Call it the career that almost never was.
Former University of Tennessee football coach Phillip Fulmer remembers the 1994 season as if it were yesterday. The Volunteers were coming off a 10-2 finish in 1993 and entered the next year with national championship aspirations. But an injury-plagued season nearly derailed his head coaching career before it got started, Fulmer told a packed room at this year's Tennessee Turfgrass Foundation Conference and Show in Murfreesboro.The Vols eventually rebounded after a 1-3 start in '94 to finish the season 8-4. That was a blessing not only for Fulmer, who went on to win a national championship four years later, but also for many of the hundreds of young men who played for him during his 17-year career as head coach in Knoxville and scores of at-risk children nationwide whom he strives to help to this day.
Since 1998, Fulmer has been the national spokesperson for the Jason Foundation, a nonprofit entity that promotes awareness, outreach and education for the prevention of teen suicide. His commitment includes The Phillip Fulmer & Charlie Daniels Golf Classic that helps fund the foundation.
During the 1997 football season, Fulmer received a letter from Clark Flatt, whose 16-year-old son Jason had committed suicide that summer. Jason's father describes his son as a normal 16-year-old who made good grades in school. There were no outward signs of trouble Flatt could pick up on, but he also did not know what to look for then. Now, he does. While trying to make sense of his own son's death, Flatt has read enough research to learn that four of five teenagers who attempt suicide show warning signs of a problem. And he, along with Fulmer, Daniels and others work with the Jason Foundation to provide parents, friends, teachers, counselors and others with the tools necessary to detect at-risk children, and tell them where to go for help. To date, the annual tournament has raised more than $1 million for the Jason Foundation.
Such tragedies have been in the back of Fulmer's thoughts for many years, partially explaining his zeal for this cause.
"As a father, mentor of young men and as a coach, (suicide) was something I was always afraid of," Fulmer said at the TTA show. "Just how far can you push a guy? You don't know all that's going on in the world with them all the time. It was always a concern for me."
With good reason.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, there are - on average - 5,000 suicide attempts by children in grades 7-12 every day and one of them succeeds every two hours. Suicide is the second-leading cause of death for people age 10-24, and more teens and young adults die from suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza and chronic lung disease combined.
Those are startling facts, says Fulmer while explaining why he wanted to get involved in helping the Flatt's foundation that provides information on recognizing warning signs, risk factors, resources and where to go for help (including a toll-free hotline).
"It's about education and awareness in preventing teenage suicide, not responding after it happens," he said.
The 79-year-old Daniels joined the tournament about five years ago, which has helped expand the foundation's reach even further.
"That added a whole new dimension," he said. "Now we have a lot of people in country and western music behind it."
The American Football Coaches Association also backs it, and in 2007, the Tennessee legislature adopted the Jason Flatt Act, making it mandatory that teachers and counselors in Tennessee schools receive annual training on suicide prevention. Since then, at least 15 other states have passed similar measures.
"I can't tell you how many young people we've helped through the hotline that goes straight to the hospital, because we're not professionals in that. If it helps save one young person it's been worth it, but there have been hundreds who have been saved."
Chalk it up to part of the family atmosphere Fulmer preached during his 17 years as the Vols' head coach.
"Helping young people has been very fulfilling, but that's not why you do it," Fulmer said. "You do it because there is a need."
Fulmer's chances of helping young people, whether they be at-risk teens or the many Tennessee players whose lives he's touched - and vice-versa - almost were grounded before they ever had a chance to take off.
Helping young people has been very fulfilling, but that's not why you do it. You do it because there is a need."
Fulmer, who was a guard for the Volunteers under former coaches Doug Dickey and Bill Battle, was in his second full season as head coach of the Volunteers after succeeding Johnny Majors midway through the 1992 campaign. The Vols were fresh off a 10-2 finish and a No. 6 ranking in 1993, and there were national championship aspirations in the air in '94.
That campaign began with No. 13 Tennessee and 14th-ranked UCLA kicking off the season in the Rose Bowl. The Vols lost that game 25-23 and Fulmer's honeymoon in Knoxville officially was on shaky ground.
After a 41-23 win over Georgia the following week, an injury-plagued Tennessee team followed up with a 31-0 loss at home to hated Florida and a 24-21 setback at Mississippi State. Forget marriage counseling; suddenly the once rosy relationship between Fulmer and the Volunteer Nation was seemingly headed straight for divorce court.
The week before playing Washington State, Fulmer visited with Dickey to lament his team's injury woes that included starting quarterback Jerry Colquitt and backup Todd Helton (who later starred with MLB's Colorado Rockies) as the Vols' season began spiraling out of control.
"Coach, I don't know if we can beat Washington State. Fact is, if we don't get some people healthy, I don't know if we can win another game. Coach, if we don't win another game, are you still going to love me?" Fulmer said in recalling his conversation with Dickey. "He looked at me and said, 'Phil, we're still going to love you, but we're sure going to miss you.' That was a crossroads."
The coaching staff identified where changes needed to be made both in coaching style and player personnel. Coaches and players blocked out all the negativity, and that family atmosphere Fulmer preached reached unprecedented heights. The Vols rallied to win seven of their final eight games, including a 45-23 win over Virginia Tech in the Gator Bowl, then went on to post a cumulative record of 45-5 over the next four seasons, culminating with the 1998 national title. The ascension of a third-string freshman quarterback named Peyton Manning didn't hurt, either.
"Out of the ashes of that 1-3 start," he said, "we laid the foundation for the most successful era in modern Tennessee football history."
And it almost never happened.
His former players and coaches as well as countless teenagers around the country and their parents should be grateful it did.