My favorite Veterans Day Game, 1963

                                                                            

                                                                                   

Entering the 1963 season, Borah had won all of the previous five Veterans Day games against the Boise Braves. There was no clear favorite the first or second year, but Borah was a solid favorite in years three through five. But 1963 was different. Borah opened the season with a two-touchdown loss, their only loss, to a team from Missoula, Montana -- it was the Lions' worst loss of the decade. Boise was 9-0 coming into the big game with a number of impressive wins including a 25-0 win over Oregon powerhouse, Medford. The Braves were a 14-point favorites, led by an outstanding passing game spearheaded by their quarterback, #16 Paul Gentle.

It was the only game of the Veterans Day era that was televised, yet nearly 14,000 fans showed up for the annual tradition. Borah jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the second quarter before Boise scored; however, they missed the extra point which proved costly because in those days there was no 2-point conversion. Ron Imel's (#13) passing was just good enough and Dale Cady scored three touchdowns for the Lions who won their 6th straight Veterans Day game and Southern Idaho Conference championship. Borah 21, Boise 20.

Playing for Conference Championship #10 in 11 Years

 

November 1, 1968. Fifty-four years ago. This is for my Borah Lion teammates and classmates from the class of 1969, and anybody else who may be interested. 

Do you remember these guys? They look like they are ready for a brawl.

The coaches. Tom Olsen was my sophomore English teacher as well as assistant sophomore coach. Good teacher, but he could have given me a better grade from time to time. He retired from the Boise School District. So did Ron Arnold who was my kids' high school principal many years later. Good man. He enjoyed old-time gospel and country music, in case you wondered. Marsh Jones was a tough guy and very adventurous. I think he played in the Canadian Football League before he came to Borah. Bob O'Mera (somebody spelled his name wrong) later coached at Idaho Falls and then Meridian, where he coached against the Lions and won a state title. Coach Nakano was also head wrestling coach and later head track coach at Borah. My oldest daughter took driver training from him. I never took drive training from him, but he nicknamed me Mr Magoo when he saw me drive. We all remember Coach Pankratz. I'll have more to say about him later. Coach Biegert was at Borah through 1970. When he got hired at Borah in 1966, he was engaged to Cheryl Couch, who was also Miss Twin Falls. She ended up winning Miss Idaho so they had to postpone their wedding. I met Cheryl before I met him because my mom used to be a hostess for the Miss Idaho pageant and Cheryl once visited our home as Miss Idaho. Brad and Cheryl were both teachers and later lived in Oregon and California before moving back to Idaho.

I think the coaches had their toughest challenge all year during the week after the Capital game. By defeating Capital we knocked them out of a chance for the title. The same weekend we beat Capital, Highland came to Boise and were upset by the Braves. Truthfully, many of us were hoping that Highland would win. That would have made both the Rams and the Lions undefeated in the the SIC going into the game on Friday, just as last year Capital and Borah were undefeated. Still, if we lost to them we would be tied for first. However, since they lost to the Braves coupled with a possible emotional letdown after the Capital victory, the coaches had to keep after us. Oh, and I assure you, they did.

We had a short practice on Thursday afternoon. Then we packed our uniforms and change of clothes. We were headed for Pocatello the night before the game. But first we ate dinner at the Chuckwagon on Vista, paid for by the Borah athletic program. Things were different then. Then we boarded the bus and headed for Pocatello. We must not have gotten there until 11:00 P.M. or later. One thing I remember about the trip was that several players were sick, and I was one of them. I didn't like the thought of playing in the game that was for the championship and not being in optimum health. Actually, I probably wouldn't have thought of the word optimum.

Friday, November 1. We dressed in our white uniforms at the field house on the Idaho State campus. Their stadium was called the Spud Bowl. The first half of the game was a bit like the nightmare first half at Ogden. I mentioned earlier that Greg Phillips and some other teammates put together a number of videos of football games and we were able to watch them and relive the competition. One of those games was the Highland game. Unfortunately, or, maybe, fortunately, we only have the second half of that game. 

