MULTIPLE LOYOLA PLAYERS EARN POST-SEASON HONORS

Loyola’s 2025 football squad advanced to the CIF Southern Section Division 5 playoff semifinals before falling to Redondo Union.

Following the conclusion of the campaign a variety of honors were bestowed on a large number of Cub players.

TEAM AWARDS

At the post season football banquet the following Loyola players earned accolades:

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER:

Junior RB/LB KANE CASANI (6-0, 201)

OFFENSIVE MVP:

Senior OL NATHAN TURK (6-4, 280)

DEFENSIVE MVPs:

Senior Edge/DL MAX MEIER (6-5, 255)

Senior LB HOLDEN SMYSER (5-1,225)

LINEMEN OF THE YEAR:

Seniors MAX MEIER and NATHAN TURK

COMMITMENT AWARD:

NATHAN TURK and Senior OL NELSON PYE (5-11, 255)

OFFENSIVE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

Sophomore RB JAYDEN ROGERS (5-11, 165)

DEFENSIVE ROOKIE OF THE YEAR:

Sophomore DL LONDON DIVENS (6-3, 295)

CAPTAIN’S AWARD:

NELSON PYE III

SCOUT TEAM PLAYERS OF THE YEAR

Senior TE/DE MATTHEW ADAMS (6-5, 195) and sophomore OL MICHAEL VOLMERT-UNDERBRINK (6-1, 230)

INSPIRATION AWARD

Senior OL/DL ANDREW HILTON (6-1, 275)

LOS ANGELES TIMES SOUTHLAND ALL-STAR TEAM:

Senior DL MAX MEIER

Senior punter JACOB KREINBRING (6-1, 180)

ALL-CIF SOUTHERN SECTION DIVISION 5:

Linebacker: KANE CASANI

Kicker/punter: JACOB KREINBRING

DL: MAX MEIER

DB: MALIQUE POLLARD (soph, 6-0,160)

LB: HOLDEN SMYSER

OL: NATHAN TURK

ALL-STATE SOPHOMORE TEAM (third team):

DB: MALIQUE POLLARD

ALL-MISSION LEAGUE

First team:

OL: NATHAN TURK

DL: MAX MEIER

LB: KANE CASANI

Second team:

Senior SS PETER SCIARRINO (6-0, 190)

LB: HOLDEN SMYSER

DB: MALIQUE POLLARD

SENIORS WHO SIGNED FOOTBALL NATIONAL LETTERS OF INTENT:

MAX MEIER (Stanford)

Punter MATTHEW O’BOYLE (Kenyon)

PETER SCIARRINO (USC)

NATHAN TURK (Harvard)

LOYOLA’S TEAM FOR THE AGES - 1975 CIF SOUTHERN SECTION AAAA CHAMPIONS AND NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

The storied history of the football program at Loyola High School of Los Angeles’s spans over a century.

With countless league titles, thirteen trips to CIF championship games, eleven CIF Players-of-the-Year, multiple All-American/All-State/All-CIF players, and countless graduates who distinguished themselves at the major college level and in the NFL, the program’s legacy is beyond brilliant.

There was the 35-game victory streak (which still stands as a Southern Section Large Schools record) from 1962-1964 that saw the Cubs win two consecutive CIF AAAA titles and play for a third, and the incredible run from 1988-2005 in which Loyola played in the CIF Division I championship game seven times and advanced to the semifinal round of the Division I playoffs 12 times.

But the 1975 squad is the only one to reach the proverbial pinnacle of prep gridiron glory as it completed an undefeated thirteen game slate en route to the CIF Southern Section AAAA Championship before being ultimately crowned National High School Champions by the National Sports News Service.

it has been 50 years since the 1975 Cub team cemented its place as a permanent, powerful monument in the annals of Loyola football, The memories of that record year still shine vividly.

The path to what was the grandest campaign among many great seasons was at once serendipitous and well calculated.

In 1972, Cub Football had hit rock bottom as Loyola finished 0-9. It was the only year in school history that the team completed a season without a win or a tie.

Fortunately, then school president, Rev. Patrick Cahalan, S.J., who played football at Santa Clara University and Bellarmine Prep in San Jose, appreciated that football was a profoundly important part of the rich, indelible fabric of Loyola High.

