"The Boz'

Brian Stevens '90 -- "Hard Work and Leadership Made For Ephs' First Perfect Football Season Back in 1989"

Dick Farley had just eased back in his chair after answering a few questions about the upcoming 1989 Williams football season on the "Williams College Football Show" on radio station WNAW and was about to enjoy not having to speak for a few minutes.

You should have seen the look on his face when Brian Stevens '90 answered the question: "So, Brian, how do you see this season shaping up for the Ephs?"

Senior captain Brian Stevens '90 (AKA "Boz") jarred Farley out of his moment of relaxation by calmly stating, "We're going to go undefeated and untied and be the best Williams football team ever." Farley sprang forward to interject, "Those are his words, not mine." In the 103 years of Williams football prior to the kickoff of the 1989 season Williams had never recorded a perfect -- unbeaten and untied -- ledger.

There's only one Dick Farley and there's only one Brian Stevens.

Longtime Eph assistant football coach and head men's lacrosse coach Renzie Lamb summed up Brian Stevens by saying, "No one ever said 'The Boz' was a great football player and that's because he wasn't, but what he was, without question, was the toughest leader we had on that team." Which explains why Brian Stevens was not a co- or tri-captain -- he was the captain. Lamb was dead on about Stevens. There were players on the Eph roster in 1989 who were bigger, faster, and stronger, but no one brought it all on every play and in every drill like 'The Boz.' "We had to find a place for him on the field," said Lamb. "The kids loved and respected him so much that we knew wherever we put him he would be fine and we would be better."

All-American safety Rich Williams '90 chuckled when asked to comment on "The Boz." "You're right that not many people considered Boz to be a great football player, but I can tell you I would not have wanted to play any big game without him in front of me. Every time I looked at an offensive formation and saw Boz in front of me I knew I did not have to worry about that area -- he would take care of anything that needed to be taken care of -- every time!"

The reference to Brian Stevens as "The Boz' was a reference to University of Oklahoma standout LB Brian Bosworth who competed with complete abandon.

When pressed about his claim that the 1989 Ephs would record the first perfect season, Stevens stated, "We have the talent, we have worked for it and we will let no one deny us. I'm not saying it will be easy. I'm just telling you that we are going to do it."

The first time Brian Stevens heard of Williams College he was sure the man on the other end of the phone said William & Mary, because that was the only college with William in it that Stevens had ever heard of.

Al Pearman was the Eph assistant who called Stevens. "Coach Pearman was real down to earth and honest with me and I just knew I had to visit Williams even though I had never heard of it before."

Stevens was sold on Williams the moment he stepped on campus. "The beauty of the campus and the warmth of the people I met along with the academics was what sold me," said Stevens.

A miraculous comeback win over Trinity in game two in 1989 and trailing arch rival Amherst 14-0 just five minutes in were all just part of the scenery for what Stevens had predicted in preseason. "Yeah, I was a little nervous when Amherst jumped on us for 14 quick points, but I just felt we had too much talent for them to hold us off the entire game," said Stevens. "Our coaches won the game for us at halftime. Coach Lamb told us to just play our game and Dick Farley just kept telling us 'there is no way we are going to lose this game.'"

"The Boz was indeed a remarkable leader, but it wasn't until I co-captained with Matt Moynahan in 1991 that it became clear exactly what an outstanding job he did," said Brian Taptich '92. "The responsibility of acting as the sole representative for the entire team can only be considered a Herculean task; guiding us to the first perfect season in the history of Williams pretty much sums up The Boz."

Under Dick Farley Williams teams vote on who their captains will be the next year just after the conclusion of the previous season. "Brian's being named captain was not a unanimous vote, but it was so overwhelming that it was clear that he was being given a mandate by his teammates," said Farley. "We only had to count about 20 ballots to know who the kids wanted to be their leader. With the specialization of football these days it is remarkable that so many players on offense selected a down lineman from the other side of the ball."

Today Stevens will tell you that he was not bragging in the 1989 preseason when he predicted the first perfect season, because he knew what the Ephs had and who his teammates were. "We lost some good players from the 1988 team, but we had good players to replace them and we had people who were willing to do all of the work needed to make us successful. I believed in them as much as they believed in me and we did what we had to do. It was an honor for me to be the captain of that 1989 team because there were a lot of talented players who worked their butts off to make it all happen."

Stevens joined MCI out of Williams as a national account executive handling such accounts as CBS Sports and NASDAQ. Three years in the city and two in Rye Brook, NY working with computers was enough for the Long Island born and raised Stevens. He joined the Suffolk County Long Island police force and is now part of precinct two on the north shore of the island working out of Huntington, NY. "I knew when I started at MCI that I could not sit behind a desk for the rest of my life," said Stevens. "I need to be out and about and actively helping and working with people to feel like I am contributing something in this world and being a policeman seemed like it would fit my needs."

The warmth of the people at Williams has carried on for Boz as he and 14-15 teammates annually gather for 4-5 days just to stay in touch and remember the good old days. "The people I met at Williams are some of the finest people I have ever met. I'm glad I listened to coach Pearman long enough to be convinced I should visit."