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Oral History Interview

with

Fisher DeBerry

13 April 2005

CSHP 0003
Part 2

Colorado Springs History Project
CSHP

Colorado Springs History Project

The Colorado Springs History Project was conducted between the years 2005-2010 in a joint effort to document and update the history of Colorado Springs from mid-20th century to 2010. This volunteer team included members from the region’s major academic libraries and faculties, as well as the Pikes Peak Library District and the Pioneers Museum. Administered and supervised by the Colorado Springs History Project Committee, the project interviewers consisted of a number of local volunteers.

The oral history portion of The Colorado Springs History Project identified and interviewed individuals who had helped to shape the city of Colorado Springs in various and diverse ways. Subjects were also sought as representative of inhabitants of the Pikes Peak region and could provide insight into the city’s story in the second half of the twentieth century. Interviews reflect the rapid growth of Colorado Springs from the post-World War II era to the early part of the twenty first century. Interviews touch on business and government relations, religious organizations, various non-profits, the Air Force Academy, Colorado College, key local businesses, and the growth of many important charitable services within the community. Several interviews touch on education in Colorado Springs, highlighting both secondary and post-secondary educational institutions.

The collection is comprised of 50 tapes, 19 CDs, an2 DVDs with 32 individual interviews. These interviews are housed in the archives of Pikes Peak Library District’s Special Collections. A complete listing of the interviews is available at the Special Collections reference desk. Transcripts for many of the interviews are available for use.

Digitization
Audio from the Colorado Springs History Project was digitized from 2009 - 2011 and is available for study and use in the Special Collections department.

