The impact of sports on a community story: Daunte Culpepper by Geofree Capodanno

College football in Florida instantly brings to mind well-known football programs such as the Florida State Seminoles, the Florida Gators, and the Miami Hurricanes. During my attendance at the University of Central Florida (UCF) from 1996 thru 1998, there was a different cultural buzz surrounding a certain player for a lesser known football program, the UCF Golden Knights. That player'’s name was Daunte Culpepper.

From the first moment I stepped onto campus, I got to see first-hand what kind of impact that Culpepper delivered to the UCF community. Signs were posted throughout campus that advertised upcoming games with only a picture of Daunte on them. The campus’ box office had a lighted sign displaying “"see Daunte and the Golden Knights play this weekend"” above their ticket sales window. Several students roamed the campus wearing Golden Knight football jerseys with the name Culpepper and his signature number eight on them. Even though I was aware of his hype from reading local newspapers in the past, this kind of saturated exposure came as a surprise to me.

Here is a good time to give a little background information on this athlete to explain why his popularity was so enormous. First, there was his personal life. Barbara Henderson, Daunte'’s biological mother, gave birth to him while she was imprisoned for armed robbery. She turned to Emma Culpepper, a worker at the same correctional facility and Ocala, FL resident, to take care of Daunte while she served for jail sentence. On top of her three adopted children, Emma had been raising four of her late brother’s children as well as seven more from her sister-in-law when she accepted the responsibility of raising Daunte. He considered this core group to be his real family and Daunte credits Emma to be the reason he is the successful person that he is today. The media and fans alike viewed this as Daunte being a regular human-being with real problems who overcame major hurdles in his life growing up. They didn'’t view him as a person who had a god-like complex and born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

Then, there was the athletic side of his life which added to his appeal as well. An overall fantastic athlete, Daunte Culpepper was the top high school quarterback of the state who went on to win the title, Florida'’s Mr. Football before he graduated. The mere fact that such a promising athlete like him ended up as the starting quarterback at UCF was actually due to a strange circumstance. His low grade point average discouraged Florida'’s top three athletic programs, the University of Florida, Florida State University, and the University of Miami, from offering him acceptance to their program and an athletic scholarship. UCF saw this opportunity as a chance to acquire a prized asset for their football program. They helped develop a study program for him, including taking certain classes for a second time, to improve his grade point average in which he was successful. Daunte returned the favor when he committed to UCF even after the aforementioned programs began to show interest in him after his grades finally improved. This act alone was a credit to his character, showing belief in a university that believed in him during his troubled times with grades in school.

His impact on the program was instantaneous. UCF was attempting to move their program from Division 1-AA to Division 1-A. After obtaining an athlete of Daunte'’s caliber, the move to Division 1-A would become a reality for UCF beginning in his sophomore year of 1996. Culpepper was heralded as the one who moved UCF into the top tier divisions in college sports with the rest of its state rivals.

UCF graduate James Woodruff, of Orlando, FL, reflected on his memories of Daunte’'s influence over the UCF community. "“Daunte was the talk going on in every class,"” said Woodruff. “"I remember that even my professors would start classes by talking about the prior week’s game and how Daunte did in them."”

Injuries plagued Daunte in his sophomore and junior seasons, including a sprained ankle and a dislocated shoulder. Then, there was talk that he might enter the NFL draft after completing his junior year. But, his promise to Emma that he would earn his college degree plus his concern of being overlooked in the draft by fellow quarterbacks Ryan Leaf and Peyton Manning made his choice clear. He elected to remain at UCF for his senior year and help them in the quest for their first ever college bowl bid.

I clearly remember the day that Daunte announced to the media that he would remain for his senior year at UCF. It was the main topic of discussion among all students. It was even the lead story on every Orlando television newscast as well as the cover story of Orlando'’s top news publication, The Orlando Sentinel. Daunte Culpepper was even taking precedence over the Orlando Magic, which was the only major professional sports franchise in Orlando.

