MJC Football: The dream season 1965

From 1926 to 1970 McCook Junior College fielded football teams, some with outstanding records. How-ever, the finest ever record was compiled by the 1965 team.

The 1965 team actually finished the season ranked No. 1 Junior College in the Nation, a distinction which was a bit misleading, since the final poll was made after the regular season, but before the National Junior College (Juco) Bowl game was played.

Rex Grossart was the McCook JC coach in 1965. Grossard was an interesting person. In college he had been an outstanding football player, and an outstanding musician, even having his own band, which as he said, "Paid the bills better than a part-time job could have done." As a coach, he had a quick wit, and was as good as a standup comic at athletic banquets. But, when it came to referring to upcoming games he always seemed to be the pessimist, worrying over the health of his team, the speed and brawn of the opposing team. But it worked, and his teams seemed to delight in proving to their coach that his worries about their being mismatched were unfounded.

By 1965 McCook, and the other teams they played, had begun to recruit out of their local areas. McCook opened that season with a 54 man squad, made up of boys from as far away as Turtle Creek, Pa., and Goshen, N.Y., and local boys from McCook, Palisade, Hayes Center, Wauneta, Curtis, Arapahoe, Elwood, Edison, and North Platte.

McCook's schedule was a tough one. In addition to the two Nebraska Junior Colleges they faced, Norfolk and Fairbury, which were both rated nationally, McCook faced potentially strong opposition in JC teams from El Dorado, Garden City and Dodge City in Kansas, Powell in Wyoming, and Sterling and Trinidad in Colorado. Also on the schedule were strong freshman teams from Colorado U and the Air Force Academy.

From the opening game with ElDorado, it was apparent that McCook was going to be a force to be reckoned with. Though outweighed in the line and in the backfield, as would be the case in almost every game they played that year, McCook used superior speed and elusiveness, in pulling out a 40-0 victory.

In weeks two and four McCook played the Air Force Freshman team and the University of Colorado Freshmen. These two teams were considered the ultimate tests for McCook. The '65 Air Force freshmen furnished the mainstays for some of the finest Air Force teams ever. Coming in to the '65 game, Air Force boasted that they never had been beaten by a Junior College team (those teams included McCook in previous years). Capitalizing on a couple of Air Force fumbles, and a good bit of audacity, McCook was able to come back in the late stages of that game to make the score AF 14, MJC 13. Spurning a tie, McCook went for a two point conversion to go ahead 15-14, and then intercepted an Air Force pass near the McCook goal line to preserve the win.

The CU game proved to be no contest, as McCook won going away 30-0. Throughout the remainder of the regular season McCook was not seriously challenged. Coach Grossard, always the pessimist, complained about the efforts and effectiveness of his starting lineup. The result was, by the end of the season, that McCook had two almost equal offensive units that challenged one another, and kept both units sharp. Through the regular season McCook outscored its opponents 387-54. Memorable games were a 30-7 win over McCook's old nemesis, Trinidad, and a 50-0 romp over Northeast of Norfolk. Norfolk had such high hopes, and was ranked No. 13 in the country at the time. The defeat, it was said, had great bearing on the decision to drop football at NJC the next year.

From the thirdrd week of the season on, McCook had been rated No. 2 in the country, after No. 1 Henderson Texas. But after Henderson spurned a berth to the Nov. Juco Bowl in order to accept an invitation to the Junior Rose Bowl in Pasadena in December, McCook was promoted to No. 1, with an automatic bid to the Juco Bowl in Savannah GA. on November 26th. No. 3 Ferrum (Va.) became No. 2, and the second team to be invited to the Juco Bowl.

The City of McCook was agog over the first Bowl Game ever for MJC. Pep Club members and Band members held fund raisers and did work around the community to raise money to follow the team to Georgia. Two bus loads of fans followed the team, at $65 per head round trip fare. A charter flight out of North Platte, at $141 per head round trip fare, was quickly sold out. Radio Station KRVN announced plans to broadcast the game live, and KOMC-TV said they would film the game and air it to an area audience the following Sunday.

Just when activities pertaining to the game were at a feverish pitch, MJC received an invitation to play in a second Bowl Game---the Potato Bowl in Bakersfield Calif., against Cerritos College of Norwall, Calif. Coach Grossard was said to favor playing in this Bowl, since he had previously coached at Bakersfield College.

However, almost immediately the N JCAA announced that provisions of the Juco Bowl stated that the Juco Bowl must be the final game of the season for its participants. Rather than suffer Henderson's fate for pulling out of the Juco Bowl (one year's probation from the NJCAA), McCook declined the Potato Bowl invitation). The Gazette greeted this news with a banner headline, "Sour Potatoes! California Grid Pact Canceled!"

McCook's itinerary to the Juco Bowl called for overnight bus stops in Kansas City Mo., Paducah Ky., and Atlanta Ga. At each stop the team would loosen up, and there would be full workouts in Savannah on Wed. and Thurs., preceding the game.

In Ferrum, McCook faced a formidable opponent. They had scored less points than MJC during the season (244-387), but they boasted a mighty defense. No opponent had scored more than one touchdown against them all season. They were also a bigger team than McCook, outweighing the Indians by an average of 11 pounds per man.

The game turned out to be a classic. Both teams were stingy on defense, and McCook repeatedly penetrated into Ferrum's red zone, only to be turned away without scoring. McCook was forced to pass more than at any time during the season, but Ferrum blunted this attack by intercepting McCook passes six times. McCook finally ran out of time for scoring opportunities. The final score---Ferrum 16-MJC 0.

Still, McCook's season was considered a huge success. The team had finished the season ranked #1 among Junior Colleges (remember, the final poll came out before the Bowl games). Returning home the team continued to reap honors from a banner year.

Roger Nitsch, of Hayes Center, and Ron Virus, of Grand Island landed berths on National All-Star teams, and both were members of the All-Empire team, as were Bill Overton, Boston MA, Marlin Edwards, Curtis NE, Sherm Memmelaar, Goshen NY, Bob Roberts, North Platte, Doug Hollinger, Scottsbluff. Honorable Mention for the All-Empire team went to nine other members of the Indian team.

Additionally, McCook JC topped the Empire Conference in scoring during the season, as well as leading the Conference in defensive stats. The finest team in MJC football history! (McCook's regular season win streak continued into the next season and eventually reached 14, before it was stopped by the Colorado U. Freshmen in 1966.)

Source: Gazette Centennial Edition 1982, MJC Chiefton 1966