FanPost

Happy 50th, Mr. Beebe

Don Beebe turns 50 today, and I thought it would be an appropriate time to share my stories and memories of number 82.

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When the Packers won Super Bowl 31, I was 11 years old and at one of those sports-fandom peaks that we all go through in our youth. I watched every snap that year with my dad and brothers, and never doubted that we would win the Super Bowl in that magical season of 1996.

My unquestioned favorite player on the roster that year was none other than Donald Lee Beebe, slot receiver and kick returner extraordinaire. Or very-ordinaire. It’s completely unsurprising that Beebe was my main guy. I was another short, scrawny, pale Wisconsin kid whose only real playground skill was speed. Like many kids at that age, I certainly harbored illusions that I could someday be a pro athlete despite my very average ability. Beebe was proof that a guy under six foot and two hundred pounds could zip his way onto the active roster of a championship contender—in this case, my beloved Packers.

Before he joined the Pack, Beebe had been a key contributor on all four of the ill-fated Super Bowl losing Buffalo Bills teams of the early nineties. In Super Bowl XXVII, he memorably turned a Frank Reich to Leon Lett pick six into an endzone fumble; Bills first down on the 20. This clip should be shown at the NFL Rookie Symposium every year in order to teach players two basic lessons: 1.) Never celebrate until you’re in the endzone, and 2.) Never watch an opponent strut into the endzone, especially if you can run a 4.2-second 40. On that day, as the Bills crumbled, Beebe won one small victory for the little guys of the world. If you’re quick and gritty, you can find your place in the NFL.

Reich and Beebe would team up again two years later with the expansion Carolina Panthers, but that was just the waiting room for Don’s destiny in Wisconsin. Signing on as a free agent prior to the ’96 season, Beebe joined a flush-with-talent Packers receiving corps alongside Robert Brooks, Antonio Freeman, Terry Mickens, Bill Schroeder, and Derrick Mayes. The speedy little white guy who sported eye black (yes, even at night) found immediate work as a kick returner, but he also made his mark in the passing game.

When Brooks went down with a knee injury in October, Beebe stepped in and (along with some help from that Favre guy) abused the 49ers secondary for 220 yards and a score en route to an overtime win on Monday Night Football. The previous week, in a rout against the Bears, Beebe returned a kick 90 yards for a touchdown. I think that a big part of why Beebe is so fondly remembered by Packers fans is that all six of his touchdowns that season happened in spectacular fashion. Three of his four receiving touchdowns were on 50 yard+ bombs where he was able to simply out-trackstar helpless secondaries. Add the kick return and a fumble recovery touchdown against the Broncos to that, and you have yourself a highlight reel. Needless to say, I was absolutely smitten by mid-season.

That fall, I clearly remember clipping out all the articles and pictures I could find about Beebe from regional newspapers and using Scotch tape to affix them to the wall above my bed. For Christmas, I wanted my own number 82 jersey. My dad was actually able to find one in those pre-internet shopping days by getting lucky at a sporting goods store when he was out of town. Of course, the smallest one available was a size 46 adult, and I couldn’t wear it on my four-foot frame without it looking like a muumuu. The beauty of this is that the jersey is in perfect condition eighteen years later and fits me like a glove.

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My other piece of Beebe memorabilia has an interesting story attached to it. After that Super Bowl season, I wrote a letter to Beebe telling him about how he is my favorite player and blah blah blah. I must not have thought to include a SASE, because what came back in the mail a few weeks later was absolutely perplexing. It was an envelope without a stamp and with my name and address scribbled into the sender section—stamped with RETURN TO SENDER. I opened it to find an "Athletes in Action" booklet with a photo of Beebe in a Bills’ uniform and a "God Bless - 82 Don B.B." autograph scrawled on it. As my initial elation wore off, my emotions became much more complex. For one, I was actually a bit disappointed that the booklet was from the Bills era. Did he just have a box filled with already-autographed booklets left over from his time in Buffalo? For another, the little booklet was all about Beebe’s devotion to Jesus and his strong religious beliefs, and even at that age I was agnostic at best. I probably would’ve preferred a booklet of him talking about how awesome he is, and how short guys can overcome adversity. Finally, there was the weird (yet clever) trick that he played with the return to sender envelope. What would Jesus do, Don? Cheat the US postal service out of a 32 cent stamp? These three perceived drawbacks, along with my obvious elation at having received an autograph from my favorite player, all swirled around in me like some bizarre stew.

When I got this piece of mail from Don Beebe, it was sort of the full consummation of my Beebe fandom. Since he responded to my letter, I would be forever grateful and reverent to him. By letting me down in the three ways described above, there was no continuation of passionate admiration. I still liked him, but I was not longer clipping out articles. I guess I was experiencing what psychologists might call cognitive dissonance. Either way, there was no way I could become any more or less of a fan of Don Beebe.

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Rock on, Don. I hope you’re still not paying for stamps. Happy 50th from your #1 fan of 1996.

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