You've heard me tell the story about how I used to lose my cookies before the game {this happened every game of the season until this game, the 9th game of the year}. Well, this time I told myself to get control. I was already sick; in fact, I puked at the Thursday night practice back at Borah, so I had to "hold it in." I succeeded. But I had little success at anything else in the first half. On our second offensive play I threw a pass that was intercepted by a Highland Ram who ran it back to our seven yard line. They scored a touchdown and we were down 7-0 early in the game. On our next series, Don Minter ran 52 yards for a touchdown. That is the one play I wish we had on film. I remember it well. Don took the ball and headed up the middle. One Highland Ram got a hand on his foot and Don stumbled briefly. They closed in on him for the kill, but Don kicked it into overdrive and they tackled nothing but air.

Each team now had a touchdown so we kicked off to Highland. The week before against Boise, they ran a reverse on a kick-off all the way for a touchdown. So we were ready for them to try it against us; at least, we thought we were ready. They executed the reverse and the runner who got the handoff ran it in for a touchdown. In the second quarter, junior Kenny Johnson, who was playing because fullback Craig Estell got injured in the first quarter, made what was probably his best run of the year and scored from 38 yards out. So the half time score was 13-13 and neither offense had any momentum. I'm not sure if either quarterback completed a pass the entire half. Just before halftime, Coach Nakano came down from the press box and talked to me on the sideline, giving me similar encouragement like he had in the preseason. He must have figured I needed it. He was right.

I survived halftime without throwing up, and we headed back to the field. If the first half was like Skeeter Davis's "The End of the World, " the second have was "Happy Days are Here Again." The defense stopped them time after time, and the offense pelted them. Even with two touchdowns called back because of penalties along with another play the would have put us nearly on the goal line, it was like target practice. Still, we only led by a touchdown going into the fourth quarter. 

BJ Johnson. This was his game to shine. BJ and I became friends in August before our seventh grade year at West Junior High. He had just moved to Hummel Drive where I lived. He showed up on his 10-speed bike one day and basically introduced himself to me. I threw passes to him while he was riding his 10-speed and he caught them. We played in the Optimist football program on the Boise Cascade team, and we were in sports together all through high school. BJ and I are in the pictures below.

Against Highland in the second half alone, BJ caught 5 passes for 95 yards and scored the first touchdown of the fourth quarter. If I could have chosen the offensive player of that game and given the game ball, it would have been to BJ. Darrell Burchfield wasn't too shabby either, either, catching two passes for 66 yards in the second half. After BJ's TD, Don Hutt intercepted a pass that led to our next touchdown, a ten-yard run by Bill Cady. It was a play that we had been working on for three or four weeks, but it was the first time we ran it. After the kick-off, Raoul Allen stepped up and rose to the occasion to really but the game away. He stepped in from of Highland's all-conference receiver Al Dykman, intercepted a pass from all-conference quarterback Mike Trujillo, and ran it 38 yards for a touchdown. It was a thrilling play. Highland then scored a touchdown with less than a minute to play, and Andy Brassey threw a TD pass to Don Hutt on the last play of the game. Final score: Borah 47, Highland 20.

Veterans Day Rivalry Part 2, and a New Team Enters the Fray. More Memories from 1964 to 1968

1964. Well, it just had to happen. Six games played, Borah winning them all, 4 of them very close. There were a lot of similarities to the year before. This time Borah had the 9-0 record, while Boise had 8 wins and a tie. Borah started the season beating teams from 4 states: Missoula, Montana; Las Vegas, Nevada; Medford, Oregaon; and Richland, Washington. Once again the SIC title was on the line. It was back and forth game like many of the others. The most exciting play of the game was when Randy Hulbert returned a kick off for a touchdown for the Braves. Boise score late and quarterback Steve Preece tried to rally the Lions in the last two minutes, but the Braves held on. Preece and Boise end Kent Scott (#88 on the cover), who kicked a field goal and three extra points, both played for Oregon State, when the Beavers were known as the giant killers by beating two top 5 teams (USC and Purdue) and tying another (UCLA) in 1967. This game broke my heart, but the Braves were the better team that day. This was the last year with only 2 public high schools in Boise, and the 2 schools dominated. Boise was AP#1 at the end of the season, and Borah was #2. Borah won the state championship in basketball with a 24-1 record,and Boise won the state track championship with Borah finishing 2nd.

