Chemistry: “We Saw The Inside of Each Other”

As I’ve mentioned before, football is an incredible sport in the sense that every person on every play must be working together in order for a team to be successful. Therefore, the chemistry of a team is extremely important and critical for the team to have a chance to win on “Game Day”. How well your team gets along, how close they are, how well they work together, can all be affected by your team’s chemistry.

ESPN ‘Outside the Lines’ has done a story on the University of Buffalo Bulls titled ‘All Or Nothing’ and their team chemistry. This amazing story chronicles a team who, in 1958, after winning the Lambert cup for the best small-school program on in the Eastern U.S. were invited to their first ever bowl bid, the Tangerine Bowl against Florida State. But after learning of the invitation to the bowl, they were also informed that their two african-american players would not be allowed to participate.

The university and coach Dick Offenhamer left it to the team to decide whether to accept the bid. The players gathered in a basement room of Clark Gymnasium on the Buffalo campus to take a vote. Bottini and Reale held small paper ballots in their hands, but before they could pass them out, the players spontaneously and unanimously rejected the bid. “We weren’t the same team without Willie and Mike,” guard Phil Bamford remembers. “Whether they were benchwarmers or stars, we wouldn’t have been the same team.”

The Bulls had made a commitment to each other, and their team chemistry meant more to them than the most important game in their school’s history. They have never received another bowl bid in their 102 year history. But the players on that team do not regret the decision they made. They saw something more important, something more critical than a football game. Bamford says again, “We didn’t look at the outside,” Bamford says. “We lived together and worked together and struggled together, so we saw the inside of each other.”

The Bulls had chemistry. An unyielding and deep bond that helped them face adversity and make the right choice. Chemistry is something that is developed and takes time. This time sweat and bled together. They were in the trenches, in competition and in community with each other. Developing chemistry in your business, family and other areas of life will be critical to success and a sense of joy and community. Take the opportunity and the time to develop chemistry with your teams in preparation for ‘Game Day’.