Question/Answer

Two Can Play That Game By Rebecca Rule '76, '79G

Easy to print version

Arnold '84 and André Garron '86 played football at UNH. Later, André played for the Kansas City Chiefs, Arnold for the Redskins and the Patriots. Now they're raising families in Bedford, N.H. Arnold (right) is a vice president with John Hancock. André (below, injured in a pickup game with his kids) is the community development manager for the town of Londonderry, N.H. In 1991, they were named to the UNH Athletic Hall of Fame.

Q: As high school standouts in Framingham, Mass., you had your pick of colleges. Why UNH?

Arnold: The Whittemore School.

I looked at Ohio State. The stadium was huge. Then I went to a freshman English class—it was bigger than the stadium!

André: I liked the atmosphere at UNH. My first choice was Duke. Five minutes after I signed with UNH, I got a call from Duke. "Have you signed with anybody?" "I just signed with UNH, but honestly I wanted to go to Duke." He goes, "You're kidding me!" I said, "Well, you stopped calling." He says, "We can only call so many times. Then you can call us as much as you want." I didn't know. But I never regretted it.

Q: I understand [former pro football quarterback] Doug Flutie's still mad at you.

Arnold: Framingham South and Natick [Flutie's hometown] are huge rivals. Natick went to the Massachusetts superbowl. All the papers predicted they'd win by a landslide. And we crushed 'em.

André: I played quarterback. Arnold played fullback. Our cousin Donald played running back, and another, Travis Hinton, played tight end. The team came together in that one moment. David and Goliath. David prevailed.

Arnold: I've got to tell this one funny story. We were killing Natick. I'd scored, Donald scored. On the two-yard line in the huddle, Coach called my number again. You know, I'm a senior and captain, he gives me another touchdown. André says, "You know what, I want to score. You guys scored. Why can't I score?" So we give him the ball and he scores. I lost the scoring title for the state by four points.

André: Had I known, I would have given him the ball.

Q: Q: That's what brothers do?

Arnold: Brothers let brothers score.

Q: What's something people might be surprised to know about you?

André: Both of us did ballet. We did the Nutcracker in Boston.

Q: You wore the tights?

Arnold: We had to wear the tights and the little shoes.

Q: What have you learned from sports that you use in your work?

Arnold: It's not about me, it's about the team. What translates into business is discipline and teamwork.

Q: Are you competitive with each other?

André: We push each other. We always have, [but] we love each other. He wants the best for me. I want the best for him. You know the saying, iron sharpens iron.

Q: How do you measure success?

Q: Are you still into cool cars?

André: I have a motorcycle now that I love.

Arnold: Mine's faster.

André: Mine's faster.

Arnold: Mine's Italian.

André: The Japanese make a better bike.

Arnold: But Italians look cooler.

Rebecca Rule '76, '79G is an author, storyteller, story gatherer and humorist.