As mentioned in the Leopard Legends of 1958, a good team could lose only one or two games during the regular season and not make the playoffs. The Leopards ended the 1955 season
14-0 state champions - and 14-0 state champions of 1958, but the 1956 Leopards ended their season
9-1, losing only to Del City - and the 1957 Leopards lost only to Ardmore Douglass and Madill, ending at 8-2.
Following the 1958 state champion Lindsay Leopards, they finished 6-3-1 in 1959 - losing to Chickasha, Ardmore Douglass, and Pauls Valley - and tied Anadarko 8-8. The 1960 Leopards ended the regular season 2 wins with 7 losses, but the 1961 Leopards won 9 games and lost only 1 game to Wynnewood - a district game, so did not make the playoffs - but seasons were once again on the rise. Lindsay's head coach from 1959 through 1964 was Bill Froman and was assisted by Charlie Heatly, a well known Leopardette basketball coach and future high school basketball hall-of-fame inductee.
Although the Leopards only won two games during the 1960 season, it marked the debut of a freshman quarterback by the name of Jimmy Burgar. He was the quarterback for the junior high football team on Thursdays, the JV team on Mondays, and the high school varsity on Friday nights, so played in three games each week. This schedule obviously took a toll on the young quarterback, so began playing in only one game a week about halfway through the season. He led the Leopards to only one loss during his sophomore year as mentioned above, and then began the 1962 season.
The Lindsay Leopards began 1962 by shutting out Comanche 25-0, Pauls Valley 17-0, and Purcell 41-0, before ending in a tie with Marlow 6-6. They continued to run the slate, ending the regular season with a 9-0-1 record (unbeaten), and then the playoffs began.
During the first round of the playoffs, the Leopards squeaked by the Wilson Eagles 14-12. Ray Soldan of the Daily Oklahoman wrote (before the second round began):
"The game which most observers feel is the key one in the class B title picture unfolds Friday night with Marlow visiting Lindsay. Each has won 10 games, most of them easily. They battled to a 6-6 tie in a head-on collision in October during a heavy rain.
Marlow swept past Hobart easily 66-0, in its first playoff test. Lindsay ran into a group of fiercely - resisting Wilson Eagles and escaped with a 14-12 verdict..."
Lindsay did play Marlow again, meeting in the state quarterfinals, and Soldan recounted on December 2, 1962:
"The big game in class B was Lindsay's 14-8 decision over Marlow before a jammed crowd of over 6,000 at Lindsay. The two teams played to a 6-6 stand-off during the regular season and wound up tied atop the class B ratings.
Marlow scored the first time it had the ball for an 8-0 lead. Lindsay pulled even in the second quarter, then won on a 47-yard drive which concluded on a one-yard plunge by Jerry Gill with 9:08 left in the game."
The class B state semi-finals pitted the Leopards against the Choctaw Yellowjackets, at Choctaw. Ron Nance of the Oklahoman wrote on December 8, 1962, after the game:
"... the Leopards moved into the finals of the Class B state playoffs with a narrow 10-6 victory over the host Yellowjackets.
The hard-fought victory was credited to the toe of Lindsay's John Fine.
Fine converted after the opening Lindsay touchdown in the initial period and turned around in the next stanza to boot a 19 yard field goal...
Bill Froman's Lindsay team will shoot for the state crown next week against Wyandotte.
The Leopards boomed ahead with 7:12 left in the first period when speedy halfback Mike Stewart turned right end, shook off two Choctaw tacklers and rambled into the end zone to complete a 24 yard scoring play.
After an exchange of punts Lindsay got rolling again, taking possession at the Choctaw 43. On a fourth down play, Fine's golden toe connected again for the field goal. Quarterback Jimmy Burgar held the ball on the 28 yard line.
Fine's outstanding performance on the ground was as beneficial to the Lindsay victory as his kicking. The 190 pound fullback gained 117 yards on 22 carries besides intercepting a Goodman pass midway through the third periods. Fine gained more than half of Lindsay's 233 yards rushing besides playing a stellar game of defense from his linebacker position."
The stage was now set for the Leopard battle against the Wyandotte Bears at Capitol Hill Stadium on December 15, 1962. The Daily Oklahoman reported:
"Lindsay's Leopards rule as they are predicted to grab off the school's third state Class B football championship Saturday night...
Wyandotte rolls into the finals against Lindsay with a 13-0 record, however, the opposition Wyandotte has met in eastern Oklahoma is not the caliber found in the central and western sections of the state.
Lindsay enters Saturday's title clash with a 12-0-1 record. The tie was a rain-splattered dead heat with Marlow. Lindsay then nudged Marlow 14-8, in the playoff quarterfinals."
On December 16, 1962 (after the game), Ray Soldan of the Daily Oklahoman reported:
"Leopards Nab 3rd State Title - Lindsay became the first school to win three state class B football championships by carving out a hard-earned 15-12 decision over Wyandotte before 3,000 Capitol Hill Stadium fans Saturday night.
Despite a glittering pre-game record of 13-0, Wyandotte was given little chance of staying close to Lindsay. But the scrapping Bears were in firm contention until a Lindsay touchdown and two-point conversion gave the Leopards a 15-6 lead with 14 minutes remaining...
Lindsay scored the first time it had possession, moving 52 yards in 10 plays after Danny Noles recovered a Wyandotte fumble. Junior quarterback Jim Burgar mixed his plays well, finally sending fullback John Fine blasting across from four yards out.
Burgar made the two longest runs of the drive, rolling out for 11 yards and dashing 12 yards on a run-pass option...
Lindsay used up a good portion of the third quarter driving 78 yards for its wrap up touchdown. The drive required 12 plays and would have taken many more except for runs of 27 and 11 yards by Jerry Gill and a 26 yard pass, Burgar to Gill...
Lindsay decided to gamble with a two-pointer at this stage and clicked on a pass from Burgar to end Wayne Ardrey, who made a scooping catch only inches off the ground. This put the game out of easy reach of the battling northeasterners.
Lindsay's always-reliable flyweight middle guard Cecil McCoy and tackles Gary Guinn and Roy Goldstron were key figures in the line battling...
The victory was a richly-deserved one for Lindsay coach Bill Froman, whose wife died just before the last regular season game after giving birth to a child. The Leopards presented Froman with a victory in that game, a district, showdown battle with Wynnewood, then protected Lindsay's record of never losing a playoff game (emphasis mine).
Lindsay has been in 12 playoff games, winning 11 and tying one. It won state titles in 1955 and 1958."
The Leopard dynasty that began in the late 1950's is evidently continuing into the 1960's. Next we'll profile the 1963 Leopards...
No comments:
Post a Comment