Fittingly, my family was in Houston when we heard the news. We drove in for homecoming weekend at UH and made it to the hotel around 11. Checked into the hotel room, turned on the news, and there it was.
Homecoming for UH was at Reliant. During the pregame festivities, a tribute to Bum showed on the giant screens. Many people don't know that for two seasons- 1964-66, I believe- he was a defensive coach at UH. There's a black-and-white pic floating around the internet of son Wade in his player uniform with dad Bum crouching behind him wearing his coach's cap. Some nice things were said about Bum and everyone, even the ever-lovin' BYU fans, was absolutely quiet during our moment of silence for Bum.
My fandom for sports, but particularly for college football, was instilled by my grandmother who adopted and raised me. When I was just over a week old, she spread blankets on the floor and plopped right there with me on New Year's Day, turning the tv dial between NBC, ABC, and CBS to watch the bowl games. She may have been born in Ohio, but she moved to Texas when she was eighteen, and she adopted every Houston team as her favorite. Oilers, Rockets, Astros. She had a series of cowbells- one for each of those sports- that she'd ring when the Oilers scored, the Astros hit a homer, the Rockets made free throws. And she just loved Bum Phillips. Her favorite football coaches were Bear Bryant and Bum. She was so tickled at the "Bumerooski" that she cut the stories about it out of the paper and saved them. He wasn't afraid to get the job done, and he cussed a blue streak when he needed to, and he gave and commanded respect but didn't abide any "buuull feeee-cees" (her word), and that was her kind of coach.
And when he was fired, she was absolutely outraged, and she vowed to wage her own personal little war against Bud Adams. She was the most well-educated person I've ever known who never graduated from high school, and she wrote surprisingly eloquent letters to every media outlet in Houston informing them of the monumentally bad decision to boot Bum. She called the radio talk shows and tried to get on the air to voice her discontent, and while she never made it on-air, she had a speech written and rehearsed and ready to go in case she did. She still watched the Oilers and still rang her cowbells, but she never against bought a piece of Oilers memorabilia and would frown deeply when she read or heard the name Bud Adams. It wasn't just that Bum was fired that made her angry- it was just the way it was done. She understood that sports was a business, but she to her, that whole thing just wasn't right. And when Bum went to the Saints, her second-favorite football team became New Orleans, and she watched their games as well... just for Earl and Bum.