The “high flying” Capital Eagles entered the scene in 1965, and everything changed. The most exciting game of the 1965 season turned out to be the Borah-Capital game late in the season. Capital jumped ahead 13-0 early, but Borah’s Frank Ryther scored just before the half to make it 13-7. Joe Glaisyer scored two 2^nd half touchdowns and Bruce Mors kicked three extra points to give the Lions a 21-20 victory (there were no two-point extra points in those days). On November 11 at Bronco Stadium Borah was looking for revenge against the Braves and quarterback Perry Gosset (#14 on the cover) who had been at the helm the previous season when Boise won, and the Lions got it. Led by quarterback Lon Troxel (#11 on the cover), the son of the Head Lion, Coach Troxel, the Lions won the game and the SIC title with a 9-1 record.

Dick Eardley, KBOI news director and Statesman writer, spoke at the Ed Troxel Appreciation Night celebration when Trox had resigned his teaching job at Borah to become an assistant coach at the University of Idaho. Eardley said he would interview the coach every year and ask him what the team looked like for the upcoming season. Coach Troxel would shake his head and say he just wasn’t sure if the team was going to measure up. Except in 1966. Eardley said when he asked him before that season – which turned out to be Troxel’s last – that Troxel just grinned. This was an offensive machine that averaged nearly 50 points a game, mostly on the ground. They had over 90 players, and four separate offensive units. In 4 of the 10 games, four of those units scored at least one touchdown. In the first road game of the year, they beat a team in Missoula, Montana, 60-6 that went undefeated the rest of the year and won the Montana state championship. Once again the closest game of the year was against Capital, with the Eagles taking a 16-14 lead at half before the Lions scored 17 unanswered points in the 2^nd half. The Lions for the 2^nd time in Troxel’s tenure went undefeated after beating Boise on Veterans Day, Borah’s last Veterans Day game at Bronco Stadium until 1969.

Back in 2001, a classmate and I were writing back and forth on email, talking about Coach Troxel who had recently died. My friend wrote, "When I was growing up, I thought Troxel was God." If you went to West or South Junior High in the 60's, he sure seemed almost bigger than life. I remember in the sixth grade he brought some track and field athletes to Jackson Elementary to sell us on track. He was a great track coach, too. At a surprise assembly in early 1967, the Borah student body listened to former players, opponents in coaching, and many others talk about Coach Troxel as we (I was a sophomore at the time) said good-bye to the only head football coach Borah had known. That evening there was an "Ed Troxel Appreciation Night" in the Borah cafeteria, emceed by Wanek Stein, one of the outstanding players of the first Borah team.

For my two years of varsity football there was no Veterans Day game in Boise for the Lions. For some reason the “powers that be” at the time decided that the three schools – Borah, Boise, and Capital – would now take turns playing the November 11 game, but rather than changing every year, it would be every two years. That meant that players like me, who grew up thinking this would be the biggest event in their high school careers, did not get to play in the game as either juniors or seniors. Bummer. The big game my junior years was Borah-Capital, the 9^th game of the year. Both teams were 8-0, the first time two teams from the “City of Trees” were undefeated and untied that late in the season. The Lions were led by quarterback Danny Cafferty on offense, while the defense was lead by linebackers Danny Hearne and Paul Hietala, and a secondary that had not given up a touchdown pass in conference play. The Eagles had plenty of weapons, including two-way player John Grant, who was later an All-American at USC and a starter on the Denver Broncos’ “Orange Crush” defense that played in the Super Bowl in the 70’s.

