March 6, 2009

Below is a transcript of a portion of the speech given by Rufus Cormier at the pre-game reception for the Silver Anniversary Award. Cormier graduated from SMU in 1970 and lettered in football in 1968 and 1969. He went on to Yale Law School and earned his J.D. in 1973. He has worked for Baker Botts L.L.P. since 1974, and he has been a partner since 1981.

Cormier's list of past and current professional and civic affiliations is extensive, but some of his roles have included: American Bar Association Center for Racial and Ethnic Diversity--Member of Board of Directors, American Red Cross (Greater Houston Chapter) - Vice Chairman of Board of Directors, Houston Bar Foundation - Vice Chairman of Board of Directors, Houston City Planning Commission - Commissioner, SMU Alumni Association - Member of Board of Directors, SMU School of Law - Member of Executive Board, Texas Southern University - Chairman of Board of Regents, Yale Law School Association - Member of Executive Committee.

Each year, the SMU Lettermen's Association awards the Silver Anniversary Mustang Award to a former letterwinner who graduated over 25 years ago. The recipient's accomplishments bring honor to SMU and highlight the outstanding contributions that they have made to their communities.

Rufus Cormier:

"I am thrilled to see the faces of so many teammates and friends. So many of the experiences Yvonne (his wife) and I enjoyed during our college years at SMU have helped to shape our lives and many relationships forged during that period have lasted all these years. We were so fortunate to have been afforded the opportunity to attend SMU and for me to be a part of its athletic program. We are extremely proud of what this extraordinary university is, and stands for, under the leadership of our exceptional president, Gerald Turner.

I am indeed honored to receive this award. First, because the award is given by the Lettermen's Association, of which I am very proud to be a member; and secondly, because of my admiration and respect for the talented and civic-minded SMU lettermen, including those present this afternoon, who have been prior recipients of this award. I understand that the award is given in recognition of contributions by SMU lettermen to their communities. Any modest contributions I have made are attributable in significant part to my experiences at SMU and my participation in its football program.

There are invaluable lessons we all learned from football that carry over to our professional and civic lives.

As most of you in this room well know, success in football requires team effort, with each player subordinating personal goals to those of the team. Through football we learned that sacrifice and hard work are required to achieve long-term goals. We learned to distinguish between what we could control and what we could not and to focus on those things within our control. We learned on the field that when we thought we had nothing left, there was still a huge reserve waiting to be called upon. And we learned to enjoy our successes and to bounce back from defeat.

We also learned the importance of preparation to success. As basketball coach Bobby Knight has said, "The most important thing in life is having the will to prepare."

Coach (Hayden) Fry (former SMU head football coach) and the rest of our coaches taught us that in order to win, we had to prepare and then to have confidence in ourselves. There is much to the old saying: "Believe you can, believe you can't. Either way, you're probably right.

I was taught at home - and the lesson was reinforced at SMU - that a sense of honor, sportsmanship in the athletic context, is necessary for self respect; duty to family and community, like loyalty to team, is more important than individual recognition; and that work and self-discipline are necessary for both individual happiness and for a viable team or community.

Our strength as a society, like that of a team, lies in a sense of responsibility to each other. It was at SMU that I began to appreciate the importance of that obligation.

Living a positive and productive life requires the judgment to make wise choices and the maturity to assume responsibility for one's actions and relationships. On the Jewish New Year, I understand that a prayer is sometimes read in synagogues, a form of which reads in part, "Birth is a beginning, death is a destination and life is a journey - from ignorance to knowing, from foolishness to discretion, and then, perhaps, to wisdom."

I am well aware that I have miles to travel to achieve even a semblance of wisdom, but I am very grateful to SMU and its athletic program for causing me to begin to understand that it is our relationships with family and friends, and the commitments we make to things larger than ourselves - whether contributing to a winning team or a better community - that give meaning to our lives.

Thank you for this wonderful award."