Former Central Florida News 13 sports reporter Mike Plante, of Deerfield Beach, recalls the importance of Daunte to Orlando. "“He was always willing to give all of the local media all of the time we needed for interviews,"” stated Mike. "“He was under the national sports’ radar. So, even though we covered the UCF team locally on a weekly basis, ESPN got first dibs on him when they requested his presence. Sometimes they never gave him back. It wasn'’t by his wishes...…it was by their wishes. He was certainly in high demand for a collegiate athlete from a football program that was very new to Division 1-A.”"

The expectations were high for the Golden Knights in 1998. Culpepper had a new head coach, former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback and former UCF offensive coordinator Mike Kruczek, who promised to use Daunte to the maximum of his abilities. Culpepper was even being mentioned as a candidate for the Heisman Trophy Award, an award given to the most outstanding college football player.

Rebecca Levine, of New York City, is a UCF graduate who frequently attended the Golden Knights’ football games for her final two years at the university. “"I attended almost every home game in ’97 and ‘98, but ‘98 seemed to have the biggest turnouts,"” said Rebecca. “"I remember being a part of those '‘Daunte!'’ chants. I'’d always feel like I just got out of a concert by the time I got home. Every time he did anything good, we would scream our heads off. It was like Daunte-mania because Daunte was the man.”"

Brielle Baran, a UCF graduate now residing in Secane, PA, was not a huge football fan at the time. But, she was still drawn in by the excitement that Daunte brought to the students and the overall Orlando area. “"When I was a part of UCF'’s weekly news show, we always led off with something about Daunte, even over what was happening on the educational side of the university,"” stated Brie. “"I wasn't really a hardcore football fan or anything like that, but I started going to the games just to see what this hype was all about.”"

The Golden Knights went onto to finish 9-2 that year, yet did not receive an invitation to a bowl game. Daunte Culpepper threw for 3,690 yards and 28 touchdown passes as well as rushing for 463 yards with 12 rushing touchdowns. He also broke former Brigham Young University and now retired San Francisco 49ers quarterback Steve Young’'s single –season pass completion percentage record for a college quarterback by finishing at 73.6 percent. He did finish his career at sixth on the NCAA all-time offense list with 12,459 and 108 (84 passing and 24 rushing) touchdowns. He also accomplished a feat that only two other college quarterbacks, including former Alcorn State and current Tennessee Titans quarterback Steve McNair, had accomplished by throwing for over 10,000 yards and rushing for over 1,000 yards during his college career. Surprisingly, he was snubbed for even a consideration to win the Heisman Trophy award by the time the voting began. His career was full of highlights and records and it was a fun time to watch him lead the Golden Knights if you were living in the Orlando area. But, then it was time for him to graduate and pursue his career in the National Football League.

The Knights' Pub, which is a local bar located just off of the UCF campus, held a huge gathering for the 1999 NFL Draft to see when Daunte would be drafted and what team was going to select him. When the Minnesota Vikings drafted him in the first round, the fellow patrons exploded in applause.

Steve Morea, a UCF graduate still living in Orlando, who was in attendance, remembers that moment. “"I remembered when the Vikes announced him as their pick,"” Morea said. "“I started yelling that the next great connection in football was going to be Daunte Culpepper to Randy Moss.” So far, it hasn't been that bad of a connection."

Daunte Culpepper still holds an impact within the Orlando area to this very day. The Knights' Pub started a tradition for the NFL season in 1999 that currently continues on today. They show all of the Minnesota Vikings’ games on the bar’s big screen television. They strictly advertise for all students to come to the bar on the Vikings'’ game days to follow Daunte Culpepper, the UCF alumnus, in his NFL career.

Daunte made the UCF Golden Knights football team an underdog to cheer for and brought the community of Orlando together. The UCF graduates that I keep in contact with still reflect on those days. No matter what team we follow and cheer on, there is always a small place in the back of our hearts for Daunte Culpepper. As James Woodruff states, "“I'’m a life-long Packers fan, but whenever they face off with Daunte under center, I still hope the Packers win...…don’'t get me wrong. But I also hope that Daunte has a good game.”"