The Colorado Springs Oral History Project

Fisher DeBerry
Oral History Interview
CSHP 0003
Colorado Springs, Colorado

[tape 1, side 2]
Interviewer What is your major accomplishment outside of your family? If you could name one thing that you can think of, a significant
DeBerry Seeing guys finish what they started and graduate. As far as any personal accomplishments, I’ve never been a guy who, you know, that's been… anything that’s been major and important to me, like a number of hall of fames that I'd not have been able to do that if not for the outstanding coaches that we've had and the outstanding players, the commitment on their part, but I guess to be president of the American Football Coaches Association which is my profession, And that was certainly a high honor, and you know my wife was president of the Wives Coaches… Football Coaches Association in the same year that’s why I think that brought a lot of prestige to the Academy.
Interviewer That’s brilliant. That's something I didn't even know.
DeBerry Yeah. You know, the Hall of Fame, we’ve been elected now to the Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs and will be inducted this November. And that’s a tremendous honor. You consider the guys and the athletes and the people in this community and what they’ve done they’ve done before you. It makes you feel very humble, very proud but you know, all of the other Hall of Fames I didn’t win it by myself. That's for sure.
Interviewer Yeah.
DeBerry You have to have a lot of support. So I have never really focused on the me things as much as I focus on the we things. I'm very proud of what this program has accomplished in 21 years. And a lot of people didn’t think, at a service academy ought to compete at the high level that we've been able to, compete more, and the consistency of it.
Interviewer Would you ever… I mean say that you were offered a chance somewhere else, knowing all that you’ve accomplished with the Falcons, would you take it back and trade it for anything else?
DeBerry No. I am very happy and very pleased with my life. You know I’m eager to see what God has got planned for the future. So, you know I started a foundation which I want to serve this community and young people in this community with this foundation that's dedicated to single parent, families that are so committed to their kids and see that they have experienced life-changing, experiences in athletics, going to camps, in educational opportunities and things like that. So I'm really excited about the future of that, and we just started that last year and so does [inaudible] giving grants or give back to the community, to Home FronCares, to FCA, to Young Life, and the Boys and Girls clubs and things like that.
But we’re also giving out individual grants to the kids whose mom is working, and she’s working two or three jobs and, you know, and the older boys sometimes got… feeling that need to go back and work to help her out, a lot of families have to give up playing athletics, we won't be in a position. He needs a… you know, more than 50 dollar pair of shoes that… you know, that you just… everybody has to wear a certain pair of shoes now and they cost a lot of money. And it's not like the old $10 pair of shoes I used to… baseball mitts cost more. And a lot of kids today they have to pay to play football, and they buy their own equipment, they have to buy their shoes, they have to pay for their medical exams and that kind of stuff. So we want be available to do things like that.
Interviewer Yeah.
DeBerry You know, keeping a young person away from being able to play. Some foundation was not there to, you know, help out.
Interviewer Yeah.
DeBerry So I'm excited about that. I'm excited about spending time, you know, with my grandchildren and watching them develop and grow, because with my coaching career, I probably didn’t spend as much time with my own kids as I should have and let a lot of other people, you know, who bring them along. I want to try to be there as much as I can and that’s what I’m really excited about, you know, spending time with them, spending time. We have acquaintances back in the South and the way I grew up in my own family. But then being very involved in community work here, you know, not just do the foundation but in the church, and do community work and things like that, you know.
Interviewer Let’s see… what you're talking about was actually my next question.
DeBerry Oh, would I take another coaching job? You know I would never say never. But you know, right now, you know, I’m 67. If you think you could coach at that age [inaudible]. So I enjoy what I’m doing. I feel I have a lot of energy. I'm excited about every season. I'm excited about the young people. They have the presence to serve and I’m excited about the coaching staff – as good a coaching staff we ever really had before. They… there’s a great vision for the Academy. Some of the things that’s happened within the last couple of years they tarnished it a little bit. There was… time has healed, some of that, some of the things that we have done to educating our people, have been good. And so, I think it’s nothing but just great things out there in the future and I really want to be a part of that.
Interviewer Yeah, one of my next questions you actually kind of hit on was… what made you want to start the Fisher DeBerry Foundation. I know you guys got that 5k run that just passed and all that kind of stuff.
