College Sports

AUBURN — "When I was 11 years old, my father died."

Mike Gottfried wanted his audience's attention. With nine simple words, he's got it.

Thirty-five pairs of eyes focus on Gottfried as he stands at the front of an Auburn University classroom.

The eyes belong to the campers at Team Focus, a five-day camp for fatherless boys. The room belongs to Gottfried, at least for now.

With emotion in his voice, the 63-year-old former college football coach retells the story of April 3, 1956. The room is silent as John F. Gottfried's son relives the final moments of his father's life.

The 3:30 a.m. collapse. The panicked rush as his older brother dashed off to find a doctor. The awful moments as Mike, the middle of three boys, held his father in his arms, helpless and terrified. The crushing silence of his father's death, minutes after medical help arrived.

It's all there, a story Mike Gottfried has told many times, in rooms just like this one, to fascinated and horrified boys just like these. And it doesn't stop there.

He also tells the boys about the months and years after his father's death, when young Mike struggled to understand his new life. Growing up fatherless wasn't easy. For years, Gottfried struggled to understand what had happened, and why.

Decades later, after successful stints as the football coach at Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Kansas and Murray State and a flourishing career as a college football analyst for ESPN, Gottfried hadn't forgotten those difficult childhood years.

They were the inspiration for Team Focus, the charity Gottfried founded in 2000.

Not every camper gathered in this classroom has a story like Gottfried's. But every one of the campers has a story.

It's Gottfried's goal to hear each of those stories, and to encourage their owners never to give up hope. A few minutes before he began the story of his father's death, Gottfried instructed each of the campers to write down a simple message.

"You are special," he said. "Write that down."

Thirty-five pens dip silently to the paper, absorbing the message.

That moment is the essence of Team Focus, which is dedicated to caring for boys growing up without strong male influences.

Boys such as Benjamin Cole.

Cole, a Mobile native, hasn't seen nor heard from his father since he was six months old. His mother, a major in the Air Force, is preparing for a deployment to the Middle East.

Cole, 16, is a junior at Baker High. He says he hopes to attend the U.S. Naval Academy or the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., when he graduates.

Cole has been attending Team Focus camps for five years. He says the experience has had a profound impact on his life.

"Without Team Focus, I don't know where I'd be today," he says. "It's taught me so much about how to be a man, how to build my character."

And while Team Focus has undeniably had an impact on Cole, he has made an impression on the program.

"He's the most well-behaved, unbelievable kid," says Randy Brown, an Opelika resident who encouraged Gottfried to open a Team Focus camp in Lee County. Brown's son George, an Auburn student, was the camp's volunteer director.

For Gottfried, return campers such as Benjamin are Team Focus' greatest legacy.

"Seeing when they get it, that's what makes it all worthwhile," Gottfried said. "When I see these kids come back and show what they've learned, it's incredible.

"So many of them come back and sow back into the program, and it means so much."

Back in the AU classroom, Gottfried has wrapped up his personal story. Now the focus is on the campers — 35 silent boys in blue dress shirts and carefully knotted ties.

"This camp isn't for me," Gottfried says. "It isn't for any of these grown-ups here today. It isn't for your parents.

"It's for you. We're here to raise leaders.

"I have so many leaders here already: Stand up, Ben. Stand up, Chase. Joshua. David. Leo."

One by one, the Team Focus veterans, including Benjamin Cole, stand up. They're scattered across the room, sitting next to youngsters who are new to the program. They've spent the past week getting to know their younger counterparts, mentoring them in the Team Focus concept.

They're the future of Team Focus, and its greatest achievement.

This summer, Team Focus has held 10 camps across the country, from California to Michigan, including the program's first camp for girls. More than 1,200 campers have passed through Team Focus, with more entering the program every year. Experienced campers travel to each of the other camps, living examples of the program's power.

This year's camp in Auburn is the first Team Focus event to be held in Lee County. It won't be the last.

One of the most important parts of the Team Focus program is its year-round emphasis on campers. The five-day summer camp — which includes swimming, basketball, bowling, Bible study and speeches from prominent local residents — is just the beginning.

There's the Keep Your Focus club, with a monthly newsletter, an online clubhouse and a toll-free number for campers to call for counseling or just a friendly voice. There are mini-camps throughout the year, and Team Focus staffers occasionally visit campers at school to check on their academic progress.

Gottfried and Team Focus vice president Patrick Adams say they hope to hire a full-time director for the Auburn program. That person will administer the camp, attract local sponsors and stay in touch with the Lee County campers throughout the year.

There's plenty of room to grow. In its first year of existence, the Auburn camp brought in 35 campers — boys younger than 18, all Alabama residents, growing up without a male influence in their homes.

"It's a good first year," Gottfried says.

But Randy Brown isn't satisfied. "We need a hundred," he says.

That goal will depend on finding local sponsors and volunteers who can make the program a year-round reality.

It won't be easy. But Gottfried and the Team Focus team are used to making the difficult possible.