It was a back and forth game until Capital scored a late touchdown, and then recovered a lion fumble to seal the win, 25-21. It was the second and final SIC loss for the Lions in the decade of the 60’s. After the emotional win, the Eagles had to play Boise the next week which entered the game with a 5-4 record, but with but a single conference loss. Capital was a huge favorite, but an upset would mean that the three Boise schools would end up in a three-way tie for first in the SIC. And that is exactly what happened. The pollsters had to choose which team would be 1^st in the final AP poll, and they chose the Lions, which defeated Twin Falls 59-7 in their final game, the night before the Boise upset win over Capital.

1968 was a decade after the start of the cross-town rivalry. By September of 1968, Borah was one of the best-known football programs in the West. That is not an exaggeration. Hard to believe that in 1958 the “Lions” were not yet called the Lions until late in September when the students voted to make Lion the mascot. Though we did not get to play Boise on Veterans Day in 1968, when we played them in October it was still a huge game. We had the best rushing offense in the league (which was normal for Borah in the 60’s) and were averaging over 40 points a game and allowing less than 10. It was rainy and both defenses were playing well. The Lions led 10-0 in the middle of the 3^rd quarter before the Braves recovered a fumble and then scored on a fake field goal to make it 10-7. It was looking like it might be like the old days, a nail-biter to the end. However, Bill Cady ran 46 yards on fourth down, and the Lions didn’t look back. The final score was 33-7. 10 years after their first SIC championship, the Lions would do it again, going undefeated for the season, along the way getting revenge against the other school in town, Capital, 42-14. The next two years the Lions would go undefeated on the way to a 34-game winning streak (still a state record) that came to an end in 1971. The Borah Dynasty of 13 of 14 SIC championships between the seasons of 1958 and 1971 was remarkable. When the Lions lost to Meridian in 1972 it was the first time since 1959 that a team outside the city of Boise had defeated the Lions in a conference game. And there would be no SIC championship again until 1975.

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.  

Yes, classmates and friends, I am having another birthday

Most of you are 63 already, but I turn 63 on Friday, May 23. I tend to look back on these occasions. 50 years is a good, round number.

In 1964, my blood was freely flowing Green and Gold, the colors of our Alma Mater.

The class of '64 was unique because they were the original baby boomer class. May dad got home from the war in Europe in 1945, and my brother was born in 1946. He and his classmates were the 6th graduating class at Borah. 

In sports the class of '64 thrilled me and broke my heart. The biggest thrill was in the fall when they beat Boise 21-20 in the Veterans Day game.

• The Boise brave captains from the top were Steve Brown, Paul Gentle, and Vern Morse. The Lion captains were Denny Neilsen, Ron Imel, and Tom Stuart. What a game it was. It was televised for the first and only time, and my Lions got it done for the 6th straight year. Ron Imel was one of my heroes. It probably is not a coincidence that he was a quarterback. In one calendar year, between May of '63 and March of '64 he earned the following honors: State champion in the 120 yard high hurdles, all-state in football, and AP state player of the year in basketball. However, he was part of the heart-break crowd, too. The 23-1 Borah Lions lost to Twin Falls in the 1964 state championship finals. And then the track team, which had won 3 state titles, finished 2nd to Boise in the state track meet.  I just did not like seeing Borah lose. One of the reasons was that Dale Cady, the star of the Borah-Boise football game and probably the fastest sprinter in the state for the decade of the 60's, pulled a muscle in the middle of the season and the team had to compete without him. See if his picture reminds you of one of our fellow classmates in 1969, who also happened to be a track star and, most importantly, the star of the '68 Borah-Boise game.

• Five years later with names like Wadsworth, Minter, Griffen, and Phillips, the Lions would win their 2nd straight state track championship. Well, one of these days I'll write about something besides sports at Borah. Yes, I think I will. But not on my birhday. Oh, I got a green Schwinn 10-speed for my birthday in 1964. How cool was that.

