The Lindsay Leopards of 1964 started the season the usual way by blanking Purcell 27-0, Ardmore Douglass 40-0 and beating Crooked Oak 21-7, Marlow 29-7, Anadarko 28-13 and Yukon 21-0. The Leopards had now gone 34 games without losing, but all streaks must end at some point. The next game with Sulphur proved to be the streak-ender, as the Leopards lost to the Bulldogs 16-14. The 'injury bug' had affected the Leopards during the 1964 season, and was soon to play an even more prominent role before the season ended.
The eighth game saw the Leopards beat Carl Albert 21-0, Pauls Valley 10-6 and Wynnewood 7-6, for a 9-1 regular season record. Our Leopards then beat Perry 13 -12 in the state Quarterfinals, and were to face the Clinton Red Tornadoes in the state Semi-Finals.
The Lindsay Leopards had moved from Class B in 1963 to Class A for the 1964 season, so faced some teams they had not played before. Clinton was definitely a force to be reckoned with, as the Leopards would soon find out. Ray Soldan, staff writer for the Oklahoman, recounted on December 5, 1964:
Lindsay -- Two key pass interceptions helped Lindsay salvage a 12-12 tie with Clinton Friday night and the Leopards advanced to the state Class A football finals with a 4-2 edge in penetrations. (Remember the Leopard 1955 state champions which tied Newkirk 20-20 in the state Class B Semi-Finals, but won the penetration battle 3-2.)
The first interception came midway in the third quarter with the score deadlocked 6-6 and Clinton driving relentlessly. On a second and one play from the Lindsay 29, a pass by ju8nior quarterback John McMillan was picked off by rival signal caller Gary Goodwin on the Lindsay 15. Goodwin gave it a 46-yard return to the Clinton 39.
From that spot, the Leopards drove to the go-ahead touchdown in seven plays. Fullback Mike King rambled 30 yards to the one, but a motion penalty on the next down made the Lindsay task a little tough. On fourth down, King, needing a yard, appeared to be stopped with tacklers hitting him both high and low. King gave a final lurch and fell into the end zone for the 12-6 lead.
Lindsay tried to gain more of a cushion with nine minutes remaining when bare-footed kicking specialist John Berthold attempted a field goal from the Clinton 19. It was blocked by Bobby Price and Clinton took over on the 17.
The Red Tornadoes marched the 83 yards in 10 plays with McMillan hitting 6-7 end Melvin Bell with passes of 49 and 11 yards, the final one for the touchdown.
The scoring play occurred on fourth down and Bell was knocked to the ground at the line of scrimmage, but he recovered and hustled into the end zone to take a floater type pitch well above the outstretched arms of defenders.
Clinton elected to pass for the conversion which would have snapped the tie with 5:40 left. Bell, who caught five passes for 112 yards, was wide open in the corner of the end zone but the pass sailed well over his head.
Clinton promptly held Lindsay on downs and got the ball back with 3:33 remaining. After an incomplete pass, Lindsay's Danny Noles came up with the second crucial interception and the Leopards needed only to run out the clock to keep alive their record of having never lost a state playoff game.
The Oklahoman reported on December 9,1964, after the Clinton game - The Class A showdown between Lindsay and Holdenville will be played in Ada at 7:30 p.m.
Lindsay has skinned past Perry, 13-12, and Clinton on penetrations after a 12-12 tie to keep alive its record of having never lost a playoff game. The Leopards have won 16 and tied two while winning state Class B championships in 1955, 1958, 1962 and 1963 and reaching the present Class A finals...
As noted in the above article, Melvin Bell was a stand-out at Clinton during the '64 season. He had two younger brothers - Carlos and Roy, who would also star on the grid-iron for Clinton in later years. The trio of Bell brothers were among the greatest families ever to play high school football in Oklahoma during the 1960's. They were rivaled only by the Selman brothers - Lucious, Lee Roy and Dewey from Eufala, and the Estes brothers from Lindsay - Gene, Hodie, and Wayne of the 1950's.
So, the Lindsay Leopards played the Holdenville Wolverines for the Class A state title on December 11, 1964, in Ada. Wally Wallis, staff writer for The Oklahoman, recalled the game on Sunday, December 13:
ADA -- Holdenville defeated Lindsay, 14-0, before a crowd of 4,000 Friday night to win the state Class A high school football championship for the first time. Lindsay, winner of state championships in four previous appearances suffered its first loss in 19 playoff games.
Holdenville used a magnificent defense to throttle Lindsay's famed running attack. The Leopards never got closer than 33 yards to pay dirt and that came on their first possession...
Lindsay halfback Ken Fleming injured a leg so badly he was hospitalized. He was hurt on Lindsay's first possession, eight plays deep into the contest. Only a pair of pass interceptions by the Leopards during the first 13 minutes of the game and some magnificent punting by 138-pound Sammy Howard kept the Leopards in contention. Howard punted the Wolverines back to their own eight, three, 11, 15 and 14-yard lines on his first five kicks and wound up the game averaging 38 yards for a half-dozen boots.
Lindsay halfback Joe Sharp picked off a Stripling pass on the third play of the game to give the Leopards the ball on the Holdenville 49. In four plays the Leopards drove to a first down on the 33, but a 15-yard holding penalty stopped the drive and Howard opened his punting spectaculars with a kick which pinned the Wolverines back on the eight...
Holdenville's best advance of the first period was its own 36 and things got no better at the outset of the second period when tackle Danny Noles intercepted a deflected Stripling pass and got back to the Lindsay 46...
The Leopards had no excuses for losing the state title game, but long-time assistant coach Charlie Heatly said later that losing Ken Fleming to injury prevented Lindsay from winning their fifth state championship. Fleming was named to the south All-State squad in 1965, and went on to have a stellar college football career at Southern Methodist University.
An article in The Oklahoman dated December 26, 1968 - SMU Glad Fleming Strayed:
Oklahoma's only contribution to the SMU starting unit -- sophomore tight end Ken Fleming of Lindsay -- is a substantial one. The 6-1 198-pound Fleming, who red-shirted a year ago, is second only to All-American Jerry Levias in catching passes. And SMU lives, or dies, by the pass...
The Leopards' 10 seasons starting in 1955 and ending in 1964 ended with 98 wins and 17 losses, five state title appearances and four state championships. Leopard head coaches and their records for the first part of legends of the fall were Bill Vandiver (1946-1947) 4 wins-14 losses, Carl Dunaway (1948-1949) 11 wins-7 losses, Cleotis Beavers (1950) 4 wins-5 losses, Tom Turvey (1951-1956) 45 wins-15 losses, Lawton Carey (1957) 8 wins-2 losses, Vern Robertson (1958) 14 wins-0 losses and Bill Froman (1959-1964) 54 wins-14 losses.
This was dominance by any definition of the word, but many fans and high school sports experts believed the reign of the Leopard was beginning to end. It was only half-time for the legends of the fall though, and the second half was about to begin.
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