The Cubs lost a non-league game to St. Bernard, 33-7, during that dismal, winless 1972 campaign, but Father Cahalan observed how disciplined, fundamentally sound, physical and exceptionally well coached the Vikings were. He immediately set about pursuing St. Bernard’s young head coach, MARTIN SHAUGNESSY, and as luck would have it SHAUGNESSY and the members of his talented varsity staff agreed to make the leap up to what had traditionally been a Southern California large schools powerhouse before a short lived downturn.

SHAUGNESSY and two of his staff members had played football at St. Paul High School in Santa Fe Springs under the tutelage of legendary head coach Marijon Ancich, whose teams were renowned not only for their exceptionally disciplined and fundamentally sound style of play, but also for the incomparable physicality with which they competed.

SHAUGNESSY and his staff immediately took to instilling in their Cub troops the unrelenting work ethic and warrior culture they had been imbued with at St. Paul.

Practices were in a word grueling. Many players described them as tougher than the Friday night games. Conditioning was beyond exhausting. Uncompromising standards were set. A band of brothers was formed.

Loyola went 4-5 in 1973, but the seismic cultural changes and tough new ethos were immediately apparent.

SHAUGNESSY, who also served as a mathematics teacher, realized that his personnel overall did not have great size, but were blessed with uncommon athleticism and speed. He was looking for the best way to utilize his players’ abundant talent.

MARTY decided to take a trip to Texas, to meet with the man who designed the veer offense, University of Houston head coach Bill Yeoman. the highly intelligent SHAUGNESSY spent a week with Yeoman. A quick study, he learned the intracies of the veer and immediately installed Yeoman’s option offensive playbook at Loyola in the spring of 1973. And he had the perfect group of players to run it to perfection.

Meanwhile, legendary defensive coordinator JON DAWSON implemented a brutally physical brand of football on the defensive side of the line of scrimmage that remained of legendary status in California high school football for over two decades.

In SHAUGNESSY’s second season the Cubs ran the veer to near perfection and the aptly named ‘Wolfpack’ defense smothered opponents with rarely seen violent play.

A 10-7 upset loss to upstart Hawthorne in the second round of the CIF AAAA playoffs on the Friday after Thanksgiving in 1974 ended a 10-1 campaign that appeared to be headed to a probable AAAA title.

Resolve might be an understatement in describing the intensity of the determination displayed by the players who would return for the 1975 season. That fighting spirit manifested itself in the locker room after the fateful second round playoff upset. The returning players immediately went to work.

Nine months after an intense, focused offseason, the Loyola juggernaut would not be denied as the Cubs vanquished thirteen consecutive opponents, including, ironically, the head coach’s alma mater, St. Paul, in the AAAA title game on a cold, fog-shrouded December night at the venerable Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Loyola downed one of the best high school teams of the 1970s, 14-13, in a classic, heavy weight prize fight to complete its undefeated 13-0 run. The press nicknamed the Cubs “the Loyola vow boys” and indeed they were.

A short time after the Cubs brought home the CIF AAAA championship trophy, the National Sports News Service declared that Loyola High School of Los Angeles was the number one prep football team in the United States.

The list of exceptional players who contributed to the magical season which set the Cub Football standard of excellence for decades to come is a long one, but because of the great culture that SHAUGNESSY and his staff established from the moment they arrived on the campus at 1901 Venice Boulevard, it is fair to say that every single team member contributed to the arduous, determined trek to the mountaintop.

Five Cubs earned All-CIF AAAA accolades, senior quarterback KEVIN MUNO (Notre Dame), senior offensive tackle and team captain ROD BUTLER (Colorado), senior wide receiver/defensive back KAZELL PUGH (Colorado), junior linebacker BOB WOOLWAY (Harvard), and senior running back PAT NOMURA.

All-Del Rey League senior defensive end MEL SANDERS was a freshman All-American at Washington State and a four-year starter for the Cougars.

All-Del Rey League running back GORDON BANKS (9.6 100 yard sprinter), a team captain and three-year starter, was a standout receiver at Stanford and later played for the NFL’s New Orleans Saints and Dallas Cowboys as well as the USFL’s Oakland invaders.

