100 Years of William & Mary Football

he rolls out to the left he rolls out to the left David night is over throw with 11 seconds left to play The Impossible dream has come through 34 [Music] 33 is presented to [Music] K TCH TCH India [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Under head coach Jimmy lok the willaman Mary football program has developed over the last decade into a highly regarded competitive fors I'm I'm very well pleased with where the football program is I think we've uh achieved a great deal of success I feel like we've achieved consistent success meaning that we haven't had just a one or two good years we've been consistent over a period of time and I look at why we have been successful and why the status of the program is as good as it is right now and I have to uh give the credit to the caliber of student athletes that we've been able to attract and also the assistant coaches that we've had involved with the football program in 1989 the William and Mary gritters made their third postseason appearance in 4 years and finished the season ranked 10th in the nation the tribe started off that memorable year in Yokohama Japan where cultural exchange topped off a smashing victory over the Japanese Allstars in the Epson Ivy Bowl but the early years under Lok were another story we didn't win many games for first few years here but I really feel like the hard work that was done in the early years a big reason for the success we've had in the later years I had a team in 74 that was a good football team but we ended up winning for four football games simply because we went through an era of debate is college football really worthwhile at when marri and I like to feel that all those guys who played in the 70s and struggled and and wrestled and and uh and yet hung in there uh are very much a part of what we've got here today because of it and uh when the when the president and the board decided in uh early November of 74 to uh give us a four-year program we had one game left Richmond we were 18o underdogs and that team that was only able to win three games prior to that I beat Richmond 54 to 12 Richmond a rivalry begun in 1898 the longest running rivalry in the South and the fourth oldest in the nation a series marked by parody the spiders and the tribe will meet this fall for the 100th time the record 4747 and 5 1921 kicked off a period of success as the fighting virgins recorded 12 winning seasons in the next 13 years yes the Roaring 20s hit and so did William and Mary football dominance the Indians proved particularly formidable in 1926 making their first postseason appearance well we were playing uh Chattanooga in 1926 they had won their conference and we'd won our conference and that the first postseason game I believe that William and Mary ever participated in we were lucky we came out ahead the score was 9 to6 in our favor art Matsu kicked the field goal and later in the game I was lucky enough to go over for the touchdown that won incidentally in that game I broke my nose in three places the doctor put two plugs into my nose keep the blood from running into my mouth and he went like this with a put my uh nose back in place and I pull his hands down ouch and uh the coach says where your guts and right at that time I didn't have any in that early William and Mary Heyday the schedule was enlarged to include several out ofate and intersectional opponents William and Mary defeated Trinity now known as Dukes in their first four meetings and also faced Syracuse Penn State and Wake Forest as the depression lifted football Soares again this time under coaches Carl Bo and rube McCrae wian and maray chalks up 10 straight winning seasons and no State team defeats the college from 1940 to 48 the Indians win their first Southern Conference Championship in 1942 and Gerard Buster Ramsey claims AP First Team all America Honor pre-war Stars returned from the service in 1946 and Men line up to play college football in 1947 William and Mary claims another Southern Conference title McCrae is named coach of the year and Jack Cloud the Great Indian fullback is named captain of the all southern team and appears on several All America lists after posting a 9-1 record in regular season the Indians played in the first Dixie bowl game in Birmingham Alabama on New Year's Day they lost a heartbreaker to Arkansas 21 to19 in 1948 seasoned veterans laid claim to another Bowl bid the highlight of the Season came against the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill where the Indians battled the number three team in the nation to a 77 tie Tommy Kowski passed 22 yds to Lou hozman Who made a sensational catch for the touchdown the Indians went on to defeat NC State 26-6 and gained sweet revenge over Arkansas 9 to nothing before meeting the Cowboys of Oklahoma A&M in the second annual Delta Bowl classic in Memphis Tennessee the Indians finally broke loose after a scoreless half with a pair of touchdowns in a single minute Luke kmer snagged an attempted flat pack and lumbered 70 yards for the final score and a 20 to nothing William and Mary [Music] Triumph as the hey days of the 40s came to a close William and Mary players dotted the professional football rosters of the 50s [Music] as those ranks swell the numbers diminished at home probably the majority of people in the state of Virginia had no idea we'd win a game with 24 football players the iron Indians of 1953 we started out with uh 24 and I guess we still ended up with 24 bodies but people were hurt from time to time it really took a toll on that small group of players we went up to Navy and I think really caught the imagination of the state of Virginia by tying a very good Navy football team fact I think coach Freeman made Life Magazine as he was so excited he was crying after the game and that Cincinnati game I ended up playing defensive tackle at 190 lbs it got so bad there would nobody left despite the obvious adversity head coach Jackie Freeman rallied his men to a 54 and one record note drewer coached the Indians for seven seasons and William and Mary marked two of the biggest victories over Virginia during his [Music] tenure in the mid and late 60s the Big Green football fortunes were Guided by two of the best coaches in the business Marv Levy and Lou Holtz one of their charges a kid named Lok coach Ley Was a Very Organized individual uh had a tremendous staff and they also uh really taught me the values of fundamental football William and marray posted one of the biggest upsets in college football history in 1967 as the Indians scored three times in the four fourth quarter to stun Navy the top team in the East 27-6 playing for Coach Holz was difficult at times and fun at times he um he certainly was a motivator he he made it fun for the most part but he taught you football and he taught you how to win and I really cherish the time that I had to spend with Coach holon he rolls out to the left David Knight is open c and throws with 11 seconds left to play The Impossible dream has come true Indians 34 Richmond [Music] 33 there is an alphabet associated with William and Mary football and it begins with ab and Bs the degrees earned by The Scholar athletes it continues through AFC NFC CFL [Music] NFL lowski splits The Backs drops back to throw get intercepted there by Kelo at the 25 at the 30 at the 3540 45 Midfield down to the 40 breaks into the clear at the 30 one man with an angle on him he's at the to the five and go you run run run run [Music] run I almost [Music] had the alphabet includes other letters too MBA LLB JD CPA CEO people in the pros in football in all walks of life professionals from William and Mary from William and Mary football today we got good Rivals we got good a good battle a good schedule a good program and a super situation here where you know football's here to stay in just three short years William and Mary will celebrate 300 years of academic excellence and a wonderful Century of football 100 Years of tradition of spirit of pride we reflect back on all the the great teams that have been on Cary field all the tremendous William Ray teams of the past all the great players that have played before us and I talk to our players and they sense a degree of obligation that when they go on that field that they're not just playing for themselves they're playing for everybody else who has been part of the wayam Mary football program [Music]