When Lions Were Kings VI

Who are these guys, where are these guys, and why are two of them not smiling?

First of all, from left to right: Yours truly, Craig Carroll (how did a junior get in this picture?), Erick Wadsworth, Darrell Burchfield, Bob Griffen, B.J. Johnson, and Don Minter.

This picture is from the Pasco (Washington) Invitational, a track meet in which schools from five states competed. The Lions ran away with the title, something that was no surprise, really.

So who's not smiling? Erick isn't. Erick won the 440 yard dash (remember yards before there were meters?) earlier that day.  However, the mile relay team which he anchored, and which had not lost in two years, did not win at Pasco. Some of you may remember that Erick did not take to losing very well (or fouling out of basketball games, but that's another story for another time) and that day was no different.

If you have followed track in Idaho you know that the rules changed over the years. When we were in high school Erick only competed in two events, but if the rules had changed earlier he most certainly would have been in three or four events, and probably would have won all of them. There is one story that I remember well. Basketball season had come to an end in 1969 and Erick had only been out for track for a few days. There was a multi-team meet at Meridian, and Erick decided, since he wasn't "in shape" yet, that the only race he would run was a heat in the 100. We joked about it on the bus on the ride over, but my laughter didn't last. Here was a guy who ran cross country, ran the mile and 440, and I, a sprinter, was in the same race with him. You guessed it. He beat me by 2 or 3 steps.

Don Minter was not smiling either. He won the 100 yard dash that day in Pasco and anchored the 440 relay team to victory. However, he was the defending Idaho state champion in the 220, but he finished fourth or fifth. He didn't like losing any better than Erick.

On the other hand, Bob Griffen should have been all smiles. He stood on top of the winners platform in Pasco for winning the 180 yard low hurdles, the long jump and finishing first -- or was it second -- in the 120 hurdles, along with running on the victorious 440 relay team. 

Craig Carroll was a phenom himself. As a sophomore he set the school long jump record and as a junior he finished third in the 100 yard dash in the state track meet. But it was his high jumping that literally drew a crowd. Craig used as his jumping style what was then called the "Fosbury flop". Dick Fosbury was a high jumper from Oregon State who won the event at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. If you saw his form today you might ask, "What's the big deal?" Nowadays all the top jumpers attempt to clear the bar going over back first, but except for Fosbury and a few others, nobody else was trying it in the sixties. Craig used it, and jumped well over six feet, and it was so unusual that at large track meets a crowd would often gather to watch. Some would would actually laugh because it looked so odd, but not the competition that he defeated.

As impressive as the football teams where in my high school days -- only one loss in three years -- that year's track team impressed me more. Even though the Lion football team of my senior year produced four starters on the Boise State team that one its first bowl game victory as a four-year school -- with one of them being an All-American, and a total of three getting NFL tryouts -- I guess I wasn't that impressed because it was pretty much expected at Borah in those days. However, when it came to track, I was quite in awe of guys like Erick, Don, Bob, Craig and others, like B.J., Darrell, Bill Cady, and Danny Knighton.

Track practice was really humbling. For example, maybe on a Tuesday Coach Arnold would have us run six 220's for our work out, and we were to work on our stride and run, say, three-quarter speed. I would have to run all out just to avoid finishing embarrassingly far behind, and I could hear these guys talking to each other as they ran, while I was half-certain I was going to die. It was not unusual for me to lose my lunch and breakfast while these guys were strolling to the locker room.

1969 ended with another state track title for Borah, the second straight and fifth in nine years. But Erick still wasn't smiling. The mile relay defended its title with him running the anchor leg, but he missed setting the state 440 record by a tenth of a second. I ran on the medley relay that day and we didn't get a ribbon. But it's a team sport, right? And at least I didn't lose to Erick in a sprint.