coach.
“My passion is still with football,” he said. “I know there's a lot I could bring over there, like the discipline from the Marines....Right now, I'm finishing up my degrees and hopefully, three or four years from now, I'll have that opportunity.
Meanwhile, Tate is just looking forward to a more stable home life after having been gone to Iraq or training most of the past three years.
“It seems like when I was away, everything is ticking in slow motion,” he said. “You feel like you're missing so much.”
On the other hand, he said it seems just like yesterday he was getting ready for his senior football season at Bartlesville.
Only 10 years ago.
Ellie
By Mike Tupa
E-E Sports Editor
Exactly 10 years ago this July, Shawn Tate's life revolved around football and his senior year at Bartlesville High.
Coming back from an injury which had derailed him during part of his junior campaign, Tate's biggest concern was helping to continue to lift Bartlesville out of the losing doldrums which had overtaken the Bruin football program since the early 1990's.
From 1993-95, the Bruins had won a total of just one football game - a 10-7 upset of Tulsa Washington in 1995.
The Bruin quarterback that game? Tate.
As the summer of ‘96 inched by, Tate and his Bruin senior teammates looked to build on that one win.
They did.
Under the guidance of then-new football coach Lee Brower, and the 1,000-plus-yard passing of Tate, the Bruins went 3-7 in ‘96, including a stunning defeat in week seven of unbeaten and top 10-ranked Sand Springs.
Tate's class indeed had turned the program around. In the nine seasons since, the Bruins have won at least three games eight times.
During those same 10 years, however, Tate's priorities have been molded, shaped and changed.
Enlistment in the Marine Corps and three tours in Iraq will do that to an individual.
A decade since his gridiron heroics for the Bruins, Tate currently is stationed with the Marine Corps honor guard in Washington, D.C., busy raising his family of two boys (with a third one due to make his imminent appearance) along with his wife.
“I've been here since the end of January,” said Tate, who went into boot camp in April of 2002 and recently re-enlisted.
Tate didn't join the Marines in a fit of patriotic fervor to kick Saddam's posterior.
Operation Iraqi Freedom was still nearly a year off when he entered the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, Calif.
“When I joined the Marines, I never imagined seven months after boot camp I'd be fighting in the streets in Iraq,” he said. “I've stepped into a whole other realm with the Marines. I'm definitely proud of where I've been and what I've done. I owe a lot to my family and to God.”
Tate's three tours in Iraq have included a stint during the actual fighting in Bagdad, participating in the action in Fallujah to put down insurgents and spending time in Ramadi for approximately seven months in his latest duty there.
Rather than broil in turmoil about being in harm's way and putting his life on the line, Tate chooses to be grateful.
“I've grown up as a Christian man,” he said. “God's been really good to me. He's brought me home every time from these tours without a scratch. It humbles you and makes you grow up pretty fast.
“I've have two beautiful boys and a beautiful wife. I feel really blessed. I couldn't ask for any more.”
Tate also remains appreciative of his memories of growing up in Bartlesville and playing football.
One of his favorite places on earth to spend time is inside Custer Stadium, where he shed so much sweat, endured so much pain and dreamed so many dreams.
“Ever since I started playing football as a sixth-grader I wanted to play for Bartlesville,” he said. “I remember the great quarterbacks when I was growing up like Jason Strope, Eric LeFlore and others.
“Once I was lucky enough to be a part of it, I just enjoyed being on the field. During the off-season, I went to the track at the stadium and ran or went out and threw the football.
“There's something about Custer Stadium which kept a spark in me. Whenever I come home (his parents Pam and Larry Tate still live here), I still find my way up there to Custer Stadium...There's something about it being there.”
Following his playing days at Custer, Tate anxiously eyed a collegiate football career at Kansas Wesleyan.
But, that didn't work out. A year later, Tate felt that Northeastern Oklahoma A&M would give him an honest chance to complete for a spot.
Three days into practice, and after he had enrolled in school, the coach told him he would be ineligible because of some technicality with his waiver from Kansas Wesleyan.
Tate said he believed the real reason was the football squad had brought in too many players and was looking to trim down.
Regardless of the reason, Tate faced a crossroads at that point in his life.
He either had to give up his yearning to play college football or find another way.
He found another way.
“It wouldn't have done any good to just sit out and mope,” he explained.
Hearing of a possibility at West Texas A&M, Tate went down and tried, in what he calls “a leap of faith.”
He made the team, although the coaches switched him to receiver.
Tate stayed there a couple of years and eventually joined the Marines.
He's hoping to eventually transfer back to Bartlesville after his military service and possibly teach and coach.
“My passion is still with football,” he said. “I know there's a lot I could bring over there, like the discipline from the Marines....Right now, I'm finishing up my degrees and hopefully, three or four years from now, I'll have that opportunity.
Meanwhile, Tate is just looking forward to a more stable home life after having been gone to Iraq or training most of the past three years.
“It seems like when I was away, everything is ticking in slow motion,” he said. “You feel like you're missing so much.”
On the other hand, he said it seems just like yesterday he was getting ready for his senior football season at Bartlesville.
Only 10 years ago.
Ellie