DeBerry Well, we doubled our participation, more than doubled our participation this year. And, again, just as I travel in the recruiting, I see so many single parent families. And then having growing up in the single parent family, I feel this is the way I can honor my mother, for the sacrifices that she made for me because she never denied me an opportunity even though she was just a minimum wager. And so, she always… was able to help me with $5 or $10 to put that down payment on basketball shoes or my clothes or my baseball glove or whatever. I would work to make the difference, but she never denied me anything, but she denied herself. And money has never been a factor. I’ve had a lot of opportunities to go to other programs and make a lot, lot more money. I might not be coaching today if I did, but then I think that’s something you have to consider when you’re coaching in the Academy. The financial base is not here. It is what it is in other places but yet at the same time, we’re fairly enumerated for our efforts and if money was the driving force I would be gone a long time ago.
Interviewer Yeah.
DeBerry But, you know, there are a lot of problems in a lot of people's lives today, not just in coaching but in everything. But I just, you know, I have so much respect for the community. I have so much respect for the Academy and for the people and mostly for the people that I've been blessed with to work with.
Interviewer Do you think, in your eyes, you make a big difference in the community? Like I know, for example, you speak for the Buckley Vision Institute that I see the commercials for and things like that. Do you think that… I mean, off the record, you've made an influence in me by a big amount. That’s the reason why I'm going to school to be a teacher, and I want to coach high school football and all that like that. I think in you’re... I guess in your church community and this community that you live in, do you think you could have made a big influence?
DeBerry Well, I hope that I have and that's, the whole purpose of this program is to be a servant coach. And then we're here just, to serve our players not our players serve us. And I want it to be a great experience on and off the field. I want it to be something that they can carry, into their personal lives and into their married lives and into their community and work to their service, to this nation. And I felt you can best do that, working in an Academy then you can do a lot of other things which… and…
Interviewer Yeah.
DeBerry But, it's not all about me, it’s about the players. I hope that I did made some difference. I’m concerned about faith and our stance and I don't... I don't think you have to say it how you feel about things because that’s just the way you walk. I mean, the way you care, and I mean players today more than ever before, they don't really care what I know. You got to have certain knowledge and you got to have the experience of having coached, but I don’t… I think that today, they're more interested in what you know. I mean, how you care about them than what you know. And so I think football coaching today is more about Johnny's and Joe's than it is about the X’s and O's. Now, the X's and O's are very important as you know.
And you got to have a foundation, and you got to have a philosophy and based with what you work on, the option is in the way we’ve done it here. But I think you’ve got to have a reason and a purpose as to why you do anything and why this will make more a difference in people's lives, and I hope I have… not because of something I have said but because of what they've seen. And I hope in the 21 years… really going on 26 years in the system that, there's been a consistency. That I haven't been a person who's been up and down, up and down. And… but there's been, a consistency and I'm the same person that…, that people knew 10, 15, 20 years ago.
Interviewer My last question is if… Say, when you do retire, are you going to move back to the South, or do you plan on staying right here in Colorado?
DeBerry No. We plan… we plan to stay here. We've built a home here, and our grandchildren are here and, but that doesn’t mean we won’t spend some time in the South. Because I love spring time and I love flowers, and I love to piddle in the yard, and you have a little better climate back there, to do those kinds of things. And… so I… you know, I... we're preparing it. That's what we desire to do one day, building a home back there and we probably would spend some time back in the South. But I don’t see that being anytime in the immediate future. But at the same time we plan on looking down the road and it’s nice to see what the good Lord’s got in store for us.
But as long as our health is good and as long as we, you know, feel we're getting the support that we need to have a competitive program, as long as we feel we’re making a difference in the people's lives I can't think of anything else I’d rather do than coach. But I'm not going to retire.
Interviewer Yeah.
DeBerry I'll work my foundation or I'll get a job, deliver papers or, pump gas. I mean, there's no job beyond my… , my ego or my expectation to be of service to people because people is what makes, life so challenging and so much fun and… And I think the most fun you get out of life is when you see that... maybe you have made a difference and maybe people tell you that and that's your satisfaction. It's not… it’s not any reward you want. It’s not any monetary return you get. It's the satisfaction you get with, maybe…you have made a difference somewhere.
Interviewer Well, I appreciate you meeting with me.
DeBerry Well, I enjoyed it, I really did. And I’m proud of you and proud of what you're doing.
[END RECORDING]

