Being a part of the Gavilan College football program clearly meant more to past players than simply two years of service and a ticket to another school.

With a coach that cared as much as Bob Garcia, who spent 23 years with the Rams and helped lead Gavilan to a junior college national championship in 1973, there has to be more to it. Why else would nearly 150 former players from teams that spanned four decades come from all corners of the country to congregate in Gilroy for a weekend?

Celebrating the 35th anniversary of the title team, as well as allowing players from years before and after the championship squad to remember the bonds they formed through shedding blood, sweat and tears on the field, and laughs off of it, Garcia's reunion turned out to be a three-day success that left former players wondering why they should wait five years for the next get-together.

"Life is all about experiences, good and bad" Garcia said. "But this weekend is all about remembering the good times we had."

The coach added that the event wouldn't have been possible without the help of a range of people, most notably his daughters, Jene and Melissa, and Ken Berry.

Kicking off the weekend with a gathering at the Hilton Inn in Gilroy Friday night, players who hadn't seen each other in years bear-hugged, tossed back beers and reminisced about how bad they gave it to this or that team depending on the year. A group of more than 80 former players then took part in a nine-hole golf tournament at Gilroy Golf Course on Saturday before meeting each other's friends and family for a dinner that night that accommodated 300-plus

Taking place five years after the first reunion, the event was a special occasion for Bob's son, Jeff Garcia, who was excused from the first two days of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' training camp to attend. As an NFL quarterback, the Bucs' signal-caller represents the pinnacle of athletic achievement for someone who played football at Gavilan. But when looking back, Jeff Garcia admitted that the guys who played before him were his heroes as a kid.

"I looked up to them," he said. "I wanted to be like them. I wanted to play for my dad. I wanted to be out there running around in their shoes, doing what they were doing. It didn't always mean they were having the best of seasons, but I think that for the most part their experiences were great experiences. And that's what brings them back today."

As Jeff Garcia admitted, Gavilan didn't always win. And while Coach Garcia wasn't always a joy to play for, the respect every player who attended the event had for the former coach was evident.

"He'd tell you what kind of crap you were if you messed up," said Tom Harrison, a member of the Rams in 1969-70 when Bob Garcia was in charge of defensive backs. "But he was also the first to congratulate you when you did something good and came off the field."

Following the reunion, the coach was left exhausted but well aware of what the weekend meant to everyone involved.

"A lot of guys said, 'Coach, we went to play ball at major universities and we don't have anything like this.' " Bob Garcia said. "For a junior college to do this, you know it was really special."