Fifty Years of Football: Part Five – The First Season

By Stephen D. Bowling

This is the fifth installment of a series of articles that follow the development and success of the football team at Breathitt High School.

Coach Tevis Gray declared the 1973 Spring practice season and inter-squad scrimmage a huge success. “We are working hard and expect big things,” he said. “We are looking forward to the return to the field this fall.” He ended Spring practices when the school year closed with graduation on June 1, 1973. Many players returned to their farm duties and summer work that could be found around the area. Coach Gray found summer work too.

The City of Jackson hired Tevis Gray to manage the city pool and provide recreation opportunities for the children and adults of the community. Gray encouraged his players to come to the pool and swim. He scheduled swimming and diving lessons for beginners and intermediate swimmers and kept the pool open seven days a week. He hired four lifeguards, Larry Noble, Bill Howard, Pearl Farler, and Tommy Gabbard, to ensure safety. Gray worked all summer at the pool but continued to plan for the coming football season.

Gray announced in The Jackson Times in early August that he had completed the 1973 schedule, which included thirteen games with junior varsity squads across the area, including one scrimmage. He noted that they would be playing only junior varsity squads or “B Teams” for the first year to gain experience. The coach also announced that all the games were scheduled to be “away games” because Breathitt did not have a certified field while he was making the schedule.

“It’ll be a long, hard pull,” Gray noted, “But with support and hard work, we can do it.”

Practice

Practice started for the first full season of football at Breathitt High School on August 6. Gray was surprised that 37 players showed up for the first day. The practice, which included only “helmets and shorts,” was not a full contact session. The coach told Conrad College, Jr., a reporter for The Jacksom Times, who watched the practice, that “the first three days are timing drills and toughening up in general. On the fourth day, we are planning for contact.” Gray pushed his team hard. Their first scrimmage game was scheduled for four days later on August 10 at Morgan County.

Conrad College, Jr. worked as summer help for *The Jackson Times* but recorded much of the early football effort at Breathitt in his articles and photos.

“This will be a controlled scrimmage and not an actual game,” Gray said. “The coaches will be on the field the whole time controlling the game.”

The coach announced that Breathitt would play Morgan and Catlettsburg High School’s varsity teams to see how the Bobcats had developed. “It’s a chance to test our boys,” he said. “And will be our only chance this year because we are playing away games against B-teams.”

Then Coach Gray dropped some new information to the reporter when he said, “I am trying to get two home games worked into the schedule.” Over the summer, a great deal of work by the Breathitt County School maintenance team had gone into converting an old riverbank cornfield, known as the Hargis Bottoms, into a safe and playable field. By the first of August, it was ready. The coach told The Jackson Times reporter that “we didn’t think we would have a field to play on, but as it turned out, we do have a field that is large enough and good enough.”

Coach Tevis Gray watching over the first practice in a photo taken by Conrad College, Jr. for *The Jackson Times*.

After the first day of practice, Gray said, “All of the boys seem to be in good shape, and they seem very enthusiastic about starting.” After the third day of practice, Gray announced his starting line-up for the Morgan County scrimmage, which included: center- Greg Elkins; left guard- Wallace Howard; left tackle- Daniel Haddix; left end- Eddie Hardin; right guard- Dennis Griffith; right tackle- Wayne Watts; right end- Robert Privett; quarterback- Mark Wireman; right halfback- Charles Neace; fullback- William Hand: left halfback- Ronnie Torok, and also left halfback- Johnnie Prater.

“I don’t believe our offense will be as strong as our defense,” Gray said. “But they will do the job.” Gray stressed that he was playing a senior-dominated line-up because “there is a possibility that several of these boys get a scholarship.”

He noted that the second and third strings were “much younger than the first, and we will be looking to them to lead us out of the region next year.” Gray smiled as he talked about his young players and their drive. “What they don’t have is experience. I feel they will make up for it with pride and desire.”

Coach Gray talks with his players before the first “helmet and shorts” practice on August 6, 1973. Gray told them, “Gather ’round. I’m only going to say this once.”