Description

Rating
Title	Interview with Fisher DeBerry, part 2
Narrator	DeBerry, Fisher
Interviewer	Bjork, Hansel
Subjects	United States Air Force Academy--Football--History--20th century Cities and towns--Growth Fisher DeBerry Foundation Football
Description	Part two of an interview with Fisher DeBerry, head coach of the Air Force Academy football team from 1984-2006. He describes how he came to be the coach, his development of the team, and his overall philosophy of coaching. He also reflects on the growth of Colorado Springs during his time living in the area.
Geographic coverage	Colorado Springs (Colo.)
Time coverage	ca. 1984-2005
Date of interview	2005-07-29
Duration	00:14:24
Date digital	2009-12-14
Resource type	interview; sound
Format	audio; mp3
File size	9.88 MB
Original format	cassette audio tape
File name	CSHP0003_part2
Language	en
Collection name	Part of Colorado Springs History Project
Collection number	CSHP
Rights	Pikes Peak Library District
Publisher	Pikes Peak Library District
Transcription	Oral History Interview with Fisher DeBerry 13 April 2005 CSHP 0003 Part 2 Colorado Springs History Project CSHP Pikes Peak Library District, Special Collections Copyright 2015 Colorado Springs History Project The Colorado Springs History Project was conducted between the years 2005-2010 in a joint effort to document and update the history of Colorado Springs from mid-20th century to 2010. This volunteer team included members from the region’s major academic libraries and faculties, as well as the Pikes Peak Library District and the Pioneers Museum. Administered and supervised by the Colorado Springs History Project Committee, the project interviewers consisted of a number of local volunteers. The oral history portion of The Colorado Springs History Project identified and interviewed individuals who had helped to shape the city of Colorado Springs in various and diverse ways. Subjects were also sought as representative of inhabitants of the Pikes Peak region and could provide insight into the city’s story in the second half of the twentieth century. Interviews reflect the rapid growth of Colorado Springs from the post-World War II era to the early part of the twenty first century. Interviews touch on business and government relations, religious organizations, various non-profits, the Air Force Academy, Colorado College, key local businesses, and the growth of many important charitable services within the community. Several interviews touch on education in Colorado Springs, highlighting both secondary and post-secondary educational institutions. The collection is comprised of 50 tapes, 19 CDs, an2 DVDs with 32 individual interviews. These interviews are housed in the archives of Pikes Peak Library District’s Special Collections. A complete listing of the interviews is available at the Special Collections reference desk. Transcripts for many of the interviews are available for use. Digitization Audio from the Colorado Springs History Project was digitized from 2009 - 2011 and is available for study and use in the Special Collections department. The Colorado Springs Oral History Project Fisher DeBerry Oral History Interview CSHP 0003 Colorado Springs, Colorado [tape 1, side 2] Interviewer What is your major accomplishment outside of your family? If you could name one thing that you can think of, a significant DeBerry Seeing guys finish what they started and graduate. As far as any personal accomplishments, I’ve never been a guy who, you know, that's been… anything that’s been major and important to me, like a number of hall of fames that I'd not have been able to do that if not for the outstanding coaches that we've had and the outstanding players, the commitment on their part, but I guess to be president of the American Football Coaches Association which is my profession, And that was certainly a high honor, and you know my wife was president of the Wives Coaches… Football Coaches Association in the same year that’s why I think that brought a lot of prestige to the Academy. Interviewer That’s brilliant. That's something I didn't even know. DeBerry Yeah. You know, the Hall of Fame, we’ve been elected now to the Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs and will be inducted this November. And that’s a tremendous honor. You consider the guys and the athletes and the people in this community and what they’ve done they’ve done before you. It makes you feel very humble, very proud but you know, all of the other Hall of Fames I didn’t win it by myself. That's for sure. Interviewer Yeah. DeBerry You have to have a lot of support. So I have never really focused on the me things as much as I focus on the we things. I'm very proud of what this program has accomplished in 21 years. And a lot of people didn’t think, at a service academy ought to compete at the high level that we've been able to, compete more, and the consistency of it. Interviewer Would you ever… I mean say that you were offered a chance somewhere else, knowing all that you’ve accomplished with the Falcons, would you take it back and trade it for anything else? DeBerry No. I am very happy and very pleased with my life. You know I’m eager to see what God has got planned for the future. So, you know I started a foundation which I want to serve this community and young people in this community with this foundation that's dedicated to single parent, families that are so committed to their kids and see that they have experienced life-changing, experiences in athletics, going to camps, in educational opportunities and things like that. So I'm really excited about the future of that, and we just started that last year and so does [inaudible] giving grants or give back to the community, to Home FronCares, to FCA, to Young Life, and the Boys and Girls clubs and things like that. But we’re also giving out individual grants to the kids whose mom is working, and she’s working two or three jobs and, you know, and the older boys sometimes got… feeling that need to go back and work to help her out, a lot of families have to give up playing athletics, we won't be in a position. He needs a… you know, more than 50 dollar pair of shoes that… you know, that you just… everybody has to wear a certain pair of shoes now and they cost a lot of money. And it's not like the old $10 pair of shoes I used to… baseball mitts cost more. And a lot of kids today they have to pay to play football, and they buy their own equipment, they have to buy their shoes, they have to pay for their medical exams and that kind of stuff. So we want be available to do things like that. Interviewer Yeah. DeBerry You know, keeping a young person away from being able to play. Some foundation was not there to, you know, help out. Interviewer Yeah. DeBerry So I'm excited about that. I'm excited about spending time, you know, with my grandchildren and watching them develop and grow, because with my coaching career, I probably didn’t spend as much time with my own kids as I should have and let a lot of other people, you know, who bring them along. I want to try to be there as much as I can and that’s what I’m really excited about, you know, spending time with them, spending