Greg "Kid" Collins '79 – The Mayor speaks about passion,
with passion
Straight up Greg Collins will tell you that he could not get into
Williams today and he is not sure how he got accepted in 1970s
either, but he is thankful he did.
"The saddest day of my life was graduation day, because it meant
that I had to leave Williams," said Collins. "I had made a lot of
friends at Williams, played three sports and even got inspired to
work hard in the classroom. It was a great chapter in my life and
it was over."
Collins did have options when he graduated, signing as a free
agent with the New England Patriots as a wide receiver/kick return
man, after lining up as a QB, RB, and receiver for the Ephs.
Classmate Greg McAleenan, a defensive back, was also in the
Patriots camp. "We stuck longer than I thought we would and longer
than most would've expected for two guys from Division III," said
Collins.
After the Patriots camp, Collins joined a work crew on an oilrig
in the Gulf of Mexico for a year. Next he moved on shore in Houston
and started a sports relations company called Collins Marketing,
which still pays the bills even though he is now in his second term
as the mayor of Kemah, Texas.
Kemah, on Galveston Bay, is not a big place by any means, with
fewer than 10,000 permanent residents, but its location helps
attract 5 million visitors a year. "We can pretty much run the town
budget off the tax revenues we take in on the boardwalk," Collins
noted.
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"As mayor I'm the head customer service guy," said Collins. "I
provide the people of Kemah with safety, infrastructure, and
someone to call to get things done and I let them know that I
care." That's one of the most important lessons Collins carried
away from Williams. "People at Williams care and I know you think
that is trite, but that's the way it is there," he said. "Williams
is passion. The coaches, professors, staff, students, and the
administrators all care. It really is no surprise Williams is so
highly regarded."
"Our coaching staff, with Bob Odell and Dick Farley and the rest,
was unbelievable," Collins stated. "No other staff ever out worked
them. We were prepared every time we stepped on the field and I saw
the same thing in the classroom. The hardest I ever worked in my
life academically was for Professor Mac Brown's international
relations class and I got a B, but I knew I earned it and I was
fine with it."
"The parents were just as passionate about Williams football as
the players and they traveled to every game and after home games we
would break up into smaller groups and go out for dinner with
them."
Three games stand out for Collins: junior year at Middlebury and
home vs. Amherst, and at Amherst as a senior. "Due to renovations
at Middlebury we had to dress in the gym and it had an effect on
us," he recalled. "We walked two-by-two the half mile to the field
through their Homecoming crowd who were all over us and no Williams
player said a word. We did our talking on the field with our play,
winning 33-12. We were a focused and determined team that day and
it was great to be a part of it." Collins punched in the
game-winning TD with a one-yard run in the second quarter.
Heavily favored and undefeated Amherst, with standout receiver
Freddie Scott, ran head on into another determined bunch of Ephs on
Weston Field and the Ephs recorded a 21-13 upset, with Collins
scoring the Ephs' first TD. "We celebrated on Spring Street for
three hours after that one," Collins said. "The significance of the
Williams-Amherst game grows with each year that passes. "The bond
with your teammates and the players before you is unknown by those
who have not participated in such an intense and storied rivalry. A
7-2 win at Amherst to close out a career is a memory that never
gets old."
When Hurricane Katrina ripped into the Gulf Coast in Mississippi
and Louisiana in August of 2005, the citizens of Kemah rallied to
help their neighbors to the east. "It's at times like that, when so
many are faced with such devastation that you learn there are an
awful lot of good people out there," noted Collins. "It was amazing
to see our small community come together and accommodate 300 people
in need. We found housing, food, vehicles, whatever was needed,
because the people of Kemah were passionate about helping."
Bishop Hendricken High School in Warwick, R.I., Collins alma
mater, sent a check for $1,000 to assist folks displaced by
Katrina. "Good people with passion always respond when they are
needed," said Collins.
Dick Farley recruited Collins and Collins remembers he did not
feel that Farley was especially excited about it. "Farley was very
matter of fact in recruiting: we want you, we think you can play,
and this is a great school," Collins remembered.
Collins was not put off by Farley's cold recruiting style because
he knew Farley from camps over the summer. "You never expected
Farley to say anything nice about what you did, but you sure did
not want to have him say anything bad."
Farley had an incredible talent for seeing Williams football
players even when they did not want to be seen. "He just seemed to
be everywhere, all the time," said Collins. "Everyone knew that if
they ran into him out late on a weekend night they would pay at
practice on Monday."
While Collins was running track for the Ephs, Farley would bring
the team to the dreaded Bee Hill workouts and join in and destroy
everyone. "He left no doubt that he had been a great athlete," said
Collins.
"Several years after I graduated I heard from people that over the
years coach Farley had stood up for me and my teammates in various
instances and made sure that athletes were respected," Collins
said. "That did not surprise me, because with Farley, if you put
the time in and do what you are supposed to do, he will support you
forever. We would all be better off if more people used the Dick
Farley approach to life."
Collins loves to travel throughout Texas on behalf of Kemah and he
really likes coming home on a Friday night and just stopping by a
high school football game in a part of the state he is not familiar
with. "There really is something special here about football on
Friday nights," he noted. To just buy a ticket and walk in without
a rooting interest and take it all in gives you a good feeling
about our kids and the game of football."
Collins keeps in touch with about 50-60 Ephs and pretty much every
one of them has a nickname or two, which no doubt is another story,
and if any venture to Kemah, a friendly face will greet them.
Collins and his wife Robin live in Kemah with their two sons
Christopher (aka "Boo") and Dylan (aka "The Bug").