The Morgan/Catlettsburg Scrimmage

The Breathitt County Schools bus rolled out of the BHS parking lot on August 10, 1973, and headed North on Highway 15 to Morgan County with Coach Gray at the wheel. Since the beginning, he had been a one-man show with some volunteer help. Gray, the only paid coach, was assisted by Jerry Johnson, who saw a need and offered help. The weight of the program rested on Gray. He scheduled the games, met with school officials, planned practices, talked to donors, and even drove the bus. “We did it all,” Gray said.

Nearly an hour later, the bus rolled into West Liberty, where the Morgan County and Catlettsburg High School teams were waiting. “We were scared to death,” a player said many years later. “We had been hitting on each other the whole year, but that was the first time we really played football.”

In the scrimmages, each team ran a series of 30 offensive and 30 defensive plays. Morgan County came out strong and overpowered the smaller and inexperienced Bobcats. Morgan scored several times and then held Breathitt’s offense for most of their 30 plays. “All of our boys played respectable, especially considering that this was their first contact outside of Breathitt County,” Gray said. “I am well pleased with their performance and the learning process that we accomplished down there.” He said it was more than two and a half hours of “hard knocks and valuable experience.”

“We played generally well against Morgan County,” Coach Gray said the day after his team traveled to West Liberty for the round-robin scrimmage. “We looked a little better against Catlettsburg.” Gray said that the controlled scrimmage was a great opportunity to line his team up across from an experienced varsity team. Team members described the matchups as “rough.” “They were big and strong, and we were just amazed at what they could do,” a team member said in 2023. “It was a real lesson for us. When they hit you, you knew you had been hit. We got a lot more serious at practice after that.”

Coach Gray added that “the things we got beat on were the things we had not practiced in our four days of practice.”

The Estill County Scrimmage

Breathitt County hosted Estill County for their first home scrimmage on the BHS campus on August 16, 1973. The Engineers came to town with the J.V. and a few varsity players in tow. “It was a fair scrimmage,” Gray said. “But I felt, as a coach. that we could have done better. I don’t think we hit hard enough. We didn’t want it bad enough.”

Breathitt County and the Estill County Engineers line up for the opening play at Breathitt County’s first home scrimmage on August 16, 1973.

Gray highlighted the running abilities of Ron Torok and the defensive efforts of Gil Turner and William Hand. “We are learning,” Gray said. “That’s what we are here for. We are learning to hit harder and lower. We have to want to win bad enough to run over the other team.” The Jackson Times echoed Gray’s assessment of Breathitt’s toughness. “Football is not a gentleman’s sport. The football field is an arena where the meanest gladiator is acclaimed the winner,” Conrad College wrote. “Breathitt players seem to want to ‘excuse me’ and ‘beg your pardon’ through the other team’s front line so they could please have the ball for a while.” The team did not react favorably to the Times‘ assessment.

Near the end of the game, Breathitt finally understood what Coach Gray and Coach Johnson were telling them, and they toughened up. College wrote, “They started looking good. They decided they were tired of being pushed around and believed it was just about their turn to do a little pushing themselves.” “We learned in this game,” Gray said, “that when we really want to win, we win.”

Breathitt was just eleven days away from the start of their first season of football.

The First Win- Breathitt 19 – Prestonsburg 0

Breathitt’s first game of the 1973 season was a dominating performance against the Prestonsburg Blackcats. The match between two well-balanced Junior Varsity teams was a hard-fought victory for the Bobcats. Breathitt dominated on offense and forced and recovered four fumbles. Three Bobcats scored to give Breathitt the 19-0 victory.

Breathitt took advantage of several Prestonburg mistakes and scored on a 7-yard run by Charles Neace with 1:48 left on the clock in the first quarter. The Bobcat defense took command in the second quarter and overpowered the game. Dan Haddix and Tom Strong recovered Prestonsburg fumbles, but the Bobcats could not take advantage of the mistakes. After a long drive, Sophomore Quarterback Mark Wireman would add a score at the end of the 2nd quarter with a 1-yard run on fourth and goal giving Breathitt the 13-0 lead.

