Waynesburg University to honor 1966 national championship football team
It鈥檚 been 50 years, but the memories of an undefeated season and a national championship are still fresh in the minds of the 1966 Waynesburg University football team.
That team will be honored on Oct. 7 and 8 with ceremonies during homecoming when the Yellow Jackets host Geneva. Representatives from the Pennsylvania Senate and House of Representatives will be presenting a certificate to the 1966 team prior to the game on Oct. 8.
鈥淚f I don鈥檛 put my kids and my grand kids in between it seems like yesterday,鈥� Dr. Rich Dahar, an All-American halfback in 1966 stated. 鈥淚 can remember most of the stuff, I did forget a lot of it, especially during the games when you do things automatically.鈥�
Waynesburg won the 1966 NAIA National Championship with an 11-0 record under first-year coach Carl DePasqua. The undefeated season was a pleasant surprise for Waynesburg, which was named the Small College Team of the Year by the Washington (D.C.) Touchdown Club.
Perhaps the most impressive thing was the fact that Waynesburg used two freshmen, Don Paull and John Huntey, to share the quarterback position, after rifle armed Harry Theofiledes had graduated.
鈥�1966 was remarkable because we lost Theo Filedes and we had two new quarterbacks, Paull from North Union, and Huntey,鈥� end Dan Dvorchak remembered. 鈥淲e not only lost Theo Filedes, but we lost our coach, Mo Scarry, went to the Washington Redskins. Carl DePasqua comes in and we had no quarterbacks, and he went out and found two quarterbacks for us and the team just jelled and we won the national championship, it was phenomenal.鈥�
鈥淚n spring football practice,鈥� offensive lineman Tom Babbony recalled. 鈥淚 was on spring track and football and I thought we鈥檙e not going to win anything, because Theo Filedes is gone and Coach Scarry is gone and too many guys are banged up and a couple of guys had some grade problems. I was really concerned in the spring football that year. It was a hard struggle, but it really wasn鈥檛 what we anticipated.鈥�
鈥淲e were just hoping for a good season,鈥� DePasqua said. 鈥淭he players had to adjust to me and I had to install a new system.鈥�
The season was filled with close calls.
Waynesburg shut out its first two opponents, Slippery Rock, 31-0, and Susquehanna, 6-0, and topped Ohio Northern, 30-7, to up its record to 3-0. They improved to 6-0 after disposing of California State College (California University of Pennsylvania), 20-7, and dismantling Frostburg State, 58-0, and Geneva, 54-0, and were nationally ranked.
Three narrow wins closed the regular season, with West Virginia Wesleyan (13-7). In the win over West Virginia Wesleyan, Huntey drove the Jackets 87 yards in 44 seconds, capped off by a 15-yard touchdown pass to Don Herrmann with 46 seconds left. The Jackets beat Findlay, Ohio (7-6), which missed a game-tying extra point when the ball on the snap from center stuck in the muddied turf, and Westminster (14-13).
鈥淲e had two freshman quarterbacks and those two guys were tremendous,鈥� nose guard Joe Righetti reported. 鈥淲e won games, 7-6, 14-13, it wasn鈥檛 one game it was five games like that. It was like a heart attack every time we took the field. We had DePasqua as head coach that season. Coach Scarry was blood and guts and would get in your face, DePasqua was a little more reserved he didn鈥檛 yell too much. He was really organized and got the most out of a player.鈥�
鈥淚t was a very, very competitive close season,鈥� Babbony said. 鈥淚t was just tight every game, every play it seemed.鈥�
After finishing the season undefeated, the Yellow Jackets opted to play for the NAIA title rather than accepting a bid from the Tangerine Bowl.
Waynesburg rallied to defeat New Mexico Highlands in the NAIA semifinal, 30-27, after trailing at halftime, 20-7.
With 1:40 left and trailing, 27-23, the Jackets drove down the field for the winning score, scoring on a five-yard halfback pass from Dahar to tight end Bob Miltenberger with less than 10 seconds remaining.
鈥淚t was a 16 power pass,鈥� Dahar explained. 鈥淐oach DePasqua told me to never tell this story, but Dvorchak came in with the play and said 鈥�16 power pass鈥�, but he said it in a different way. I said, 鈥榳e don鈥檛 have that wing right 16 something鈥�, and so I said lets just run 16 power pass. That鈥檚 what we ran and I didn鈥檛 see the catch, I was on my back by the time the crowd was cheering and I looked up and I hoped it was one of our guys that caught it. It was the only touchdown catch of the year for Miltenberger. Coach said that was the play he sent in.鈥�
On Dec. 10, 1966, the Jackets then defeated previously unbeaten Wisconsin-Whitewater, 42-21, at Tulsa鈥檚 Skelly Stadium, as running back Dahar rushed for an NAIA record 233 yards on 41 carries.
The victory in the Championship Bowl of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics represents the only national title won in the 167-year history of the Greene County institution.
The 1966 team produced three NFL players: Don Herrmann (New York Giants, New Orleans Saints), Joe Righetti (Cleveland Browns) and Dave Smith (Pittsburgh Steelers, Houston Oilers, Kansas City Chiefs).
The playoff wins are still etched in Righetti鈥檚 mind.
鈥淏obby Miltenberger caught the pass against New Mexico Highlands and we win that game. That was probably one of the best games that I think all of us played,鈥� Righetti remembers. 鈥淚t was a magical year and we beat Wisconsin Whitewater 41-21. We got a DVD of the game and I always remembered it as being a fairly easy game, but it was a close game at the half and then we took off in the second half. Waynesburg at that time was about a thousand students and there were maybe 50 of us on the team, so maybe 10 percent of the boys in the college played football. It was a great season, a once in a lifetime type of deal.鈥�
鈥淲e still get together every year playing golf,鈥� Dahar said. 鈥淲e call ourselves the 鈥渂and of brothers鈥�, we kind of stole that term from a TV show, but it certainly has been a great relationship. We love each other dearly and it was great timing with players coming together and the coaching staff.鈥�
The 1966 Waynesburg football team was inducted into the Washington-Greene County Hall of Fame in 2011.
George Von Benko鈥檚 鈥淢emory Lane鈥� column appears in the Monday editions of the 缅北禁地. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.