Gameday Feature: Cally Belcher
9/24/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 24, 2014
Walking through the Champions Room in the Stephen F. Austin Fieldhouse, you see everything you would expect to highlight what is important to the Lumberjack athletic department.
Conference championship trophies, game balls from prominent victories, posters of SFA’s All-Conference and All-American performers, and the 2010 Walter Payton Award, won by Jeremy Moses as the top player in the nation among FCS schools.
On the southeast wall hangs a framed #16 jersey with a chain link draped from the neck. And whether you are new to SFA or have been around the program for decades, that jersey is instantly recognized.
That jersey is Cally Belcher’s, SFA’s strongest link.
The framed memorial has come to symbolize everything SFA football stands for - toughness, passion, character and doing things the right way.
Those who knew Cally use the same words to describe the kind of man he was - humble, soft spoken, respectful, trustworthy.
But once those pads went on and Belcher hit the field, that persona quickly changed. He was known as one of the hardest hitters ever to play at SFA. His instinct in the defensive backfield and ability to make plays are still talked about.
“He was a coaches dream,” said former SFA assistant coach Gene Chizik to the Orlando Sentinel in 2000. ““He was the whole package, but he was a better person than a player.”
Belcher was a two-time All-Southland Conference honorable mention selection at defensive back for the Lumberjacks, racking up 190 tackles (including 139 solo stops) with four tackles for loss and five interceptions, starting all 33 games of his SFA career.
He came to be known as the heart of the Lumberjack football team, which may have seemed somewhat ironic considering Belcher grew up in Huntsville, not far from the campus of Sam Houston State, SFA’s biggest rival.
“He wanted to get away from home and make a name for himself,” said Cally’s mother Helen Belcher. “It was nice for us because he was still close enough for us to be able to see him play.”
Tragically, that career, and life, was cut far too short in the spring of 1994 when Belcher suffered a blow to the head during a practice on March 22nd making a tackle. He collapsed to the field and was rushed to the hospital where one week later, Belcher passed from a brain aneurysm.
The memory of Belcher continues to live on, however, as his jersey serves as a constant reminder as to what it truly means to be a Lumberjack.
“Number 16 was a football player’s football player,” former SFA head coach John Pearce wrote after his passing. “All the words we use to describe a player: character, determination, courage, leadership and the love of the game, can now be described in two words: Cally Belcher.
“I loved Cally Belcher and I am going to miss him. In 25 years of coaching, few, if any, players have ever represented his family, his teammates and his school better than Cally.”
As much of an impact as Belcher had on the program prior to that day, that impact has grown exponentially since.
In a symbolic gesture in 1993, Chizik, then SFA’s linebackers coach, suggested the team use a steel link of chain to signify its team unity, signifying that both a chain and a team is only as strong as its weakest link.
Following Belcher’s passing, that adage took on a new meaning as Cally was now referred to as the team’s “strongest link.”
That link has become one that has bound Belcher’s coaches and former teammates through the years. There is an annual banquet held at SFA and an annual family barbecue and washer tournament in Cally’s name allowing his former teammates and coaches to get together and reminisce.
Former teammates keep in touch with the Belchers, sending them Christmas cards and pictures of their children. Coach Chizik even named his only son Cally, saying that he wanted his son to embrace the qualities that made Belcher both the man and player he was.
Helen Belcher recalls how it was mentioned to her after the loss of Cally that it seemed as if he was the missing link. But she tends to view it a different way.
“It shows how strong of link it really was,” she said. “It has been the link holding the team together for 20 years."
One of the biggest signs of the influence Cally had on not only his team but the program as a whole came in the fall of 1994 when Belcher’s #16 was permanently retired prior to SFA’s game against Montana State.
There have only been three numbers retired in the history of Stephen F. Austin football. The first was #46, worn by former NFL head coach Bum Phillips. The second was #10, worn by Mark Moseley who was named the 1982 NFL Player of the Year with the Washington Redskins. Belcher’s #16 was the third.
Both Phillips’ and Moseley’s numbers have since been reinstated. Today, for the first time since the final home game of the 1993 season, the #16 jersey will return to the field at Homer Bryce Stadium one more time as the Lumberjacks honor the memory of Cally Belcher 20 years after his passing.
The player chosen to wear #16 is junior wide receiver Aaron Thomas, who was awarded SFA’s Cally Belcher Award this past spring which annually recognizes an SFA player for their desire to succeed, determination and a love of the game - the attributes Belcher embraced.
“It’s very humbling and an absolute honor that I’m the one that gets to wear his jersey,” Thomas said. “I try to embrace the same qualities that he’s known for. He was relentless on the field but was also incredibly humble and the ultimate teammate. It will be different to wear another jersey other than 81, but I know for that whole game I’ll be playing not just for my team, but for something much bigger.”
For Helen Belcher, Saturday will be a bittersweet day. For one game, she will get to see that #16 jersey back on the field, something she has longed to see for 20 years now.
“It’s going to be very touching to see,” Belcher said. “Each game I’ve been to I’ve always searched for his number but it hasn’t been there. I’m excited to see it again.”
While the loss of a child is something a parent never truly gets over, Helen Belcher has talked about the positives that have come since that day, knowing the impact her son will forever have on the Lumberjacks.
“It has been difficult, but also very comforting,” Belcher said. “It has been nice to see what can come from a quiet, shy boy from Huntsville.”
