As a true freshman in 1994, Dat Nguyen left the Texas A&M football team during two-a-days.
He was homesick, and truthfully, not all that thrilled about the prospect of redshirting.
A&M coach R.C. Slocum allowed Nguyen to return home to Rockport, crossing his fingers and saying a prayer that his linebacker would return.
"I told the coaches, 'If we don't let him go, he's probably going to go any way and he may not come back. I think all we can do is just kind of embrace the thing and encourage him,'" Slocum said. "I told him all the positive things I could tell him, and I told him how much I appreciated his honesty. I let him go and then held my breath until he came back. When he came back, it seemed like he was better after that. He went on that scout team, and he gave our offense fits all year."
Nguyen went from the scout team to All-American to Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year to Lombardi Award winner to Chuck Bednarik Award winner to NFL player to the A&M Athletic Hall of Fame to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and finally to the College Football Hall of Fame. Nguyen was inducted Tuesday with nine other former players, including Peyton Manning and Marshall Faulk, and three coaches in the Class of 2017.
He now has achieved college football's highest honor.
"Only .02 percent of college football players [and coaches] are in the Hall of Fame," Nguyen said. "It's pretty unbelievable. I think that's what makes it such a great honor is how hard it is to get in. All the great players that wore the maroon and white, to represent my school, I guess that's pretty much a huge honor.
"I've never been an accolade guy. It was always just something I loved doing. But I guess when you did something so long ago, it is an honor to get recognized for what you did while you were playing."
Nguyen's wife, Becky, and his five children found out about his induction before he did. While he was away on a business trip, the National Football Foundation mailed a football to his house announcing his selection. Two days later, upon his return, Nguyen caught up on the big news.
"It was the old traditional way of sending it," Nguyen said. "There was no email, no phone call. Now days everything is so fast, so quick, but we do still have a mailman."
Nguyen, 42, has had his story told and retold many times. Yet, it never grows old.
Fifty members of the Nguyen family fled their village in war-ravaged Vietnam in 1975, narrowly escaping from the North Vietnamese Army. Dat was born in a refugee camp in Arkansas. The family relocated to Rockport and opened a Vietnamese restaurant.
At Rockport Fulton High School, Dat starred as a linebacker and made all state as a punter. The Pirates finished 17-4-2 in Nguyen's final two seasons, winning their first district title in 20 years during his junior season.
Notre Dame, Michigan, UCLA, Florida and A&M were among the schools that recruited Nguyen despite his size. He nearly chose the Wolverines, and the Aggies admittedly nearly overlooked him.
"I had reservations when I heard he was 5-10 ½, maybe 5-11 and not playing at a high-level school," Slocum said. "But I put on the tape, and he made every tackle. To this day, he's one of the best tacklers I've ever seen. When he locked onto somebody, he didn't let go. Then, when I got to know the kid – really smart and very respectful, just an outstanding person – we went ahead and recruited him.
"He was not the typical body size, but something about him, you knew he was special."
Nguyen thought he needed to get bigger before he arrived in College Station, so he nearly ate his mother out of house and restaurant. He showed up overweight.
He also arrived to find a jammed linebackers room. One of the nation's most heralded recruiting classes included fellow linebackers Trent Driver, Quinton Brown, Warrick Holdman and Phillip Meyers.
"I can do the math," Nguyen said. "Five of us signed. More than likely one of us most likely isn't going to play. I was the odd man out. I had to redshirt. I had a lot of doubts. I didn't know if I'd even have a chance to ever play at A&M. But I ran back home, and I talked to my high school coach. He said, 'Hey, the game of football is going to end one day. You have a chance to get an education at one of the finest universities in the country. You take that, and you run with it. You control what you can control.' So I went back and recommitted and reorganized my priorities."
During his season on the scout team, Nguyen worked out at 6 a.m., went to class at 8 a.m., worked out at noon and practiced with the team at 4 p.m. Three workouts a day.
Nguyen got his chance when Driver sprained his ankle on a sprinkler head before the 1995 season. Nguyen never left the lineup, playing in 51 consecutive games.
"You've got to go with your instincts and seize the moment," Nguyen said. "I had to figure out, 'Hey, what are my strengths?' My objective was, 'Find ball; go get ball.' I did it just a little bit better than he did, so I was fortunate to beat him out."
Nguyen led the team in tackles all four seasons and finished with a record 517 stops. He earned All-Big 12 honors three consecutive seasons, and took home every award possible, except the Heisman, his senior season.
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The Cowboys drafted Nguyen in the third round, with the team's scouting director, Larry Lacewell, noting about Nguyen's size, "We didn't draft him to come in here and change light bulbs."
Nguyen led the team in special teams tackles as a rookie and earned the starting middle linebacker spot in his second season. He led the Cowboys in tackles three times and finished with 516, ranking 10th in team history at the time of his retirement.
Nguyen's NFL career lasted seven seasons, ending after the 2005 season when neck and knee injuries forced him to retire. He coached and then worked in sports talk radio before becoming the owner of the Chick-fil-A franchise at Montgomery Plaza in Fort Worth in 2016.
"There are hundreds of thousands of kids in the same situation I was in," Nguyen said. "Why did God choose me? There's a purpose why I did what I did. There's a purpose why God had a plan for me.
"If you have faith and are committed and do the right things, you have a chance. That's the most important thing I want to always share. Kids might not know who I am, but they hear the story and say, 'Wow!' A lot of kids face doubts: I'm not big enough. I'm not fast enough. I'm not good enough. I'm not smart enough. If you work hard enough and love what you do, guess what, in life, in business, in sports, you will have a chance to succeed."
