Stories of Veterans Days Past on the Home Front. Boise-Borah: A Decade of Rivalry, Part One, 1958 to 1963.

First Boise-Borah game, November 11, 1958. Biggest crowd ever at Bronco Stadium up to the time, around 12,000. Borah scored first, but Boise came back twice to take the lead 13-12. Borah scored in the last 2 minutes to win 19-13. Those were the days.

         

                             

Here you can watch the entire 1958 Veterans Day in 20 minutes.

I don't remember the 1959 Veterans Day game as well as the first one. It was close again, with Borah winning 20-14 and a 2nd straight SIC title. Bill Francis was the Borah quarterback and I remember Wendell Babcock and Mike Grisham (#32 on the program cover along with lineman Randy Lind #70) running the ball a lot. Looking at the roster, neither team had a player who weighed more than 190 lbs. How things have changed. Another trivia note. Borah lost to Nampa that year. It would be 1972 before Borah would lose to another SIC team outside of the city of Boise.

I don't have a program of the 1960 Veterans Day game, which is really disappointing. I know it was a 6 point game and I know Lyle Hartley was the Borah quarterback. The Lions won their third straight SIC title, with only a loss to Lewiston denying them an undefeated season. What a decade it was for Borah, 1960-1969. Only 6 losses in 10 years. And if you add the 1970 season, only 6 losses in 11 years, and only one of those was by more than a touchdown. The picture I have is of the marching bands of both schools.

1961 was the first rout, Borah winning 27-7. Larry Howard was QB, and now I really wanted to be a quarterback. He was #11, a number that would be worn by a couple more starting quarterbacks at Borah in that era. For a while it was my favorite number, but things would change. Ray Littlefield was the Lion fullback, and he was a beast running the ball, on defense, and on the wrestling mat. Seniors Ray Miller and Laverle Pratt would both sign pro contracts, and Pratt would be a big star in the Canadian Football League. An undefeated season for Borah and a 4th straight SIC title. They were never really challenged.

1962. You'll notice that the programs aren't quite as fancy, but be patient.The Lions were heavy favorites in this game, but Coach Ed Knecht in his first year at Boise had the Braves ready. Borah jumped out to an 18-0 lead, but Boise would battle back to make it 18-14 before Borah scored again to win 25-14 and another SIC championship. I don't know if Borah ever had a more star-studded team. Quarterback Jerry Ahlin would star on both offense and defense at the University of Idaho before being drafted into the NFL. Steve Svitack played both ways and was also a state champion wrestler and pole vaulter before becoming Boise State's first All-American and playing in the NFL. Center Bill Smith was starting center at the University of Oregon. Dave Severn and Bill Bryson were 2 of the fastest sprinters in the state, the latter running a 9.4 100 yd dash in college, which was one of the top times in the nation at the time. Oh, and I was starting to notice cheerleaders. Well, I was all of 11 and in the 6th grade.

The 1963 and 1964 Veterans Day games were the best ever in my opinion, and I am an expert on my opinion. The 1963 season was the first year that teams were ranked by the AP, and Boise was 9-0 and ranked #1 going into the game. Borah was 8-1, having lost by 2 touchdowns to a team from Missoula, Montana to open the season. It was Lions' worst loss of the decade. Boise was 14 point favorites and looking for their first ever win over their cross-town rivals. Over 14,000 people attended and the game was televised for the one and only time. Most of the pre-game talk was about the arm of Boise quarterback Paul Gentle, but the star turned out to be Lion running back Dale Cady who scored all three of Borah's touchdowns. Statesman writer and future mayor Dick Eardley would call it the greatest high school game ever played in Idaho, and I think he was right. 21-20 Borah and SIC championship #6.

Those of you from the class of 1969 remember Coach George Nakano. George coached the Borah offense from 1968 to 1970 for Borah. He was the head coach at Caldwell in 1963, and the Cougars had a chance to upset Borah. However, Ron Imel ran for a touchdown with 15 seconds left and the Lions came back to win. Years later I was at a Borah practice, standing by Coach Nakano. Coach Pankratz was talking to his team about the '63 game that Caldwell could have won, and said, "They would have won the game if their coach hadn't gotten so conservative." Nakano was on one knee, picking at some blades of grass with a half-grin on his face. Pankratz looked over at me and said, "You remember that game, don't you, Don?" I nodded yes and pointed down at George. Coach Pankratz got a big grin on his face and said, "George, you remember that too, right?" Coach Nakano's response was, "Yes, Coach, I was just throwing up."

 Ron Imel, #13 for Borah had a great year from the spring of '63 thru the spring of '64. In May he was state champion in the 120 yd high hurdles, in November he was voted onto the all-state football team, and in February was named the number one basketball player in the state. A bit of trivia: in the 1965 football season at Boise Junior College Imel led the Broncos to the Potato Bowl (that's right, the Potato Bowl) with a 9-1 record against Cerritos Junior College. Unfortunately, the Broncos lost 41-13 in the fog. I listened to the game on the radio. The announcers could not see what was going on down on the field. The other pic shows 2 pictures of Borah's Dale Cady, the bottom one showing him score a touchdown. The official signaling touchdown is my PE teacher at Jackson Grade school, Norm Essen. Do any of you remember him? I later taught school with his daughter in Payette. Notice that the Boise jerseys had Beat Borah on the back. Not that day.

                 

Next: One of my first heartbreaks over a loss.