Paying It Forward

You read in an earlier post on this blog about ACU head football coach Chris Thomsen and his staff taking the Wildcats to next week's Promise Keepers event in Dallas, and they are to be commended for doing so just two weeks before the start of the 2008 season.

One of the men who will be making the trip with the Wildcats is assistant coach Desmond Gant, who coaches ACU defensive backs.  Desmond is a former Wildcat player who turned his life over to Jesus Christ after he was dismissed from ACU in 1997.  He returned as a different man in 2000 to finish his playing career, and then joined the coaching staff in 2005 when Thomsen became the head coach.

Desmond's story was part of the annual President's Circle film that is put together every year by one of my co-workers, Ron Hadfield.  Part of last year's film included a piece called "Paying it Forward," and it detailed Gant's life with ACU and ACU football.  It's an excellent piece and would be worth seven or eight minutes of your day.  

The filming and video production were done by ex-ACU placekicker Martin Perry, who is the production manger at Phillips Productions in the Metroplex.  It's got some excellent game footage of the Wildcats' 56-12 playoff win over Mesa State last November, as well as some great interviews with Desmond, Thomsen, Joseph Thompson, Cole Kiser and former basketball coach Willard Tate.

Enjoy.