When word of longtime Dean Weber started coming out Tuesday night it was like losing a relative. That's the way nearly all of the countless athletes he touched at Arkansas in a career going back to 1973 as a trainer for 34 of those years, then being involved in the Foundation and various things there.
"Everybody loved him," Ron Calcagni said Wednesday afternoon. "His mission was to help everybody and do everything possible for them."
Weber died on Tuesday at the age of 78. He probably had more contact with the players in all programs that anybody else on the staff, including their head coaches. They all listened to him and his word was basically the final verdict on injuries, rehab and probably a lot more than anybody knew.
He also came up with various nicknames at times for different players based on the circumstances at the time. That included a freshman Dan Hampton, who got hurt in his first game in 1975 in Little Rock against Air Force.
"Jimmy Johnson was my coach then and he preached toughness, the difference in just playing through pain or actually being hurt," Hampton said Wednesday about Weber. "A guy fell on my leg and stretch it out and that can really hurt. Dead said, 'here's the deal — it'll be a month and I'll treat it and we'll have you back."
Even at that age, sitting out a month with Johnson and everybody else looking at him every day didn't sound like anything Hampton wanted to hear. He was born in Oklahoma and had some native American heritage and didn't think it would take that long.
"Dean, I'm part Indian," Hampton told him in the training room. "You know how on Gunsmoke they put the Indian away or shoot him and he's back next week? I'll be back next week."
Hampton was there for a stunning loss in Stillwater, Okla., against Oklahoma State after that opening 35-0 win over the Falcons. But he played in the game and formed a bond that lasted until the end with the trainer. That is another common thread among the players.
"From there we hit it off," Hampton said. "Through it all, he'd just say, 'okay Tonto.'" Youngsters probably don't know that was the Lone Ranger's faithful sidekick forever. Weber had lots of names, but the training room was his domain and he managed the variety of mood and personalities with athletes.
It just showed how he dealt with the players. The stories are countless, include a touch of humor and it showed, even in the practices. In those days the media had almost limitless access and it made for more and better coverage than anything they get today. Weber could always be counted on to explain what was going on in a language all of us could understand. Nobody every violated the confidence or disclosed information we shouldn't. We knew better.
All of them had blind faith that whatever Weber said he could do he could get done. He had the touch of being part psychologist and part doctor. It worked with the players.
"I had this really bad ankle sprain one year," Calcagni said. "He made this concoction and I don't know if it worked or not. He made you believe it would get well. He would come over rub it into the ankle every couple of hours."
Hampton had a similar situation with a neck injury. Weber came to his room on a regular basis working to rehab the injury on the spot. He was working on the psychology as much as the physical injury, but it was persistent and none of them doubted how much he cared.
"He was always Johnny on the spot," the Pro and now College Football Hall of Famer said. In the 1970's, "turf toe" was a nagging injury that players suffered through a lot, especially with all of the artificial turf everywhere.
Arkansas was one of the pioneers of that. When former athletics director Frank Broyles laid turf on George Cole Field for baseball, the Razorbacks boasted they had the longest stretch of the fake grass in the world. It stretched from the North End Zone facility all the way south across the baseball field, including a stretch on the football practice fields. It was a half-step above playing on pavement.
"Dean made this metal piece that went in your shoe and prevented that," Calcagni said. "Ben Cowins, myself and some other guys had that issue and this thing was molded to your foot. One time it got caught up in something and bent so bad my shoe was bent to the point, they had to change shoes in the game and change it out. Dean got it done. Unbelievable."
We could go on and on with Dean Weber stories. It would require reading over days and nights. You literally could write a book with stories about him and still not manage to cover it all. That's before you get into the acts of kindness. It's those acts players across generations will remember most.
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