When Bill Laliberte reported to begin practice with the Saint John's University football team as a freshman in the fall of 1966, he quickly encountered a problem.
There wasn't any equipment small enough to fit him.
"(Head coach John Gagliardi) had to go over to the prep school," recalls Laliberte, a running back who then stood 5-foot-6 and weighed only 120 pounds. "The shoulder pads they had were just too big for me. I needed something that fit me more snugly so I could get my arms up to catch passes."
Laliberte's diminutive stature drew some curious looks from his teammates as well - or at least from those unfamiliar with his career at Robbinsdale High School.
"When I first saw him, I thought 'Oh my. How is this guy ever going to play here?'" recalls then-sophomore John Balestri, an Illinois native who went on to pair memorably with Laliberte in the SJU backfield two years later. "But then I saw his speed and elusiveness and I realized immediately why John recruited him."
Indeed, Laliberte had already proven himself capable of big things at Robbinsdale, where he'd played a key role alongside future Minnesota Gophers like Doug Roalstad and George Kemp on one of the top teams in the Lake Conference — at the time the state's premiere league at the high school level.
But now he was joining a team that had won its second NAIA national championship in two years the season before, and he knew he had to prove himself all over again.
"Because of my size, I always had to prove that I belonged," Laliberte said. "That gives you a different mindset. You're always looking to kick anyone and everyone's butt. I didn't care how big they were. The bigger the better because I knew they couldn't get low enough to hit me.
"I was blessed with pretty good speed, and I played ice hockey so I had a tremendous amount of endurance. I never got tired in the fourth quarter and that extra gear served me well."
Laliberte made an impact where he could as a freshman and sophomore, using his speed to make an impact on offense and special teams — including scoring on a 61-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter of a 51-8 win over Augsburg that closed his freshman season.
But he was still working to overcome his head coach's concern for his physical well-being.
"As I got to know John more and more, I gained his confidence," Laliberte said. "But at first, I think he was afraid to play me because he was scared I was going to get hurt. I finally told him 'Don't worry about that. It's on me.' "And I never did get hurt in my four years there."
Laliberte — who had bulked up to around 138 pounds — finally broke into the starting lineup as a junior in 1968. He joined Balestri, who led the MIAC in rushing that season, in the conference's top backfield. Laliberte had runs of 67 yards or more in four games that season, including an 87-yard touchdown run in a 21-6 home win over Minnesota-Duluth that still ranks as the sixth-longest in school history.
"Nobody ever got a direct hit on him," Balestri said. "He was so elusive. Twenty years later, Michael Jackson came out with the moonwalk. That reminded me of Bill. You'd think he was going backward, then he was going forward or side-to-side. He made it easy for me as a blocker. I just had to get in the way of a guy and he'd find a way to get past him."
His play earned Laliberte the respect of his teammates, who elected him a team captain as a senior in 1969. He ran for 892 yards and 13 touchdowns that season, leading SJU in rushing, total offense, punt returns and scoring.
"Nobody in my time has ever been that small and played football in the MIAC," Gagliardi said of him in the
St. Cloud Times that season. "He's in the tradition of small running backs at Saint John's, but I never expected a tiny one.
"Everyone knows he can run. But he's also an exceptionally fine blocker. And that's saying a lot for a guy like that."
Laliberte's efforts helped propel the Johnnies to an 8-1-1 record and a berth in the Mineral Water Bowl in Excelsior Springs, Mo., where they defeated Simpson (Iowa) 21-0. Laliberte carried the ball 24 times for 110 yards and a touchdown, earning the game's outstanding back award.
"That was a good team," Laliberte said. "We had several freshmen who came in and played that year. John decided he wasn't just going to go by seniority. He was going to play the guys who were the best, and some of those younger guys really made a big impact."
Laliberte originally played three sports at SJU — football, hockey and track. He gave up track after his freshman year but played hockey his entire time on campus — recording 16 points as a junior in 1968-69 and serving as one of the team's captains in 1969-70.
"I loved playing hockey," Laliberte said. "The conditioning was tremendous. It was great for my legs and great for my lung capacity.
"It also helped toughen me up. Playing hockey as long as I did, I got my nose bloodied a few times. So nothing on the football field was going to scare me."
Laliberte served in the Navy for three years after graduation, then settled in Southern California. He got into the produce business, where he has gone on to a long and successful career.
In 1995, he founded WJL Distributors and remains the company's owner today.
But he's never forgotten his time at SJU and has remained a huge supporter of the university and its athletic teams over the years. He was the first donor to the Gagliardi Field project, a $6 million artificial-turf field and seasonal dome named in his head coach's honor.
It was a tribute, he said, to the lasting impact Gagliardi had on him.
"I'd fought that stigma my whole life when it came to my size," Laliberte said in 2015. "But John saw through all that and gave me an opportunity. That's something you don't forget.
"John was always special to me," he added this summer. "Not just in my time at Saint John's, but afterward. I stayed in touch with he and (his wife) Peg for many years. They were great people."
