It's 9 o'clock on a Monday morning. Former Auburn athletic director David Housel and his roundtable of college friends are gathered at Chappy's Deli, discussing the weekend in college football.
"Monday is always a big day," Housel said. "Everybody wants to talk about football. When Auburn wins, it's a big day."
The former athletic director said he's been coming to the deli since he retired, but it wasn't by choice at first.
"When I retired, my wife said she wanted me to find something to do to get out of the house," Housel said. "So I started coming here, reading the paper and getting a start on the day."
Before the breakfast club and retirement, Housel made a name for himself as not just athletics director, but arguably the foremost authority on all things Auburn.
"What was the score of the 1964 Auburn-Alabama game?" said Ed Ruzic, college friend and co-Plainsman staffer of Housel's. Before he even finishes the question, Housel interjects. "21-14 Alabama. That was also the score of the Houston game in 1963."
As an Auburn graduate who grew up 20 miles outside of Tuscaloosa, Housel said he chose Auburn for one reason.
"To get a good education," Housel said. "At least, that's what I tell my Alabama friends."
But of course, that decision wasn't made without a little help from the football team. "When I was 10 years old, my daddy took me to see the 1956 Auburn-Alabama game in Birmingham," Housel said. "Auburn won 34-7. I wrote Auburn and wrote Alabama and asked for information on their football teams."
The responses from the two programs helped Housel determine his fandom.
"Auburn sent me a media guide with a note thanking me for being an Auburn fan," Housel said. "Alabama sent me a media guide and a bill for $2. Alabama got their $2, Auburn got my heart."
During his time as an Auburn student, Housel spent a year as editor of The Plainsman.
"It was one of the most beneficial years of my life," Housel said. "I learned about people. I learned about some of the competing pressures. This side has a view, that side has a view, you're being pushed from both sides."
Housel served as faculty adviser to The Plainsman while teaching journalism classes. Next, he became assistant sports information director.
A year later, Housel was named sports information director, which he said was most enjoyable position he held during his time with the University.
"There's no question about that," Housel said. "You're working with the athletes on a daily basis. You were really involved at ground level. As you go up the chain of command to athletic director, you don't have that day-to-day contact with the players."
Housel added being SID gives you a little more room to be a fan.
"As sports information director, you can live or die with the outcome of the game," Housel said. "As athletic director, you have to have a certain level. You can't get too high, and you can't get too low because there's always another challenge or another day. If I'm the sports information director, and Auburn scores a touchdown, it's great. Sports information can be more emotional. Athletic director has to be more cold-blooded because you have so many concerns other than just the games."
In 1994, Housel's ascendance through the athletic department was finally complete. He was named athletic director April 1, of that year, a position he held until January 2005.
Housel said he saw plenty of great games during his time as athletic director, but he said there's much more to the position than just sports.
"You win a lot of big games and there are a lot of happy moments and there's a lot of tough moments too," Housel said. "But the most meaningful, memorable time was not every graduation day, but pretty close to it. We'd have a student come in the office and say, 'I just want to thank you. I'm the first person in my family to graduate from college or even going to college. I want to thank you for making that possible.'"
These were proud moments for Housel, but he didn't take the credit for them.
"They weren't thanking me," Housel said. "They were thanking Auburn. Some had been successful in competition, others had not, but to have a student athlete come in and thank you for making a difference in his or her life, that's pretty strong. Winning is fun, but what really matters is helping people. You feel like Auburn's made a difference, and you've helped Auburn make a difference."
Housel's successor was current athletic director Jay Jacobs, and Housel said he thinks he's done a great job during his time.
"I think Auburn's best years are just ahead of it, and I think Jay has done a good job of putting the infrastructure in place and the staff in place to help Auburn have some of its greatest years," Housel said.
Housel said he has taken notice of the job Jacobs has done when it comes to quality hires.
"Jay has made some of the most impressive hires, maybe, in Auburn history," Housel said. "Hiring a successful coach from another school in softball and baseball, those were big, big hires. Normally Auburn has hired assistant coaches on the way up or they've hired head coaches from smaller schools. That's been Auburn's modus operandi, but Jay made a big flash when he went and hired successful coaches from other (Division I) schools."
Housel may be a walking encyclopedia of Auburn sports knowledge, but what he said he really cares about is helping Auburn students become better people than they were when they arrived on the Plains.
From 1972-80, Housel tried to do just that with the brothers of Phi Gamma Delta (Fiji).
Housel served as a graduate-in-residence in the Fiji house for eight years.
"I had the opportunity to be the part of some people's lives that I never would have had the opportunity to be a part of," Housel said. "Some of them, we've remained good friends. You like to feel like you made a difference, and I like to think I did; helped them grow, helped them learn, helped them be a better person. That's what it's all about, and I would hope that those that were there would think I did."
The games were a big part of Housel's career, as well.
"What's the best game I ever saw in Jordan-Hare Stadium?" Housel said alluding to 2013's last second Iron Bowl win and also alluding to the win against Georgia. . "Do you have to ask?"
Housel talked about these games, and several others, with the passion of a die-hard fan, but he always came back to one point - helping people - and he said it's no different now than it was when he started at Auburn.
Housel spends much of his time reading, a hobby he is attempting to share with honors students in his book club.
Housel was, and still is, important to Auburn. But Auburn and its students are just as important to Housel.
"That's the only thing that really matters, helping other people," Housel said. "Everything else fades away. Everything else is human."
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