Ex-Dolphin finally a grad
Ex-Dolphins RB promised college coach he’d finish his college degree
Tony Nathan honors vow made to coach “Bear” Bryant in ’79.
Well, Tony Nathan kept his promise. He earned his college degree. He donned the cap and gown Saturday and cried during Alabama’s commencement ceremony. His former teammate, Gus White, saw and congratulated him.
“His daughter was graduating, too,” Nathan, 58, said.
A few college professors introduced themselves and said they were proud of him.
“I think they went to school when I played there,” the former Dolphins running back said.
This, as you can see, wasn’t a normal graduation. It’s a story about career turns, delayed dreams and life’s different chapters. Ultimately, it’s about a promise Nathan remembered even as he ran to NFL glory, coached at various stops, raised a family and watched the years go by.
The promise: In the winter of 1979, Nathan sat in coach Paul “Bear” Bryant’s office to request dropping some college classes in his final semester. That was how it worked at Alabama. The Bear had final say on players’ academics.
A couple All-Star football games caused Nathan to miss school, he was behind in classes and the professors were unforgiving. They suggested he withdraw from the courses. Nathan wasn’t graduating that spring anyway due to football’s demands.
“Promise me you’ll get it done,” Bryant said that day to Nathan.
Nathan promised. Who knows? Maybe he meant it, too. He was 22 and talented and about to become a third-round draft pick of the Dolphins and marry his college sweetheart, Johnnie.
He went and lived the life he dreamed, too. Football? He had an eight-year NFL career, scored 29 touchdowns and was a key component in Dolphins teams that made two Super Bowls.
Family? Johnnie and he raised three
tiful daughters. They pushed education in the Nathan household, too. First, Nichole, now 35, graduated from South Florida. Then Natalie, 32 and the youngest, Nadia, 27, graduated from Alabama.
“It’s your turn, Dad,” his daughters said.
And then his wife, who also left Alabama without a degree, completed hers.
“It’s your turn,” Johnnie said.
The truth was Nathan had worked in fits and starts on completing his promise to his old coach. The first time came when he coached under former teammate Don Strock at Florida International University in 2003.
He was in a university environment for the first time in a quarter century. He decided to take classes. In fact, Strock set it up so a few coaches — Nathan, Bruce Hardy and Hurlie Brown — could work on their degrees in mornings or after night meetings.
“Took Spanish there,” Nathan said. “That was a trip, being the old man in a class of kids.”
He chuckled. “Just don’t ask me to speak Spanish now.”
As Nathan began mapping out the necessary classes, life took another turn. The NFL called again. He went to the Baltimore Ravens, then the San Francisco 49ers, as their running backs coach.
“At that time, I just concentrated on those jobs,” he said. “I didn’t really have time for classes. I didn’t know where to look even if I did.”
When 49ers head coach Mike Nolan was fired after the 2008 season, Nathan moved out of football. Eventually, he teamed up with former Dolphins teammate Ed Newman, who is a Circuit Court judge in Miami. Nathan became the bailiff in his courtroom.
“Somewhere in there, I started to think of college again,” he said.
He talked with an Alabama counselor. He took classes online toward a degree in liberal studies. He bought books, followed the syllabus, kept whittling down the hours. The three math classes were toughest.
“Try to learn calculus at my age,” he said.
Finally, he was down to his senior project. A theme paper. He chose a topic he knew something about: “The correlation between coaching, psychology and religion.”
“It was interesting, because instead of following a book I got to apply some of my life experiences,” he said. “There were a couple case studies about kids growing up single parents, sometimes with their grandparents, and how you could try to reach them and find what makes them tick. It was applying my experience living, playing ball and my faith.”
He got an “A” on the paper.
“And that was it, I was done,” he said.
College graduation, for many, is a place dreams begin. Nathan’s dream ended with Saturday’s ceremony. He learned it’s never too late to complete a promise to an old coach. He taught all of us that. And aren’t such lessons what college is all about?
“Try to learn calculus at my age.”
Tony Nathan, 58, former Dolphins running back