Ryan White & Associates

I was there! RT @CollegeGameDay 20 yrs ago today, Kordell Stewart launched one of the most iconic Hail Marys in CFB. http://t.co/Z0jxGM92wY

— Jodie Valade (@JodieValade) September 24, 2014

So was I. Opposite end zone from the play. Kordell Stewart dropped back and I thought, He can’t throw the ball that far.

Then I thought, Why’s the ball still in the air?

And then, That thing should really come down now or it could be a problem.

Finally, Shit.

After that, we stood around for a bit, kind of stunned. Eventually, the noise from the Colorado section made its way through the silence and across the stadium. It was distant, and muted, like there was a party on the beach and we were underwater.

We filed out and down Hoover St. and past a bongo player who would sit and shout out vaguely personalized rhymes for tips.

“Wait? We lost?” he said. “I had twenty bucks on that game!”

Years later, we’d run into him doing his act on Duval St. in Key West, where he wintered.

My roommates and I got back to our off-campus rental house, and they went to drink and I got in the car and drove to Auburn Hills to see Aerosmith. All night, between every song, turning to a friend and saying, “I can’t believe he threw it that far.”