Tom Turvey, head coach of the Lindsay Leopards from 1951 through 1956 ended his tenure with 45 wins and only 15 losses and the 1955 class B state championship. Lawton Carey then took over for the 1957 season in which the Leopards finished 8 wins 2 losses. Back then, only the district champion qualified for the state playoffs, so Lindsay missed the playoffs. As a matter of fact, many great high school teams would lose only one game during the regular season, but miss the playoffs because that one loss was a district game. As a matter of fact, the class B playoffs in 1958 was missing the 9-1 Ardmore Douglass football team, which was arguably the best team in classes A, B, and C - because they lost to a better district B-5 team, the Lindsay Leopards.
Vern Robertson took over from Lawton Carey in 1958, when Carey became the high school principal. In Robertson's only season he posted a 14-0 record and a class B state title. The 1958 Leopards seemed to be even more dominant than they were in 1955 as they posted seven shut-outs during the 14 game season, and three consecutive shut-outs to end the run.
In a Daily Oklahoman article on September 28, 1958, Ray Soldan wrote - Ardmore Douglass was extremely impressive in winning its 15th straight game over the weekend, a 29-6 thumping of previously unscored on- Madill.
Vern Robertson, whose Lindsay club is given the best chance of halting Douglass' drive to a second consecutive state class B title, took in the contest and came away commenting: "I sure think Ardmore deserves its No. 1 rating."
Most striking to Robertson was the speed displayed by Douglass. "I've never seen such tremendous speed on a class B ballclub. Besides that, it appears they can do most anything they want to do..."
Doyle May, sports editor of the Daily Ardmoreite, says flatly "Douglass is better than last year. I say that because Raymond Watson, Robert Thurston and Charles Johnson have improved, making the team stronger defensively."
Soldan continued - Ardmore Douglass halfback Joe Walser has designs on the state 100 yard dash title this year. He was Utah state champion as a sophomore in 1956 and was ineligible at Ardmore last year. However, he got first-rate experience last spring, running against L.C. Johnson - the state class B champion - in practice. Walser whipped Johnson most of the time.
The Leopards faced this 'all-star' Douglass team, winner of 18 straight games, the 5th game into the season. To be very blunt - Lindsay dominated Ardmore Douglass 8-0. A bunch of 'farm boys' had totally stymied the 'best team' in the state. Many Leopard fans in attendance must now liken the '58 team to the movie 'Hoosiers' - a true story about the 1954 Milan, Indiana Huskers basketball team which defeated a much more talented 'city' team for the 1954 Indiana state championship.
The eighth game of the '58 season pitted the undefeated Leopards against the 5-2 McGuinness Irish. Jim Jones of the Daily Oklahoman wrote on October 26, 1958: Lindsay's power-laden Leopards, top-rated among the state's class B football teams, roared by the McGuinness Irish, 52-16, Friday night on the McGuinness field scoring almost at will until the second-teamers took over midway in the third quarter...
Five Lindsay players figured in the scoring. Leonard Keck and Harrison Durbin each made two touchdowns and Bill Stone scored once and ran all five conversions.
The Leopards wasted no time taking the lead, making touchdowns the first two times they got the ball. Stone ripped off tackle for 15 yards with the game less than three minutes old and ran the conversion for an 8-0 advantage. Bill Henry set up the score, intercepting a Marsh pass on the McGuinness 37 and returning it to the 26...
The giant-sized Lindsay line bottled up all attempts at running the middle. Jim Mihlhauser, H.O. Estes, David Bray, and Rick Simms repeatedly tossed Irish runners for losses. Center Bill York picked up the first touchdown of his high school career running an intercepted pass.
Larry Ledbetter scored Lindsay's lone second quarter touchdown on a sneak from the one to cap a 57 yard drive in four plays.Keck's 20-yard gainer and 14 and 10 yard gains by Ledbetter set up the touchdown.
Lindsay was now 7-0 and soon to be 10-0 as the playoffs were to begin. It is important to remember that Lindsay had just as many skilled athletes as any team they faced, including Ardmore Douglass. Lindsay's top athletes were mostly in the line, however, as Douglass's were in the backfield and receivers. The Leopards had two of top players in the state and arguably the nation in linemen H.O. Estes and Jim Mihlhauser. Both Estes and Mihlhauser were listed as 1958 all-state and went on to play for the University of Oklahoma, with Estes going on to the Minnesota Vikings. Jim Mihlhauser was also named Oklahoma defensive player of the year by the Daily Oklahoman, so the Leopards did have some very big guns in their arsenal.
In their first playoff game, the Leopards destroyed Fox 60-22, followed by a 14-0 win over Hobart and a 24-0 shutout over Moore. In the class B finals of 1958, Lindsay was to play a highly regarded Grove club.
Ray Soldan of The Oklahoman recalled the championship game on December 13, 1958:
Norman, Dec.12-- Lindsay left no room for doubting that it is Oklahoma's finest class B football team by smashing Grove 36-0, Friday afternoon at Owen field in the state title game staged before a chilled crowd of 2,000.
The Leopards dominated every phase of the game, scoring in every period, striking both the ground and in the air and muffling all Grove attempts at an offense.
Lindsay wound up with 18 first downs and 471 total yards. Grove managed only one first down-- that on a 4th quarter penalty-- and 47 net yards (emphasis mine).
Leonard Keck scored three of the Lindsay touchdowns, but once again the offensive load of the Leopards was well divided.
Junior fullback Bill Stone, the only underclassman in Lindsay's starting unit, was the top ground gainer, netting 108 yards in 14 carries. Keck churned an even 100 yards in 18 tries and halfback Harrison Durbin contributed 83 yards in 16 rushes.
Quarterback Larry Ledbetter handled the aerial portion of the Lindsay attack, completing six of eight tosses for 138 yards. He batted 5 for 5 after intermission, including touchdown pegs of 72 and 18 yards.
The overpowering Lindsay line stopped Grove ballcarriers for no gain or minus yards on 16 of the Ridgerunners' 35 running plays. All hands contributed to this smothering.
Guard Jim Mihlhauser, who was a defensive regular as a freshman on Lindsay's 1955 state championship team, was the ringleader of the defense from his linebacking position. Also starring were H.O. Estes, Bill York, Homer Rinehart, Don Bridwell, Bob Mashburn, Stone and Durbin...
(Imagine how many opposing running backs felt when they looked up and saw Hodie Estes, future Viking, and Jim Mihlhauser, future defensive player of the year - backing Estes up.)
The 1958 Lindsay Leopards may have been the most dominating football team that Lindsay ever fielded. They excelled in every phase of the game-- offense, defense, special teams, whatever, but with the Leopards storied past, one or two teams would soon challenge that assumption...
To be continued with the 1962 Leopards
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