A rejuvenated Blackcat offense ran the kickoff back 45 yards and completed a series of passes with less than a minute on the clock. The hard-driving Blackcats pushed the ball down the field and hit a wide-open receiver on the six-yard line, but he dropped the ball. The Bobcats held and took the 13-0 lead into halftime.

Mark Wireman scored on a quarterback keeper from the one-yard line to give Breathitt the 13-0 lead.

Breathitt added a score in the third quarter on a 7-yard rush by Ron Torok. Torok finished the night with eleven carries for sixty-one yards total offense. Breathitt’s defense held the Blackcats scoreless in the third, and the Prestonsburg coach later said that Breathitt “left a lasting impression” on his players with their “hard-hitting and goal gang tackling.” Breathitt’s defense picked off a pass later in the game and ran it back for a touchdown, only to have it negated by a penalty. The Prestonsburg team was “visibly spent” as the third quarter came to a close.

At the end of the third quarter, Prestonsburg’s coach walked across the field and asked Coach Gray to end the game. He explained that his team was unable to play the fourth quarter because of the “poor physical condition.” Gray agreed, and the game was called at 19-0. Breathitt prepared for an open week before they traveled to Lexington to take on AA powerhouse Tates Creek.

“We left there with our head held high, thinking that we were invincible,” a player on our team later said. “We were ready to whip anybody. We thought we were something. Tates Creek brought us back down to Earth.”

The Season

During the off week, Coach Gray told The Jackson Times that “the only thing this football team needs is a bunch of cheering fans. We’d sure like to have some fans out there yelling for us.” Breathitt traveled to Tates Creek for a matchup on September 10. Gray admitted that he did not know much about Tates Creek but suspected that they would be good since the Commodore “varsity used them to practice on.” The Tates Creek team was “powerful,” a Bobcat player said. Before the game, a Tates Creek coach told Gray, “This is probably the best J.V. team we have ever seen on a field.”

“We had our eyes opened, and we came back to reality soon after we walked on the field,” a player said. Breathitt played horribly and where “overpowered and overwhelmed.” They found themselves trailing the Commodores soon after the game started. Tates Creek led by a score of 20-0 at the half. The game went downhill from there. The Commodores used every player they had in uniform and shut out the Bobcat by a score of 45-0.

The ride back to Jackson was long and quiet. Coach Gray tried to encourage his team, saying they had made major progress and competed with the best team in the state. He noted that they had escaped without injury, and “that was a good thing in this situation.” “I think we may have turned the corner,” Gray said. “We have lots of work to do, and they can see that now. Mentally we are making progress. We have to keep our public support and keep moving forward.”

The 1973 Fall Team showed off their new uniforms dark uniforms in this September 6, 1973 photo from *The Jackson Times*. The players include (back row, l to r) Gil Turner, Jeff Noble, Perry Lovely, Sid Gwin, Jim Back, John Prater, William Hand, Mark Wireman, Jeff Strong, Doug Back, and Ron Torok. Middle row, l to r: Greg Elkins, Bob Shouse, Glen Spicer, Charles Keith, Don Haddix, Jessie Tackett, Lenard Noble, Mike Riley, Ken Turner, and Coach Tevis Gray. Front row, l to r: Rick Brown, Mike Stamper, Dan Haddix, Dennis Griffith, Wayne Watts, Robert Privett, Ed Hardin, Phillip White, Tom Strong, and Terry Tackett.

After the Tates Creek game, Breathitt County’s schedule did not get any better. The Bobcats had their “moral” victories and milestones during the Fall of 1973. Breathitt scored on M. C. Napier and most considered the effort a positive step forward. The Bobcats beat Whitesburg on September 17 by a score of 8-0 for their second win of the year. From September on, Breathitt lost the next seven games to Hazard, Morgan County, Paris High School, Bourbon County, Johnson Central, Hazard High School, and a season-ending loss to M C. Napier by a score of 14-8.

