My days at KU were limited. Unfortunatly my parents decided to divorce and with that all my college money went bye bye! I moved back to Emporia and worked for awhile.
In 1993 I decided to join the Army. Heck I wasn't doing anything better. Why not go and serve my country. I went to Basic in February. Talk about being miserable. Not only was I being yelled at non-stop, I was missing all my basketball games. I had a drill sergent named Sgt. Tallheimer. He was one of my favorites and he loved to give me S*#+ about being a KU fan. It turns out ol' Sgt. Tallheimer was an Indiana fan. One day he came in and said, "So your Jayhawks beat California yesterday." I was all happy. I loved the fact that he kept me filled in on the scores. He then replied, "It doesn't matter Ferrell. You know why?" I replied, "Ummm why Sgt?" He yelled, "Because they're playing Indiana next and Indiana is going to kick your ass!" I smiled and replied "ok."
March 28, 1993 7:00am
It was cold outside. We had just lined up to draw our weapons to go to the firing range. I got to the front of the line, "Ferrell Weapon #A2226." After I grabbed my weapon I turned to go back outside. Sgt. Tallheimer blocked my way. He looked at me and said, "Ferrell when you get outside I want you to drop and give me pushups. Don't stop, just keep pushing." he paused then added, "Do you know what those push-ups are for Ferrell?" I looked up and said, "Ummm did my Jayhawks win?" He yelled, "YEAH FERRELL, YOUR F'n JAYHAWKS WON!!!" I pushed with the biggest smile on my face. Sgt. Tallheimer would return the smile when he told me about the Carolina loss. Dammit! Regardless I got a bit closer to becoming a freak.
February 10, 1996 - Ft. Bragg, North Carolina
Ahhhhh at last. My last day in the Army. I decided to go ahead and stay in North Carolina. I moved to Cary, NC (suburb of Raleigh). Now North Carolina is the most beautiful place I have ever lived. But lets face it. I was living smack dab in the middle of the ACC. Talk about some arrogant fans. I didn't care though. I was a Jayhawker and damn proud of it, and I made sure everyone knew it. My North Carolina License plate read, "Jayhawk1".
No one cared though. The only thing they would say when I told them I was from Kansas, "Awww, you guys are sure going to miss Roy when Dean retires." I always denied it. Deep down inside I feared the worst, but I wasn't about to let these arrogant asses know. One night stuck out in particular... NEXT >