time. We have acquaintances back in the South and the way I grew up in my own family. But then being very involved in community work here, you know, not just do the foundation but in the church, and do community work and things like that, you know. Interviewer Let’s see… what you're talking about was actually my next question. DeBerry Oh, would I take another coaching job? You know I would never say never. But you know, right now, you know, I’m 67. If you think you could coach at that age [inaudible]. So I enjoy what I’m doing. I feel I have a lot of energy. I'm excited about every season. I'm excited about the young people. They have the presence to serve and I’m excited about the coaching staff – as good a coaching staff we ever really had before. They… there’s a great vision for the Academy. Some of the things that’s happened within the last couple of years they tarnished it a little bit. There was… time has healed, some of that, some of the things that we have done to educating our people, have been good. And so, I think it’s nothing but just great things out there in the future and I really want to be a part of that. Interviewer Yeah, one of my next questions you actually kind of hit on was… what made you want to start the Fisher DeBerry Foundation. I know you guys got that 5k run that just passed and all that kind of stuff. DeBerry Well, we doubled our participation, more than doubled our participation this year. And, again, just as I travel in the recruiting, I see so many single parent families. And then having growing up in the single parent family, I feel this is the way I can honor my mother, for the sacrifices that she made for me because she never denied me an opportunity even though she was just a minimum wager. And so, she always… was able to help me with $5 or $10 to put that down payment on basketball shoes or my clothes or my baseball glove or whatever. I would work to make the difference, but she never denied me anything, but she denied herself. And money has never been a factor. I’ve had a lot of opportunities to go to other programs and make a lot, lot more money. I might not be coaching today if I did, but then I think that’s something you have to consider when you’re coaching in the Academy. The financial base is not here. It is what it is in other places but yet at the same time, we’re fairly enumerated for our efforts and if money was the driving force I would be gone a long time ago. Interviewer Yeah. DeBerry But, you know, there are a lot of problems in a lot of people's lives today, not just in coaching but in everything. But I just, you know, I have so much respect for the community. I have so much respect for the Academy and for the people and mostly for the people that I've been blessed with to work with. Interviewer Do you think, in your eyes, you make a big difference in the community? Like I know, for example, you speak for the Buckley Vision Institute that I see the commercials for and things like that. Do you think that… I mean, off the record, you've made an influence in me by a big amount. That’s the reason why I'm going to school to be a teacher, and I want to coach high school football and all that like that. I think in you’re... I guess in your church community and this community that you live in, do you think you could have made a big influence? DeBerry Well, I hope that I have and that's, the whole purpose of this program is to be a servant coach. And then we're here just, to serve our players not our players serve us. And I want it to be a great experience on and off the field. I want it to be something that they can carry, into their personal lives and into their married lives and into their community and work to their service, to this nation. And I felt you can best do that, working in an Academy then you can do a lot of other things which… and… Interviewer Yeah. DeBerry But, it's not all about me, it’s about the players. I hope that I did made some difference. I’m concerned about faith and our stance and I don't... I don't think you have to say it how you feel about things because that’s just the way you walk. I mean, the way you care, and I mean players today more than ever before, they don't really care what I know. You got to have certain knowledge and you got to have the experience of having coached, but I don’t… I think that today, they're more interested in what you know. I mean, how you care about them than what you know. And so I think football coaching today is more about Johnny's and Joe's than it is about the X’s and O's. Now, the X's and O's are very important as you know. And you got to have a foundation, and you got to have a philosophy and based with what you work on, the option is in the way we’ve done it here. But I think you’ve got to have a reason and a purpose as to why you do anything and why this will make more a difference in people's lives, and I hope I have… not because of something I have said but because of what they've seen. And I hope in the 21 years… really going on 26 years in the system that, there's been a consistency. That I haven't been a person who's been up and down, up and down. And… but there's been, a consistency and I'm the same person that…, that people knew 10, 15, 20 years ago. Interviewer My last question is if… Say, when you do retire, are you going to move back to the South, or do you plan on staying right here in Colorado? DeBerry No. We plan… we plan to stay here. We've built a home here, and our grandchildren are here and, but that doesn’t mean we won’t spend some time in the South. Because I love spring time and I love flowers, and I love to piddle in the yard, and you have a little better climate back there, to do those kinds of things. And… so I… you know, I... we're preparing it. That's what we desire to do one day, building a home back there and we probably would spend some time back in the South. But I don’t see that being anytime in the immediate future. But at the same time we plan on looking down the road and it’s nice to see what the good Lord’s got in store for us. But as long as our health is good and as long as we, you know, feel we're getting the support that we need to have a competitive program, as long as we feel we’re making a difference in the people's lives I can't think of anything else I’d rather do than coach. But I'm not going to retire. Interviewer Yeah. DeBerry I'll work my foundation or I'll get a job, deliver papers or, pump gas. I mean, there's no job beyond my… , my ego or my expectation to be of service to people because people is what makes, life so challenging and so much fun and… And I think the most fun you get out of life is when you see that... maybe you have made a difference and maybe people tell you that and that's your satisfaction. It's not… it’s not any reward you want. It’s not any monetary return you get. It's the satisfaction you get with, maybe…you have made a difference somewhere. Interviewer Well, I appreciate you meeting with me. DeBerry Well, I enjoyed it, I really did. And I’m proud of you and proud of what you're doing. [END RECORDING]

Interview with Fisher DeBerry, part 2

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