The 1973 team from the Breathitt High School Yearbook: Front Row, L. to R.: Coach Jerry Johnson, Gil Turner, France Gross, Jeff Strong, William Hand, Terry Tackett, Mark Wireman, Ken Bush, Adam Barnett, Mike Neace, Coach Tevis Gray. Second Row, L. to R.: Jeff Noble, John Prater, Greg Elkins, Glen Spicer, Jessie Tackett, Len Noble, Perry Lovely, Wayne Watts, Robert Privett, Tom Oaks, Don Haddix, Mike Stamper, Wallace Howard, Ed Hardin, David Henry, Dennis Griffith, Doug Johnson, Jeff Smith. Back Row, L. to R.: Ken Harvey, Charles Keith, Bob Shouse, Mike Riley, Ken Turner, Charles Noble, Don Combs, Ron Torok, Charles Neace, Jim Back, Tom Strong, Harold Robert, Gary Shouse, Raleigh Henson, Rick Brown, Dan Haddix, and John Winburn. Many of the younger players were included in the photo for the yearbook.

Breathitt County closed the first season of football with a 2-9 record. Most football observers were “shocked and amazed.” Most pundits projected two years of losses before the team had enough experience to compete with teams in the state. A one-point loss at Morgan County helped revive Breathitt’s spirits. Wins at Prestonsburg and Whitesburg were icing on the cake for a team gaining valuable experience.

One negative aspect of the year was the severe leg injury suffered by Senior Eddie Hardin. Hardin suffered a “small fracture,” according to The Jackson Times, in his upper right leg during a practice in early October. Several players from the 1973 team described his injury as anything but a small fracture. He was treated at Central Baptist Hospital for some time before coming home in what was described as a “near full body cast.” He missed seven weeks of school and the rest of the football season while recuperating.

One highlight of the season was the first home game played on the field at Breathitt. After Breathitt’s field was approved for gameplay, Gray was able to convince one team to come to Jackson. On November 5, 1973, the M. C. Napier Navajos rolled into town and defeated Breathitt during their first home game by a score of 14-8. Breathitt closed the year optimistically. The Jackson Times wrote, “We are anticipating a fine line-up of football games next year, and we want to congratulate Mr. Gray and the team on a fine football season.”

The Banquet

To celebrate the conclusion of the inaugural season, Breathitt High School football held its first banquet on December 10, 1973, in the BHS lunchroom with 200 in attendance. Coach Tevis Gray welcomed the team and their parents, as well as many dignitaries. A large mural, painted by art teacher Earnest Shouse, stretched across the back wall behind the front table guests. Guest speaker John Cooper, the backfield coach at the University of Kentucky, congratulated the team and talked about progress and the slow pace of developing a program rather than building a team. “It could take a long time, and you must be patient and continue to work hard,” Cooper said. Chuck Lynch of WEKG emceed the event, and Mary Edith Brewer and Roberta Allen of the Home Economics Department cooked the meal.

Coach Gray presented John Prater, William Hand, Charles Neace, Daniel Haddix, Wayne Watts, Wallace Howard, Dennis Griffith, Eddie Hardin, and Ron Torok with a jacket, a letter, and a certificate in recognition of their role in getting the football program started. “I am proud of you and your hard work,” Gray said. “These are hard-working boys and have meant a lot to the team as we are growing and learning to compete.”

Breathitt’s first football lettermen included nine Seniors (left to right) John Prater, William Hand, Charles Neace, Daniel Haddix, Wayne Watts, Wallace Howard, Dennis Griffith, Eddie Hardin, and Ronnie Torok. The 1973 Cheerleaders included (l to r) Patty Back, Susan Neace, Betty Jane Campbell, Debbie Hounshell, Jamie Maloney, and Kathy Deaton.

Lynch worked his way through the program. He introduced Superintendent Eugene Sebastian to make a few remarks. Mr. Sebastian was in a good mood following the meal. He joked about the efforts to start the program and mentioned the need for more help and additional coaches.

As a large smile came across his face, he told the crowd that only one thing was left to accomplish for the program. With spirits in the room running high, Superintendent Sebastian shocked the crowd when he promised the team “a playing field somewhere and somehow” in the near future. “I know not where,” Sebastian said, “But, I promise you, it will be done.”