Each home game, the Lumberjack Game Day program will feature one of the SFA players, giving fans an inside look at one of their favorite Lumberjacks. For the game against Weber State, Lumberjack Game Day remembered Cally Belcher 20 years following the passing of the heart of the Lumberjacks. Be sure to pick up your copy of the 2014 Lumberjack Game Day program each home game.
Walking through the Champions Room in the Stephen F. Austin Fieldhouse, you see everything you would expect to highlight what is important to the Lumberjack athletic department.
Conference championship trophies, game balls from prominent victories, posters of SFA’s All-Conference and All-American performers, and the 2010 Walter Payton Award, won by Jeremy Moses as the top player in the nation among FCS schools.
On the southeast wall hangs a framed #16 jersey with a chain link draped from the neck. And whether you are new to SFA or have been around the program for decades, that jersey is instantly recognized.
That jersey is Cally Belcher’s, SFA’s strongest link.
The framed memorial has come to symbolize everything SFA football stands for - toughness, passion, character and doing things the right way.
Those who knew Cally use the same words to describe the kind of man he was - humble, soft spoken, respectful, trustworthy.
But once those pads went on and Belcher hit the field, that persona quickly changed. He was known as one of the hardest hitters ever to play at SFA. His instinct in the defensive backfield and ability to make plays are still talked about.
“He was a coaches dream,” said former SFA assistant coach Gene Chizik to the Orlando Sentinel in 2000. ““He was the whole package, but he was a better person than a player.”
Belcher was a two-time All-Southland Conference honorable mention selection at defensive back for the Lumberjacks, racking up 190 tackles (including 139 solo stops) with four tackles for loss and five interceptions, starting all 33 games of his SFA career.
He came to be known as the heart of the Lumberjack football team, which may have seemed somewhat ironic considering Belcher grew up in Huntsville, not far from the campus of Sam Houston State, SFA’s biggest rival.
“He wanted to get away from home and make a name for himself,” said Cally’s mother Helen Belcher. “It was nice for us because he was still close enough for us to be able to see him play.”
Tragically, that career, and life, was cut far too short in the spring of 1994 when Belcher suffered a blow to the head during a practice on March 22nd making a tackle. He collapsed to the field and was rushed to the hospital where one week later, Belcher passed from a brain aneurysm.
The memory of Belcher continues to live on, however, as his jersey serves as a constant reminder as to what it truly means to be a Lumberjack.
“Number 16 was a football player’s football player,” former SFA head coach John Pearce wrote after his passing. “All the words we use to describe a player: character, determination, courage, leadership and the love of the game, can now be described in two words: Cally Belcher.
“I loved Cally Belcher and I am going to miss him. In 25 years of coaching, few, if any, players have ever represented his family, his teammates and his school better than Cally.”
As much of an impact as Belcher had on the program prior to that day, that impact has grown exponentially since.
In a symbolic gesture in 1993, Chizik, then SFA’s linebackers coach, suggested the team use a steel link of chain to signify its team unity, signifying that both a chain and a team is only as strong as its weakest link.
Following Belcher’s passing, that adage took on a new meaning as Cally was now referred to as the team’s “strongest link.”
That link has become one that has bound Belcher’s coaches and former teammates through the years. There is an annual banquet held at SFA and an annual family barbecue and washer tournament in Cally’s name allowing his former teammates and coaches to get together and reminisce.
Former teammates keep in touch with the Belchers, sending them Christmas cards and pictures of their children. Coach Chizik even named his only son Cally, saying that he wanted his son to embrace the qualities that made Belcher both the man and player he was.
Helen Belcher recalls how it was mentioned to her after the loss of Cally that it seemed as if he was the missing link. But she tends to view it a different way.
“It shows how strong of link it really was,” she said. “It has been the link holding the team together for 20 years."
One of the biggest signs of the influence Cally had on not only his team but the program as a whole came in the fall of 1994 when Belcher’s #16 was permanently retired prior to SFA’s game against Montana State.
There have only been three numbers retired in the history of Stephen F. Austin football. The first was #46, worn by former NFL head coach Bum Phillips. The second was #10, worn by Mark Moseley who was named the 1982 NFL Player of the Year with the Washington Redskins. Belcher’s #16 was the third.
Both Phillips’ and Moseley’s numbers have since been reinstated. Today, for the first time since the final home game of the 1993 season, the #16 jersey will return to the field at Homer Bryce Stadium one more time as the Lumberjacks honor the memory of Cally Belcher 20 years after his passing.
The player chosen to wear #16 is junior wide receiver Aaron Thomas, who was awarded SFA’s Cally Belcher Award this past spring which annually recognizes an SFA player for their desire to succeed, determination and a love of the game - the attributes Belcher embraced.
“It’s very humbling and an absolute honor that I’m the one that gets to wear his jersey,” Thomas said. “I try to embrace the same qualities that he’s known for. He was relentless on the field but was also incredibly humble and the ultimate teammate. It will be different to wear another jersey other than 81, but I know for that whole game I’ll be playing not just for my team, but for something much bigger.”
For Helen Belcher, Saturday will be a bittersweet day. For one game, she will get to see that #16 jersey back on the field, something she has longed to see for 20 years now.
“It’s going to be very touching to see,” Belcher said. “Each game I’ve been to I’ve always searched for his number but it hasn’t been there. I’m excited to see it again.”
While the loss of a child is something a parent never truly gets over, Helen Belcher has talked about the positives that have come since that day, knowing the impact her son will forever have on the Lumberjacks.
“It has been difficult, but also very comforting,” Belcher said. “It has been nice to see what can come from a quiet, shy boy from Huntsville.”
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