Reminiscing: The 1966 Eagles were OVC football champions

NOTE: The 1966 team will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its OVC Championship at Homecoming and will be honored during Saturday's game.

The year was 1966, and the Morehead State football season was on the line.
 
Last game of the season, on the road. Trailing archrival Eastern Kentucky with only a few seconds to play.
 
The Eagles with the ball, about five yards out from the EKU end zone.
 
MSU head coach Guy Penny called up to the press box for offensive line coach Ron Durby and backfield coach Mike Brown.
 
"He says 'what are we going to do, boys?'" Brown recalled. "And I said, and Ron said at the same time, 'we're going to run our best back and our best play.' That was Tommie Gray over to the short side of the field.
 
"We ran the short side of the field because he was so quick. He could out-quick people and be out there and get a chance to score. So we ran a pitch to him.
 
"Oh, before that Penny said 'now you know this could be your guys' jobs.' He scared the (dickens) out of us," Brown said with a laugh. "I said 'oh, lordy!' So Durby and I, we held hands and watched him when they pitched out to him, and he beat them to the corner. Stepped right across the corner of the end zone. Touchdown."
 
With that, Morehead secured a 21-19 victory.
 
That win, 50 years ago this season, resulted in the only outright Ohio Valley Conference championship ever won by the Eagles. Morehead State finished 7-2 overall.
 
Brown, now 75, had been captain of the 1962 MSU team that won a share of the OVC title. He graduated in 1963.
 
Soon after, Brown landed a coaching job in Waycross, Ga. He recommended one of his players, Mike Mincey, to Penny. The MSU coach took Brown's word on Mincey and signed the fullback to a scholarship.
 
But the closest things to "stars" of the 1966 team were running back Gray and two-way lineman Paul Conner, both juniors. Gray went into the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1986, while Conner will be inducted this weekend at Homecoming.
 
Current Eagles coach Rob Tenyer announced in August that weekly team awards would be named after former standout players. The weekly Offensive Most Valuable Player is named after Gray. The "Big Block Award" is named for Conner.
 
Gray, equipped with 9.3-second 100-yard dash speed, was OVC Player of the Year in 1966, when he rushed for a then-MSU record 14 touchdowns. He had 92 carries that season, gaining 598 yards. He still ranks ninth in program history with 1,604 career rushing yards.
 
When he finished his career, Gray held school records for career rushing average (5.6 yards), career points (172), career touchdowns (28), season punt-return average (23.5 yards) and longest fumble return (65 yards).
 
Brown recalled one time when Gray missed curfew. He was benched to start the next day's game, and MSU's first series went nowhere.
 
That was enough to get Penny to put his best scoring threat on the field.
 
"So he went in and, of course, the first play – maybe a little bit later than that – they kicked a short punt to him," Brown said. "And I swear, all the years I've been watching football, I have never seen a human get into the end zone quicker."
 
Conner, listed at 6-foot-1, 225 pounds, was a first-team all-OVC pick in 1966, played offensive and defensive tackle. He cleared the way for Gray many a time.
 
"He hardly ever came out of the game in four years," Brown said. "He played all the time. He was immovable when he was on defense. You couldn't move him. And he moved people on offense."
 
A nice bookend to Conner was a 6-2, 225-pound freshman, Dave Haverdick, who would go on to become all-OVC and have his jersey retired by MSU.
 
As Brown recalls, there were about six-to-eight Eagles who played on both sides of the ball.
 
"The thing about the '66 team, besides Tommie with his outstanding speed, we were just a good, solid football team," Brown said. "A very good, solid football team that played hard defense and was steady on offense and didn't make a whole lot of mistakes. We were pretty well experienced, so that probably helped us more than anything else."
 
In addition, Brown says, MSU showed a lot of heart and played with confidence.
 
Along with Gray, sophomore Leon Wesley regularly ran the ball. He gained 428 yards on 114 carries.
 
Using a wing-T offense, the Eagles played junior Tommy Eads and freshman Bill Marston at quarterback.
 
"Tommy could throw the ball. He was a good manager on the field," Brown said. "Marston, Bill, he could run the option and do other things. We didn't really have a, per se, … great quarterback. We had two that could mesh and do the job."
 
Off the top of his head, Brown recalled other Eagles, including wingback/safety Scotty Reddick, fullback Otto Gsell, linebacker/center Gary Virden, guards Fred Conroy and David Moore, tackles Warren Purvis and Cole Proctor, and ends Rico King and Bill Baldridge.
 
There were more names on the tip of his tongue, but a half-century has passed.
 
The overall picture of the team remains vivid.
 
"Our defense was really good. We didn't let teams score much on us at all. Our offense wasn't that good, but was good enough," Brown said. "I think if they want to label the '66 team, I would say good, solid people. Wanted to do the right thing. And did the right thing."The year was 1966, and the Morehead State football season was on the line.