Loras College - Purgold Yearbook (Dubuque, IA)

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The progress of football at Loras From August of I97O to August of i974 is only four years on the calendar. but in terms of what has happened to football at Loras College during this time, it is hard to find a unit of measure that will adequately describe the program. In August of I97O about 60 boys reported for football as the Duhawks returned to the gridiron wars for the first time since the fall of l959. The squad was composed of upper classmen who had played foot- ball in high school and boys coming right out of high school. so there was not a player on the squad who had never played a down of college football. Despite their youth and inexperience, and the fact that they had to twice play the number one team in the nation as far as non- scholarship football was concerned. the l97O squad compiled a record of 3-4. A year later these boys were 6-I and when many of them were seniors they were 6-2 and ranked fifth in the nation among the I4O teams playing non-scholarship foot- ball. During the fall of l973 the Duhawks com- piled a record of 8-I and were ranked se- cond in the nation among the I4O teams playing non-scholarship football. Because they compiled extremely impressive statistics in the process of fashioning their records of 6-2 in i972 and 8-I in l973 the Duhawks were considered for Bowl games each year. Don Hendricks Vince Coyle Bob Bucko Steve McGrath Ken Fefel Barry Beekman Jeff Heitzman Darrell Burns Ed Kurpias Chuck Reilly Pat Fuhs Rev. Gary Krapfl L 7. ' C.. ew Duhawk coaches Don Hendricks, Vince Coyle and Bob Bucko are shown during a tense moment in the Homecoming game. Loras defeated arch rival St. Ambrose I8-6. as the Duhawks kept their perfect record intact of having never lost a Homecoming Game since football returned to the campus in l97O. Safety man Ed Buckley O27 is hitting the ground after completing a long runback with a punt during the Parents' Day game with the University of Chicago. Jim Dreznes C833 helped out with a block upfield while Andy Anello C309 is shown blocking another Maroon defender. In i972 they were invited to a Bowl Game in Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh. Pennsylvania. This fell through at the last moment when the sponsors felt they did not have enough backing for the contest. ln I973 the Duhawks missed a Bowl bid on a fluke which saw the selection committee pass up an 8-l record in favor of a team that was 7-O in an effort to bring together two undefeated teams for the championship of non-scholarship foot- ball. As it turned out the team that was selected to go instead of the Duhawks was beaten and in the final rankings they were placed third with a record of 7-I while Loras was second with a record of 8-I. But that is all in the past and is only mentioned to briefly show the progress of football at Loras prior to the l974 season.

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l94 When the squad returned for the l974 season they knew that they had a lot of work to do. They liked the idea of being number two, but they wanted to be number one and felt that the only way they could do this was to go undefeated while playing the most rugged schedule any team had faced since football returned in l97O. A total of 72 players reported for pre- season drills, among them 33 returning lettermen. This year's seniors had only played in four losing games in three years and they were determined to make I974 a year to remember. As the coaching staff worked with the team during two-a-day drills they discovered that for the first time since football began in l97O there were more new faces than returning veterans. When everything was accounted for it was noticed that 24 players from the I973 team were gone via graduation and other reasons. In many ways i974 was somewhat of a rebuilding year. Loras lost four All-Americans from the l973 team with graduation and two as the result of injuries that forced them to pass up the l974 season. Joe Schiesl, a two-time first team All-American safety man, graduated as did Terry Langan and John Tofanelli, a pair of defensive tackles that started every game for four years and won All-American recognition in the process. Mark Keeney, one of several outstanding football players who transferred to Loras after Parsons College closed, won All- American honors at right guard during his senior year as a Duhawk. John Leonard, an All-American wide receiver, was forced to pass up the l974 season due to a knee injuryp while Bob Paul, an All-American middle guard, missed the season because of a broken leg suffered during the l973 season. As if the loss of six All-Americans was not enough the Duhawks also had to replace such three and four year veterans as Ed Biondi, Jerry Burke, Jim Van Steenhuyse. Tom Murray and Harlow LaBarge, as well as many other players that had made big contributions to the team in the one or two years they were on the squad. rebuilding year :' .1:.,' .1 - 1-...4 -el-ai. - ' -- - ' ' Q :-.Z'7', '31Y-rPlE?'f ' ' 4- fs 'Y ' 'l F'Qv-TJ,-filhg :uLfAa'1?-- H-1 s ,-. .qs Quarterback Mike Krause CID, with good blocking from Phil LaMere C455 and Ken Tritz 4341. is preparing to throw a touchdown pass against the Marquette Warriors. IO-Jim Murray Il-Jim Prunty I3-Tom Hoffmann I4-Jeff Heissel I4-Jim Shaw I7-Mike Krause I9-Dick Adams JO-Claude Maddox ll-Greg Capell 22-Ed Buckley 23-John McCormack 23-Rich Bares 24-Tim Stephenson 26-Ted Pillow 27-Dan O'Donogl1ue 27-Art Kalousek 29'Craig Francois SO-Andy Anello 30-Jeff Myles 32-Jim Owens 34-Ken Tritz 36-Ron Zuccarelli 37-Mike O'Shea 40-Tom McCullough 4l-Gary Kahn 4l-Jack Dolehide 42-Charles Banks 43-Jack Sebesta l 44-Dick Geary l 45-Phil LaMere 46-Jerry Carberry 50-Kurt Clodius Sl-Bob Minucciani 52-Gene Baffoe 54-Phil Mikaitis