Blackford High School - Reflections Yearbook (Hartford City, IN)

Page 93 text:

Until attending the Oinio State- Northern game at age of 11, El- len Leeth was uninterested in football. Since then his life has been. full of football as both a team mem- ber and coach, reaching its cli- max with a state championship Bruin team in 1974. This No- vember he announced an end to his career as head Bruin football coach with a record of 65 wins and 29 losses. Mr. Leeth participated in baseball and basketball in both high school and college Al- though he thought of himself as too small to play football, he still fraternized with football players. After high school, he attended Wilmington College, majoring in P.E. Then after four years at Wil- mington, it was on to the Army. Entering the Army, Mr. Leeth felt he had grown enough to play football. During the two years, he made an All-Army team. He then went to Madison South High School in Ohio to teach and coach junior high sports. Coach Leeth then came to Hartford City to coach football for five years, plus two years of frosh basketball, moving to BHS for his final nine years of coach- ing. During the nine years here the fans noticed his famous hat toss. I used to flip a clipboard at Hartford City until one night the wind blew it over my head, and it just missed a little girl. That was enough to make me switch to a hat. Mr. Leeth has coached in Blackford County for 14 years. If, after his junior gridder son Joe graduates from high school, a door is open in the way of a coaching job at BHS in football, athletes just might again be call- ing him Coach Leeth. o CO O o CD DO i Varsity Football 89

Page 92 text:

Bruin fans jump to their feet as the Band strikes up the school song after another touchdown during 48-0 romp over Alexandria. Despite the hard drive, junior quarterback Brian West takes a hard drop and a heartbreaking Homecoming loss to the Apaches. 88 Varsity Football (Above) Junior halfback David Smith receives aid after a crushing blow at the Jay County game. (Above Right) Varsity cheerleaders fight the cold rains while still yelling for the Bruins. (Right) Every year the Junior High Bands from both Hartford City and Montpelier are guests for a halftime show. Before they go on the field, they watch the older members.

Page 94 text:

Junior guard Steve Rogers collapses upon a Gi- ant ball carrier when Junior Varsity Bruins meet Marion counterparts Nov. 22. Inexperience cost games We outhit every team we played, but we didn ' t run our plays as smooth as we should have — mainly because of our lack of practice, remarked Coach Rick Clark on the out- come of the Junior Varsity 3-3 football season. Due to the lack of players on the varsity level, the JV was forced to practice with the varsity, thus limiting the time to perfect their own team. The cancellation of the JV schedule the year before also hurt players on both squads with the amount of experience they lacked. Coach Clark was pleased with the return of the schedule this year, saying it should show up in the varsity play next year. The Cubs ended their season record at 3-3 while gaining valuable experience. Sophomore Brian Smith was the lead- ing rusher. He saw much action on the varsity level Kent Roush and Kent Havens were praised with their defensive efforts, while Todd Rea and Brian Wentz played the line. If they stay together, they can be very good in the future, stated Freshman Football Coach Craig Moore con- cerning his Teddybears, who ended the season with a 6-2 record. Their two losses combined were by a total of only three points. Coach Moore felt this bunch of Freshmen learned a great deal about football. Examples of their skill were evident in the Jay County game, where the Frosh scored 21 points the first quarter. They also learned how to take defeat in the final moments of a game. With a 20-14 lead against Noblesville with 2:14 remaining, the Bears were beaten on a long pass, and lost the game 21-20. This year was also the first for a two-platoon system; that is, 11 on defense and 11 different players on offense. Standout for the Freshmen were halfback Joe Scnmidt and Marty Clock, along with fullbacks Chris Townsend and Tom Applegate. The line was anchored by tackles Matt Dan- iel and Kevin Fettig. JUNIOR VARSITY FOOTBALL: (Front Row) Chris Eppard, Kent Havens, Hal Koughn, Todd Rea, Randy Hall, Kent Roush, Kevin White. (Back Row) Coach Dan Seymour, Daril Pettit, Steve Rogers, Chris Pearson, Brian Wentz, Lance Deffenbaugh, Coach Rich Clark. 90