No player embodied the warrior ethos better than inside linebacker, three year starter and All-League team captain MATT BOENSEL. He attended the United States Naval Academy (Class of ‘80) before embarking on a distinguished career in the Navy. After graduation, he attended flight school and became a Naval Flight Officer. He had deployments to various sites around the Pacific (Alaska, Japan, Philippines, Australia, Thailand). Other assignments included obtaining a Master's degree in Operations Research at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in Monterey, serving as a tactical action officer on the USS INDEPENDENCE (CV-62), and serving on three staffs - the Patrol Wing Ten at Moffett Field, the Chief of Naval Operations (Assessment Division) at the Pentagon, and the Deputy Chief of Staff, Logistics, at the US Army, Europe headquarters in Heidelberg, Germany. His final assignment was back at the Naval Postgraduate School where he taught and served in administrative posts in the Operations Research and Systems Engineering departments. He retired from active duty in as a Commander, USN but continued to teach at the Postgraduate school. Two of his children are being penned as Navy commanders.

BOENSEL’s academic prowess and leadership skills were honed at his prep alma mater both in the class room and on the football field, as were those of his many accomplished teammates.

Among the other starting standouts for the Big Blue were senior offensive linemen JOHN YONAI, FRANK BRADY, JOHN MAGUIRE and CHRIS HOLMQUIST, senior tight end HENRY WORKMAN, senior center MARC DiBENEDETTI, senior center DJ MERGENTHALER, senior safety AL SANFORD, junior safety DAVID GRIFFIN, senior defensive back PETER DAILEY, senior wide receiver JIM PADDEN and junior nose guard WADE WOOD.

The ‘75 squad outscored its thirteen opponents 397-131 (avg. score 31-10).

SHAUGNESSY moved on to head the Long Beach City College program in 1976, and STEVE GRADY ‘63, who served as the defensive backs coach on the championship squad, took over the head coaching reins in 1976. GRADY (269-77-6) maintained the unparalleled, rock hard warrior culture which the 1975 team had an integral part in building.

The pillars of that culture were dedication, accountability, discipline and unrelenting physicality. Those foundational pieces set the highest of standards for Cub Football until GRADY’s retirement in 2005.

Fifty years is a long time, but for many of the members of Loyola’s National Championship team the incredible ‘75 season still feels like it was yesterday.

The ‘75 squad celebrated their historic season on Saturday January 31st with a fantastic dinner reunion in downtown Los Angeles. It was a truly moving event which demonstrated the highest standards of Loyola High School in their most positive light. Former team members travelled from as far away as New York City, Boston and Seattle to celebrate with their band of brothers.

A MOVING TRIBUTE TO LESSONS LEARNED AND STANDARDS ESTABLISHED BY THE LOYOLA CIF AAAA AND NATIONAL CHAMPIONSIP TEAM

The below was penned by team captain, three year starter and 1975 CIF Southern Section AAAA linebacker MATT BOENSEL ‘76, who went on to graduate from the United States Naval Academy and had a distinguished career in the United States Navy as a high ranking officer.

Loyola High School Football 1975 Oral History Questions – Matt Boensel’s response

1. Setting the Stage

• What was the atmosphere like at Loyola High School during the championship season?

From an athletics perspective, it seemed that Loyola was on the rebound from some difficult times in the early 70’s. Nowhere was this more apparent than the success of the football program that had

been 0-9 in the 1972 season but had achieved a 10-1 record in 1974. Excitement built through the 1975 season – it became clear that there was something special going on. At the start of the playoffs, the cheerleaders posted a pared down playoff bracket of our path through the five rounds to become champions. From the first week on, the ultimate opponent was listed as St. Paul (who, of course, also had to work their way through the first four rounds). The excitement grew through the season – and reached a fevered pitch by late December. The final game coincided with the final day of classes before Christmas break. I think most of the student body was ready to celebrate – whether for a football victory or a couple weeks of break from school - it didn’t make much difference. Fortunately, we got both.

• How did the team prepare before the season began, and what were your expectations?

It would be fair to say that the preparation for the 1975 season started with the final game of 1974.

In the second round of the 1974 playoffs, Loyola was upset by Hawthorne, 10-7. Stunned but resolved, many of the returning players vowed to not lose again.

Subsequently, there were winter and spring sports to play – many football players participated in two or three sports – but the football practices in the spring of 1975 were particularly intense. I can remember distinctly the fierce Blue-White game of that spring that pitted the first team offense against the first team defense (to the extent possible since a handful of players started both ways).

Without pads and wearing foam rubber “helmets”, the hitting and tackling were well beyond the “touch football” rules that had been prescribed. I don’t remember which team won, but I do recall thinking we had great talent on both sides of the ball.

The summer of 1975 included more comprehensive preparation than previous seasons. Certainly, the weight lifting and running programs were continued as before, but we also participated in a seven-on-seven passing league that exposed us to several other competitive teams. It took a few weeks to lock into the necessary attention and focus, but the coaches were determined to get the most out of us. I don’t know how much difference this extra effort made, but it certainly contributed to the feelings of commitment to make the most of the upcoming season.

