University of West Alabama - Paragon Yearbook (Livingston, AL)

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GRADUATE ASSISTANTS yiq'xilsfgg mzmu Milford Young, Graduate Assistant. Billy Billingsley, Graduate As- sitant. COACHING STAFF: Charlie Stephens, assistant coach; Morris Higginbotham, head coach; and Mickey Andrews, assistant coach. TIGER SENIORS: Coach Higginbotham; Guard, Keith Holt,- Guard, R.L. Watson; and Tailback, Richard Abston.

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L.U. MAKES HISTORY GOES 9-2 Livingston University reached a pinnacle of success during 1968-its most successful football season in memory. The Tigers knocked off nine opponents on the way to a bowl bid and ended up with an overall 9-2 mark and a 9-1 regular scheduled season record. The Tigers also finished second in the four member Alabama Collegiate Conference-only a stone's throw away from NAIA national champion, Troy State. Besides the opportunity to play in the Peanut Bowl contest at Dothan, Ala., the Tigers had other honors. These included the selection of coach Morris Higginbotham as ACC Coach of the Year , and the selection of quarterback Don Page, tailback Richard Abston, and nose-guard Keith Holt to various post season honors on all-conference and all-district teams. Assisting Higginbotham in his second year as head coach of the young Tigers-who had only three starting seniors-Mivkey Andrews and Charlie Stephens. Graduate assistants aiding the three coaches were Milford Young and Billy Billingsley. Livingston opened the season on a hot September night and soundly trounced Southern State Arkansas, 41-6, with Page-operating at the quarterback slot for the first time in his varsity career-throwing for two touchdowns and running two more. Livingston ran head-on into powerful Troy State next in the annual Shriner's Bowl at Montgomery and lost to the Sim Byrd passing attack, 42-23-the Tigers' only regular season loss. Livingston came back home to friendly territory for its third game and downed tough Florence State, 27-23, in the final four minutes with Page throwing to Abston for the winning score-and the Tigers' first ACC win of the season. Two more high scoring contests were the results of the Tigers' third and fourth wins of the season over Centenary College Football Club, 80-O-one of the institution's highest scores in history if not the highest-and a 54-7 win over usually tough Gordon Military Academy of Barnesville, Ga. Livingston won one of its all-time most important games of the season the first week of November at Cleveland, Miss.,-deep in the flatlands of Mississippi's cotton country-with a surprising, 24-13, conquest of perennial tough Delta State. The Tigers won the game with two touchdowns in the third quarter-one a 37 yard pass to Abston and the other a 21 yard page gallop-to overtake a Statesmen's, 13-10, halftime lead. Mississippi College came calling at home for Homecoming on a cool, brisk, autumn night, and the Choctaws lost their scalps to a group of hungry and happy Tigers, 26-7, on their way to their sixth win of the season. Up the highway at Jacksonville following Homecoming win, the Tigers played their lowest scoring game of the season in downing the Gamecocks, 7-0, on Page's eight-yard pass to end Larry Norris in a hard-fought defensive battle. Louisiana College and a plane trip to Pineville popped up next on the Tigers' schedule, and Livingston knocked the wind out of the Wildcats with a 41-16 win plus 171 yards rushing against a team that claimed to have one of the best rushing defenses in small college ball. Samford-the big and strong Baptist school from Birmingham-came calling for the Tigers' last scheduled season game on Thanks- giving Day, and Livingston gave the Bulldogs little to be thankful for-downing the visitors, 22-16, in a hard-hitting football game and winning an invitation to a bowl game. Livingston faced Ouachita Baptist of Arkadelphia, Ark., in the Peanut Bowl at Dothan and wound up on the wrong end of the score, 39-6, after a long night of frustration. 149

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Livingston Livingston Livingston Livingston Livingston Livingston Livingston Livingston Livingston Livingston Livingston 1968 FOOTBAL L SCORES 41 23 27 80 54 24 26 41 22 Southern State Troy State Univ. Florence St. Univ. Centenary Gordon Military Delta State Mississippi Coll. Jacksonville St. Univ. Louisiana College Samford University Ouachita Baptist Univ. 42 23 SCHEDULED SEASON RECORD CONFERENCE RECORD BOWL RECORD 9-1 2-1 0-1 151