RGIII Sprinting the Baylor Line
On Homecoming, Robert Griffin III ran the Baylor Line for the first time and produced yet another unforgettable feat of athletic prowess.
It first began when ESPN announced that Robert Griffin III would call the Baylor-BYU game with his broadcast team.
Being that it was Baylor’s Homecoming, the University wanted to ensure that Robert and his family were engaged in as many of the festivities as possible. The Friday Bonfire, the Saturday morning Homecoming Parade, and ultimately, the Baylor Line.
This is the story of how RGIII came to run the Line for the first time in what was unquestionably the best footrace in Baylor Line history.
Prior to the game, Griffin told Baylor Bear Insider Jerry Hill, “It will be fun to watch the Baylor Line run out and do that type of stuff, because I didn’t get to experience that when I was in college.”
A few fans on Twitter said that Baylor should actually let him run in the Baylor Line—a tradition since 1970 where Baylor first year students run across the football field minutes before kickoff to greet the Baylor football team as they race out of the tunnel.
Somewhere in between conversations took place between RGIII, ESPN, Baylor and Chamber—the student organization responsible for managing the Baylor Line on game days—and, sure enough, Robert and his wife Grete were leading the Line minutes before kickoff and minutes before Griffin was supposed to be in the booth calling the game.
For Griffin, there was a lot of pride about taking part in this tradition. He made sure to emphasize his thankfulness and happiness in being allowed to run reiterating, “I’m beyond grateful to have shared that moment with my wife, Grete, and the Baylor Family.”
Baylor Chamber senior Sergio Montes—who helps manage the Line during games and who ultimately lost to RGIII— described how it was a perfect match saying, “[Robert] was a commentator for the game. He wanted to run the Baylor Line, and obviously we were going to let him. He talked to the Baylor Line Chair, who gave him the okay.”
That is where things got interesting for Baylor’s only Heisman Trophy winner in school history.
Robert and Grete started at about the 10-yard line, a slight lead in front of hundreds of freshman who occupied the far end zone. And when everyone started running, Robert looked like any first time Line runner: in a casual jog, head turning to take in the moment and looking for those he was running with (his wife in this instance).
“As a player, you always hear about how special the Baylor Line is and you see the students when you run out of the tunnel. Running it is an entirely different experience altogether,” Griffin said.
The wild part of the Baylor Line’s design is that you wait forever jammed in like cattle before being released onto the field where students spread out nearly the entire width. However, once you begin running, the surface area you can cover shrinks as the Line narrows back into a confined space near the Baylor tunnel.
Griffin added, “It’s chaos down there. Real running with the bulls type of experience.”
When you start running, winning a race is not usually one of the top things on your mind.
Montes’ intention was not to outrace RGIII, as he recollected:
“At the beginning, we are all trying not to die. If you get tripped, then you are going to get trampled. My number one goal is take off and get straight to the ending and I was just going as fast as I can. Honestly, I forgot that RGIII was running becasue I was just running down the Line, trying to do my job and get under the rope to hold back the freshmen.”
However, you can feel an increase of adrenaline as you run and get closer to the other side, knowing that there is a de facto race ongoing and that it is about to end.
Usually, after surviving the first few seconds, students end up racing each other to jockey for position to get the best seats (if you are first by the tunnel then you can be closer to the front row in the bleachers).
Sometimes students simply revert back to having a good ole fashioned childhood footrace…May the fastest kid win.
And this is exactly what RGIII experienced when he spotted Montes, in a green Baylor Chamber jersey, beating him about halfway down the field.
A senior accounting major verses the former Heisman Trophy winner.
With about 20-30 yards of field left, Griffin made up his mind that this was a footrace he was not willing to lose.
Griffin turned on the jets, in suit pants and a dress shirt no less, and it was over.
“Yes, I heard him.” Montes admitted about those final 20 yards. “I was jogging and was going to dip under the rope, I felt a little hit on my shoulder. I was like who was that? I thought it was a freshman. I looked over and it was RGIII! What the heck, I just got hit by RGIII!”
Like in any good footrace, there are plenty of excuses by those who come in second. Montes was no different.
“I did have less than 72 hours of sleep because we were up doing the Parade… Towards the end, I did kinda start jogging, but I guess we can give [RGIII] the win,” Montes said sheepishly.
Griffin’s running specific resume is diverse and seemingly endless:
13.55 second 110-meter hurdles - 2007 TX UIL 4A State Championships
35.33 second 300-meter hurdles - 2007 TX UIL 4A State Championships
49.22 second 400-meter hurdles - 2008 Big 12 Champion
4.38 second 40-yard dash - 2012 NFL Combine
2,254 career rushing yards - 2011 Heisman Trophy winner
Still Montes was unfazed and challenged the Heisman winner for another race saying, “If [RGIII] comes back, I’m not going to slow down towards the end. I’m running full speed the whole run, lets go!”
In response, Griffin humbly accepted the challenge with one contingency:
“Sergio can race me anytime, but first he has to beat my wife straight up in a race. This might be a situation where a Bear bit off more than he could chew.”
As a top world heptathlete, Grete has a nice sprinter’s resume as well:
13.92 second 100-meter hurdles
8.60 second 60-meter hurdles
24.52 second 200-meter
2 minute, 16.08 second 800-meter
I may get smoked, but I would love to line up alongside the three of them—and hundreds more—to run the Baylor Line again.
Because nothing beats the community of the Baylor Line, no matter when you ran it. It extends beyond the field.
At long last, Robert Griffin III is finally apart of that community and has his own unique story about running the Line.