The expectations for the season were nothing short of the championship – we started seeing a shorthand expression for the upcoming campaign noted in every scouting report: 13075, 75130.2.

Influential Figures

• Which coaches had the greatest influence on the team’s success, and how did they shape your approach to the game?

I don’t think there’s any doubt that Marty Shaugnessy was the leader of the band. His meticulous planning and vision (particularly on the offensive side), for what the team could be, drove the program. Marty was singularly focused on getting the best play out of our quarterbacks – a Veer offense is no good without the primary ball-handler fully understanding the concepts of reading the defense and attacking weaknesses. Part of the vision was driven by personnel – Kevin Muno ‘76 and a stable of quick and fast running backs (starting with Fred Brown ’75 from the prior season, then Gordon Banks ’76 and Patrick Nomura ’76) – were well suited for the read and react Veer offense.

Jon Dawson’s defensive schemes were innovative and clever and his enthusiasm for the players to excel within the system was unmatched. Bill Herman was a great teacher of technique when it came to the line play; Lyle Egan was just crazy enough to make you believe that you could do the things required to be successful as a running back or linebacker. Steve Grady understood the nature of running effectively and helped turn outstanding raw talent into all-CIF running backs. I might be mistaken, but I thought Steve worked with the defensive backs as well – a position group of unusually high talent (Kazell Pugh ’76, Kirk Pugh ’77, Pete Dailey ’76, Al Sanford ’76).

• Were there particular teammates who stood out as leaders, motivators, or role models?

You could probably go down the entire roster and identify something special about each member of the team, but I tend to remember just a handful of teammates who stood above the rest with respect to their examples of leadership, effort and motivation.

At the top of the list is Rod Butler ’76 who quietly performed as an all-CIF tackle on both sides of the ball – unfortunately, only formally recognized on the offensive side. Rod wasn’t a loud presence in the huddle, on the field, or at practice, but if you wanted to see how someone could day-in, day-out perfect his craft, you only needed to follow what Rod was doing.

Mark DiBenedetti ‘76 only played his senior year, and only gained a starting position halfway through the season, but a case could be made that he was as responsible as anyone on the team for the championship run through the playoffs. After D. J. Mergenthaler ‘76 was injured in the St. John Bosco game, and it turned out that I was not a very good second-string center, Mark stepped in for the final regular season game and the five playoff games to give the offense a solid foundation at the center of the line. Why Mark, a talented baseball pitcher, would decide to join the team as a senior is a story I never got to the bottom of – but we can all be glad that he did.

John Yonai ‘76 had uncommon perseverance and physical courage – he still carries the forearm scar from his sophomore year when athletic tape served the function of stitches to allow him to finish a game. I know I wasn’t that tough, but that’s the way I remember John was for every practice and game.

Melvin Sanders ’76 was a fantastic athlete who played both tight end and defensive end. I can’t remember Melvin ever being in a bad mood – not that he wasn’t intense in his play, but simply he didn’t let things bother him. Having people like “Flash” on the team just made the whole experience more enjoyable.

Frank Brady ’76 had a motor that wouldn’t quit. Another of the two-way players on the line, Frank’s strength and endurance were outstanding and I knew we could always count on full effort from him on every play.

Finally, Kazell Pugh might have been the most complete player on the team. He was adept at every skill position on both offense and defense. I don’t know that Kazell got as much press as he deserved, but I also didn’t ever hear him complain about who deserved the credit. It’s an easy argument to make that he was instrumental in two of the biggest plays of the year and that the championship was due, in a direct way, to his play on the field.

• Can you share a story about a coach or teammate whose guidance stayed with you long after the season ended?

As freshmen, Gordon Banks and I quit football probably two or three times a week while sitting in Bill Quinlan’s Ancient History class. Despite those quiet proclamations, we showed up and practiced under Eddie Toler and Bernie Clougherty every day.

Actions are much more important and significantly more impactful than words – speak and act accordingly – show up, do the work and results will follow. We had a dozen, or more, teammates who had Division 1 football talent – more importantly, we had an entire team that bought into the team concept and work ethic to bring out the best of the talent we had.

Even with great talent, you don’t achieve consistent success without a solid organization from top to bottom. The longer I kept participating in sports, and later the Navy and government service, the more I appreciated the extraordinary confluence of teamwork, desire and effort exhibited by the 1975 football team.

