Those Tufts teams were loaded with quality players. Seven were named ECAC
All-Stars at the end of the 1979 season. Beyond talent, however, the team's
greatness was motivated by adversity.By Paul Sweeney
Twenty-five years ago was a special time for the Tufts University football program. The 1979 team recorded one of only three 8-0 seasons in the 130-year history of football at Tufts. That squad, which was recognized during the October 22-23 weekend for their 25th anniversary, is the centerpiece of an era at Tufts when the team won 12 straight games and 18 of 19 overall.
Those Tufts teams were loaded with quality players. Seven were named ECAC
All-Stars at the end of the 1979 season. Beyond talent, however, the team's
greatness was motivated by adversity.
The remarkable 1979 season in many ways started on October 21, 1978. On Homecoming Day at Tufts, with a live elephant on the sidelines, the Jumbos upset Williams 7-0 with an outstanding defensive performance and a 44-yard touchdown pass from Dennis Works to Tracey Maclin.
However, the spirit of the day was flattened with 1:21 left in the game. Standout linebacker Jim Ford dislocated the fourth vertebra in his neck trying to make a tackle, wrenching his spinal chord. He lied motionless on the field. With a quick response from Dr. Stuart Belkin and Tufts trainer Mark Doughtie, Ford was stabilized and taken to the hospital.
Sitting in the locker room after the game, the victorious Tufts team was stunned by the uncertainty of Ford's situation. They thought he could be paralyzed for the rest of his life. Also that day, team captains Bob Lederman and Terry Richards both blew out their knees and were taken to the hospital. As a response, the team rallied around their fallen leaders and wouldn't lose again for nearly two years.
"There's no question that it really brought us together as a group," said Vic Gatto, who had just started his tenure as head coach at Tufts in August 1978. "It's not something any of us would have wanted, obviously, but the positive outcome of it was as a team everybody bonded around Jim's accident. We talked about playing up to Jim's standards."
Tufts, 1-3 prior to the Williams game, won its final four contests of the 1978 season. Defensive lineman Mark Buben dominated the field and was signed by the New England Patriots. Tufts received fine play from youngsters filling in for the injured veterans. The strong finish set the tone for 1979.
Ford, in a display of the indomitable spirit the defined him on the football field, walked out of the New England Medical Center in February. He served as an assistant coach for the '79 team. Ironically, he's now an orthopedic surgeon. With the courageous example of their teammate, and some of the best talent in New England, the Jumbos set out on a historic season with a 20-12 victory over Wesleyan in the first game.
"When you practiced during the week, you were practicing against a defense that was as good as any other defense in the NESCAC," said Gary Heffernan, co-captain of the '79 team. "We were also practicing against an offense that was probably better than any offense in the NESCAC. That helped on game day because you were practicing hard all week and you knew on Saturday that the kids you were playing against were no better than the kids you were practicing against all week."
The team was represented on both sides of the ball by every class. With just seven seniors on the roster, underclassmen made major contributions. The coaching staff featured Bill Samko, a holdover from Paul Pawlak' previous regime and the team's emotional leader. Offensive coordinator Chris Raymond and defensive coordinator Larry Storey were well schooled.
After easy 53-21 and 35-13 victories over Hamilton and Middlebury, respectively, the Jumbos faced their biggest challenge against Norwich. Tufts was 3-0 and a major underdog against 4-0, fourth-ranked Norwich.
"Norwich was a scary team," Gatto said. "On Friday we always had a tradition of running around the campus at away games. On that run, boy, we were abused by the cadets on campus. They never thought we had a shot."
Norwich built a 19-3 lead in the second quarter, but the Jumbos scored 11 points in the fourth quarter to come back for a 22-19 victory. Tufts changed its run-blocking scheme at halftime and confused the Norwich defense. Nick Rossetti and Tom Levesque, two in a stable of running backs the team had that year, combined to rushed for nearly 300 yards. A 32-year field goal from Mark Litner with 1:54 remaining won it for the Jumbos.
"Every time when we went on the field I always felt we were going to out-coach the other team," said Bob Littlefield, the team's center and offensive captain. "You really believed that Coach Gatto and his staff had us prepared and had us with a game plan that was going to take advantage of whatever the other team gave us. There was no other game more so than that than Norwich."
Tufts kept rolling with a 30-0 win versus Williams, 35-21 over Amherst and 20-0 against Colby. They beat a good Bates team, 35-7, in the final game to finish 8-0. The Jumbos scored on a 62-yard pass from All-American quarterback Chris Connors to Len Barber on the first play of the game.
"When we showed up to Bates, it was almost a blessing that it was an away game because it made us really get away from Tufts, go up there and finish this on somebody else's turf," Littlefield said. "We were fully aware of what we were going to do."
The victory not only completed a perfect season, but it was their 12th straight since Ford's injury. The '79 squad outscored its opponents by an average of almost 20 points per game. They accomplished what didn't seem possible after "Black Saturday" the previous season when their leaders went down.
"I'll never forget that time when we were in the locker room after the Williams game in '78," said Connors. "It just didn't seem like we could ever win another game with what we had left. And then we won 12 in a row."
The colorful cast of characters who brought great excitement to Tufts Football from 1978-80 is now etched in the history books. Besides the winning streak, and the great talent on the team, how and why it happened makes it one of the proudest moments in Tufts football history.
"I think it keeps you closer as the years go along because you really went out and achieved something," Connors said. "It felt like a team. It didn't feel like there was a group of guys who were any better than the rest. It was truly a team. It was everybody contributing."