Despite his size, Nguyen made it big.
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He was homesick, and truthfully, not all that thrilled about the prospect of redshirting.
A&M coach R.C. Slocum allowed Nguyen to return home to Rockport, crossing his fingers and saying a prayer that his linebacker would return.
"I told the coaches, 'If we don't let him go, he's probably going to go any way and he may not come back. I think all we can do is just kind of embrace the thing and encourage him,'" Slocum said. "I told him all the positive things I could tell him, and I told him how much I appreciated his honesty. I let him go and then held my breath until he came back. When he came back, it seemed like he was better after that. He went on that scout team, and he gave our offense fits all year."
Nguyen went from the scout team to All-American to Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year to Lombardi Award winner to Chuck Bednarik Award winner to NFL player to the A&M Athletic Hall of Fame to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and finally to the College Football Hall of Fame. Nguyen was inducted Tuesday with nine other former players, including Peyton Manning and Marshall Faulk, and three coaches in the Class of 2017.
He now has achieved college football's highest honor.
"Only .02 percent of college football players [and coaches] are in the Hall of Fame," Nguyen said. "It's pretty unbelievable. I think that's what makes it such a great honor is how hard it is to get in. All the great players that wore the maroon and white, to represent my school, I guess that's pretty much a huge honor.
"I've never been an accolade guy. It was always just something I loved doing. But I guess when you did something so long ago, it is an honor to get recognized for what you did while you were playing."
Nguyen's wife, Becky, and his five children found out about his induction before he did. While he was away on a business trip, the National Football Foundation mailed a football to his house announcing his selection. Two days later, upon his return, Nguyen caught up on the big news.
"It was the old traditional way of sending it," Nguyen said. "There was no email, no phone call. Now days everything is so fast, so quick, but we do still have a mailman."
Nguyen, 42, has had his story told and retold many times. Yet, it never grows old.
Fifty members of the Nguyen family fled their village in war-ravaged Vietnam in 1975, narrowly escaping from the North Vietnamese Army. Dat was born in a refugee camp in Arkansas. The family relocated to Rockport and opened a Vietnamese restaurant.
At Rockport Fulton High School, Dat starred as a linebacker and made all state as a punter. The Pirates finished 17-4-2 in Nguyen's final two seasons, winning their first district title in 20 years during his junior season.
Notre Dame, Michigan, UCLA, Florida and A&M were among the schools that recruited Nguyen despite his size. He nearly chose the Wolverines, and the Aggies admittedly nearly overlooked him.
"I had reservations when I heard he was 5-10 ½, maybe 5-11 and not playing at a high-level school," Slocum said. "But I put on the tape, and he made every tackle. To this day, he's one of the best tacklers I've ever seen. When he locked onto somebody, he didn't let go. Then, when I got to know the kid – really smart and very respectful, just an outstanding person – we went ahead and recruited him.
"He was not the typical body size, but something about him, you knew he was special."
Nguyen thought he needed to get bigger before he arrived in College Station, so he nearly ate his mother out of house and restaurant. He showed up overweight.
He also arrived to find a jammed linebackers room. One of the nation's most heralded recruiting classes included fellow linebackers Trent Driver, Quinton Brown, Warrick Holdman and Phillip Meyers.
"I can do the math," Nguyen said. "Five of us signed. More than likely one of us most likely isn't going to play. I was the odd man out. I had to redshirt. I had a lot of doubts. I didn't know if I'd even have a chance to ever play at A&M. But I ran back home, and I talked to my high school coach. He said, 'Hey, the game of football is going to end one day. You have a chance to get an education at one of the finest universities in the country. You take that, and you run with it. You control what you can control.' So I went back and recommitted and reorganized my priorities."
During his season on the scout team, Nguyen worked out at 6 a.m., went to class at 8 a.m., worked out at noon and practiced with the team at 4 p.m. Three workouts a day.
Nguyen got his chance when Driver sprained his ankle on a sprinkler head before the 1995 season. Nguyen never left the lineup, playing in 51 consecutive games.
"You've got to go with your instincts and seize the moment," Nguyen said. "I had to figure out, 'Hey, what are my strengths?' My objective was, 'Find ball; go get ball.' I did it just a little bit better than he did, so I was fortunate to beat him out."
Nguyen led the team in tackles all four seasons and finished with a record 517 stops. He earned All-Big 12 honors three consecutive seasons, and took home every award possible, except the Heisman, his senior season.
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The Cowboys drafted Nguyen in the third round, with the team's scouting director, Larry Lacewell, noting about Nguyen's size, "We didn't draft him to come in here and change light bulbs."
Nguyen led the team in special teams tackles as a rookie and earned the starting middle linebacker spot in his second season. He led the Cowboys in tackles three times and finished with 516, ranking 10th in team history at the time of his retirement.
Nguyen's NFL career lasted seven seasons, ending after the 2005 season when neck and knee injuries forced him to retire. He coached and then worked in sports talk radio before becoming the owner of the Chick-fil-A franchise at Montgomery Plaza in Fort Worth in 2016.
"There are hundreds of thousands of kids in the same situation I was in," Nguyen said. "Why did God choose me? There's a purpose why I did what I did. There's a purpose why God had a plan for me.
"If you have faith and are committed and do the right things, you have a chance. That's the most important thing I want to always share. Kids might not know who I am, but they hear the story and say, 'Wow!' A lot of kids face doubts: I'm not big enough. I'm not fast enough. I'm not good enough. I'm not smart enough. If you work hard enough and love what you do, guess what, in life, in business, in sports, you will have a chance to succeed."
Despite his size, Nguyen made it big.
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