3. Memorable Games and Plays

• Which game (or games) from the 1975 season stands out most vividly in your memory, and why?

In the first game of the year, we played a Banning team that eventually won the Los Angeles City championship. They were big and fast, but the preparation we had put in during the spring, summer and during camp week showed clearly in the results – a 42-14 win that wasn’t as close as the score indicates. If my memory is not too faulty, I think Bob Woolway ‘77 had two interceptions in that game – one of which was a pick six. This game was an indicator that our team was ready for a championship run.

As another example, I’d look at the extraordinary game where the defense recorded its only shutout of the season. It was, coincidentally, also the only game where we needed a shutout to win – defeating St. John Bosco 6-0. There were a lot of reasons why the offense scored only six points (as I referenced before, D. J. Merganthaler getting injured was a big one) and there are a lot of reasons why this was the only shutout of the season (not the least of which was a tendency to empty the benches when games were out of hand), but the fact that the defense held firm when it was absolutely necessary is a particular point of pride to this day.

• Can you describe a specific play that turned the tide of a game or defined the team’s spirit?

Obviously, the Bounce Pass. Muno to Pugh to Henry Workman ‘76 worked to perfection and none of them had an easy role. Kevin delivering a precise, one-bounce lateral, Kazell nonchalantly catching and passing a dew-wetted ball, and Henry sprinting the length of the field to score were all things of beauty. I didn’t actually see the play in real time – it wasn’t until the film session afterwards that I got to see how well it all worked.

Like most things that season, this play was the result of preparation and practice. After having seen Crespi run it successfully against us (despite the referees blowing the play dead), the coaches inserted it into the playbook and we practiced it at least weekly until we used it in the Anaheim game. In Latin we say, audentes fortuna iuvat (fortune favors the bold). It helps to be prepared as well.

• Were there moments of adversity—injuries, tough opponents, or setbacks—that tested the team’s resilience?

Patrick Nomura’s playoff performances simply let the rest of the Southern California high school football community know what we knew all along – the “Snake” was unstoppable. Why was this so important? Because Gordon Banks was dealing with an ankle injury and was playing at less than 100%. Behind only Mark DiBenedetti’s stepping in as the new center, Patrick’s surge in the playoff run showed a great strength of the team – that is, the incredible depth of talent.

4. Practices and Preparation

• What practice routines or drills were most impactful in building the team’s strength and unity?

Every practice was a little bit different, but there was a common thread through them all – that was disciplined practices that ran on “Loyola time”. Detailed scheduling for all position groups, as well as the team as a whole, allowed us to make the most of the limited facilities. It’s almost laughable now to think about all three levels of football – freshmen, junior varsity, and varsity – simultaneously practicing on a field that barely contained a full game-sized field outline. That tight fit meant you were literally hitting the wall in one corner of the end zone. “Loyola time” guaranteed that each objective was achieved every practice – because we knew that we would practice to the desired standard however long it took.

• Do you recall a particular practice that revealed the team’s championship potential?

I don’t recall anything specifically from the 1975 season, but I do firmly recall the practice the day after losing to Notre Dame in the 1973 season. While only four of us from the 1975 team were on the 1973 varsity roster, the shared practice field ensured that the freshmen and junior varsity teams saw, or heard about, that practice.

In the penultimate game of the 1973 season, the Cubs lost to Notre Dame 37-0. The result was not a big surprise; Notre Dame was a better team that year. It wasn’t the loss that drew the coaches’ ire, it was the way we lost. The team gave up and accepted the loss. To drive home a lesson that “giving up” was not an acceptable attitude, the entire practice was one sprint after another. Start at the goal line and sprint to the opposite goal line. Immediately line up and sprint back to the starting point. Then move to the 5-yard line. Sprint to the opposite 5-yard line. Line up and sprint back to the opposite 5-yard line. Then to the 10’s, the 15’s – oops, there’s a penalty, go back to the 10’s. We did this all the way to the 45’s, then reversed the process and worked back toward the goal lines.

Throughout the grueling runs, the coaches emphasized that we were free to walk off the field at any time – just don’t expect to play varsity football under this coaching staff if you do.

Don’t quit, don’t quit, don’t quit.

After about two miles of sprints, the team came together for a quick talk about respect and responsibility to one another, the coaches and support staff, and ourselves. No one quit that day – and that spirit of resolve became a trademark of the team in years to come. Again, not everyone from the 1975 team was running that day in November of 1973, but we all benefitted from the lesson.

