CHARLOTTE—Somewhere around the third iteration of the "Kris Jenkins donning a realistic wolf mask to hover over sleeping teammates and scare them to the point they think they're dying while in New Orleans" story, it became clear, this group of guys could retell some of their favorite memories all night long.
But that's kind of the point of the weekend.
The first Saturday of training camp has come to be known as Back Together Saturday. A full slate of practices and fan activities across every NFL club, as the league welcomes fans to kick off the first big day of training camp. The Carolina Panthers used the opportunity to also open the doors for over 30 alumni, many of whom will be on hand for Saturday morning's training camp practice at Bank of America Stadium which begins at 9:30 a.m.
First though, they spent Friday evening recapping old games, making new friends, and reenacting—in great detail—how they attacked Jenkins in his wolf mask.
"I about killed him," former offensive lineman Kevin Donnalley stated with an assurance that should send a chill down Jenkins spine. "I (was) an older player. I go to sleep early, I got to get my rest if I'm going to ball out on Sunday. I'm already asleep and they let him in the room. I wake up, looking straight up and he's like (roars) and I start swinging."
"So, I swear this dude came in the room, hit me on the leg, I look up and it's the scariest mess I've ever seen in my life," running back Stephen Davis recalled. "I looked at him and I said, 'man don't take me, don't take me.' I thought I was dead."
Remnants of similar conversations bounced off the walls all night, threaded with laughter and reminiscing, debates from Luke Kuechly and Tre Boston on which song their locker room most often played before games (they landed on "Any Given Sunday," from the movie of the same name) and shouts from Jonathan Stewart declaring, "that defensive line then, MAN!"
The Panthers will celebrate 30 seasons this year, with events and activates planned throughout the season. That abbreviated but rich history is what Director of Legend Affairs Jeremy Kelley, reminded the assembled group of as the night began.
"The mission for tonight is to celebrate 30 years of football," Kelley said, noting how special it was for a young franchise like the Panthers to be able to fill a room full of Legends, three quarters of whom boast Super Bowl appearances.
"It's fun because then you get to relive all the fun times you had," Kuechly shared. "All those guys that you played with, and you had so many fun memories with them, and you get to relive the days when we were playing.
"And then you get to look back on that '03 team, … it makes you appreciate the guys that came before you and set the tone and the tempo and the standard of what was acceptable."
The opportunity to be back together and not only have time together, but time with the future of the Panthers is crucial to the whole organization, according to former defensive end Mario Addison.
"We need this. We need to do this more," Addison said. "People tend to leave the league and do their own things. Life happens. You have a family, have kids, and tend to never look back. But being able to come back and see all these guys in this environment—it's like a (family) reunion. A football reunion…we need to share the stories for the younger generation can hear how we did it and how we paved the way."
The legacy of so many household names in one room is a testament to the attitude the club's first coach, Dom Capers, instilled in his roster.
"We didn't know what to expect," shared former safety Brett Maxie, a member of the inaugural '95 teams. "But one of the things that we talked about in our circle—Dom Capers built this team with veteran players. Guys that had been vetted and played in a lot of games. It was all about the chemistry coming together and when.
"That happened after Week 6 (of '95)."
That week, the Panthers got their first win. They railed off four in a row after that, finishing the season on a 7-4 run. The loss in Week 17 meant the first-year club wouldn't make the playoffs. But, said Maxie, "it absolutely lit a fire the following year."
That was when the second-year team made it to the NFC Championship.
Maxie himself stands as one of the best pictures of 30 years of Panthers football. As festivities kicked off Friday night, his son, Adam, recently joined the Panthers scouting department, coming east after five years with the Las Vegas Raiders. Following practice on Saturday, Adam will walk his dad through the stadium Brett Maxie helped build, to show off his new office.
"This is the first team he's worked for that I played for," Maxie shared.
While the Maxie family has one of the more familial connections actually prevalent at "Back Together Saturday," it's a sentiment that plenty of alumni feel. It's what drew them all back to Charlotte for the weekend in the first place.
Back Together Saturday
On Saturday, July 27, the Panthers will host their annual Back Together Saturday event with a practice inside Bank of America Stadium starting at 9:30 a.m.
The event will feature practice, performances from the Panthers entertainment groups, and fun, interactive activities for fans of all ages.
"I'll tell you," started Jake Delhomme, "I'll tell you why this organization was different and I played on a few different ones, Buck (Brenston Buckner) played on a few, whatever. I'm just telling you when you walked in that door every morning, you saw John Coleman with that smile on his face, that's not in every place," he continued, as teammates like Buckner, Al Wallace and Davis chimed in agreeing.
"Jon Richardson, the owner's son, he's cutting the grass," added Buckner. "He come in and he's got paint on his shoes, and he's lined the field. His kids were working the locker room," cut in Wallace, before Buckner concluded, "it was a totally different atmosphere, but it's more like, it's family…it's one of the true franchises I could say was an actual family atmosphere."
Life will once again scatter most of the group, once practice has concluded Saturday afternoon. But for at least one weekend they, like the fans joining for a first look at the 2024 Panthers, they were back together, back home.
If you'd like to attend Back Together Saturday, tickets are still available. Tickets are free, but must be claimed. Back Together Saturday will kick off at 9:30 a.m. inside Bank of America Stadium. The event will feature practice, performances from the Panthers entertainment groups, and fun, interactive activities for fans of all ages.
