By Lauren Wilder
Kinston Free Press

Reprinted with permission

LA GRANGE - Bob Rouse remembers his days as a college football player for the Campbell Fighting Camels, a team that others were afraid to play.

"We were that team," he said.

Indeed, the Camels won three straight North Carolina Junior College football championships from 1946-48. The coach, Earl Smith, is in Campbell's sports hall of fame.

But 81-year-old Rouse, Class of '48, is part of future Campbell football. Members of past teams have helped promote the return of the program to the Buies Creek university after an absence of five decades.

It's easy for him to look back, even to that day in La Grange when football and Coach Smith changed his life.

The year was 1946 when he and fellow La Grange High School graduates joined the then Campbell Junior College Camels. Rouse had just returned home after a hitch in the Navy and was working at a service station.

"We were working at a service station and he (Smith) says why don't you boys come out to Campbell and play ball for me and so we just laughed and kidded around he stayed about 30 minutes and drove off. Well, after he drove off and we got to thinking about it, and said, 'Well you know beats pumping gas. Let's try it,' " said Rouse.

"If it hadn't have been for him (Smith) I probably would not have gone to college" he said.

Rouse continued his education at Wake Forest while Campbell dropped the football program due to the Korean War and the movement of many junior colleges to senior status. After he graduated from Wake, Rouse moved to New York City where he worked at Texaco's corporate office. Rouse retired from Clark Grave Balt in Columbus, Ohio.

Despite a 50-year hiatus, football at Campbell has a 25-year history to build on.

The 2008-09 team will compete at the NCAA Division I-AA non-scholarship level under Coach Dale Steele.

It may appear harder to recruit the best players without athletic scholarships, but that is not the purpose of the program. Football at Campbell is seen as a way to invigorate campus life by attracting undergraduates and alumni.

"Scholarships won't soak up resources. … There are plenty of people that want to play football," Stan Cole, Campbell director of media services, said. Division I-AA provides enhancements to the campus without large financial costs.

"We're just excited to provide an opportunity for a group of young people at a high I-AA Pioneer League level," Steele said.

Rouse still cherishes his opportunity.

"Coach thought we could beat anybody. If you had the desire you could do it. He maintained that philosophy even today. That's the kind of spirit he injected to his players," Rouse said.