• How did the team balance discipline with camaraderie during training?

There was not much that I remember about disciplinary issues. Camaraderie was pretty well established by this point – most of the team had been playing together for years and the bonds that formed from position groups, class years, academic classes, extra-curriculars, and geographic locations played out as you might expect.

5. Life Beyond the Season

• How did winning the national championship affect your life afterward—athletically, academically, professionally, or personally?

Preparation and effort lead to competency and, when you add trust and belief (particularly in a team setting), you get success. It’s not a secret formula, but the results were clear. The incredible part of our story was to learn that many members of the 1975 team went on to become coaches and teachers (or mentors of some sort) themselves.

• What lessons from that season have stayed with you over the years?

The environment that helped us win in 1975 can be re-created and is an enduring gift both from and to everyone who was involved in that championship season.

Create environments for personal and group improvement and you’ll be rewarded for your efforts. It may not be a national championship, but on reflection, you’ll find great satisfaction for having made a commitment to excellence.

• How do you think Loyola’s 1975 championship team is remembered today, and what legacy do you hope it leaves?

We’re historical – in the sense of being part of something that happened long ago. For those to whom it mattered most – the players, coaches, and families – time dims the memories, but does not diminish the accomplishments. The legacy is ever present. We learned, in real time, that a group of motivated individuals can come together to create something truly greater than the sum of the parts. In this case, a team with desire and determination achieved a challenging, shared goal.

Were we lucky? In some respects, yes.

Were we prepared to succeed? In all respects, yes.

Other topics I had cross my mind – quick hitters that I didn’t flesh-out.

Bill Herman – Uncle Monty for summer workouts. “Let’s make a deal – everybody finishes this next 220 under 30 seconds and we’re done.”

Player of the Week – Beach Boy concert t-shirts

Performance helmet stickers – acorns and anchovies

The “fin block” curtesy of John Maguire

Polishing helmets and shoes prior to games

Pre-game days – game plan review, movies, Mass, team dinner

Every game was an away game

Bus break-down – driving individual cars to Inglewood for the game

Marty calling roll on the bus – by player number, from memory – can’t recall him missing anyone, ever

Decision to bring up jv’s for playoffs – fantastic foundation for the following year’s team

PVC “chutes” to train linemen to stay low on take-off

Canvas line-of-scrimmage “templates” to help with alignment and spacing

Kazell leading post-game chants on the bus

A team that despised losing more than it reveled in winning

Brotherhood in the truest sense – siblings playing in the Loyola football program (some on the ’75 team, some over years and decades) – Pugh, Tennette, Maguire, Holmquist, Boensel, Alvarado, Origel,

Shatynski, Mergenthaler, etc…

Camp Week rookie show – especially the Dailey/Merganthaler song and dance routine (from the 1974

season) that called for an encore

Camp Week

• 4 practices a day

• Practices under the lights at St. Thomas

• Downtime – Acey-Duecey – drawing an Ace on an Ace-Ace split

• Meals provided by the moms

• Setting up one huge dorm room in the old gym

End of Daylight Savings Time – lining up cars to get lights on the field when “Loyola” time gets reset

Running the Venice Mile

Smog – can you see the Union Bank Building (maybe 1 mile away?) – then it’s o.k. to practic

Weight room was not much more than two connected storerooms. Marty fabricated the bench press and squat racks. It was organized chaos played out to The Beach Boys, Stevie Wonder and Merle Haggard on the portable record player.

Weekly issue of game uniforms according to seniority. Banks, Boensel, Butler and Muno knew what it meant to get the last pair of pants and a belt – athletic tape helped with the inevitable poor fit. The overall condition of equipment was better in the Fall of 1975 compared to years of recent past.

Coaches scouting 1 or 2 nights a week during the season. Computer punch cards were used to record relevant info – down, distance, yard marker, formation, play, result, etc. All that information went to building extensive weekly game plans.

Wade Wood’s mother knitting beanie’s for every member of the team.

Whiling away “dead time” during the playoff run perfecting a 10-yard kick with Pete Dailey and John Maguire (maybe Jim Padden too?)

Sitting in a very quiet “victory” bus outside the Coliseum after the championship game, parked next to a raucous “losers” bus – if you had only witnessed those two bus scenes, you might have thought theoutcome of the game had been reversed.

Moving weights are happy weights

Magic dirt