Golden reunion for 1974 champs

NORWALK — There were plenty of questions. Prior to the 1974 high school football season, the Norwalk Truckers had won just 10 games over the previous three seasons. But with confidence in their classmates — a group that did not lose in junior high or as freshmen — the Truckers took the field on Sept. 6, 1974 and cruised past a strong Huron program by a 26-8 score. That stopped a 10-game losing streak to the Tigers, and convinced a group of players they could do just about anything. On Friday, exactly 50 years later from that first win, more than 30 members of that team gathered to celebrate the year they did accomplish it all. "It all starts with the foundation, and growing up through grade school, we all played together," said Tom Waugh, one of the team captains, who later had the same honor at Ohio State University under Woody Hayes. "All through junior high and freshmen levels, we were undefeated. They broke us up a little bit when we were sophomores, but we came back together by the end — and we saw what we did. It's nice to be able to treasure those memories." What the Truckers did was finish 11-1 in 1974. They overcame a Week 9 loss at Shelby and still managed to slip into the Class AA state playoffs when it was just four teams that qualified. Norwalk then controlled both Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary and Louisville St. Thomas Aquinas to win the school's lone football state title. The team was officially inducted into the NHS Athletic Hall of Fame with Friday's reunion. There was a tailgate gathering prior to the current Truckers' 7-6 home opener win over Toledo Rogers. Waugh, Dan Hipp, Scott Tyson and John McCarty also served as honorary coin toss captains, and a reception was held after the game at the Eagles Club 711 in Norwalk. "It's so much fun seeing all the guys," said Hipp, who was the quarterback of the team. "There was only one guy I didn't recognize, and that's just because he's bald now. But to be honored for what we did in the past ... I just know the camaraderie we had at that time was awesome. "We never wavered. One game was difficult (at Shelby), but other than that, it was an awesome team that worked with each other." Instant turnaround The Truckers were 10-18-2 over the 1971-73 seasons, but had higher hopes after finishing 6-4 in 1973. And although Norwalk cruised by 16 points over Huron in Week 1, the entire "dream" season was tested in Week 2. The Truckers led just 7-0 late at Vermilion. Playing down three starters on defense, they needed a goal line stand on fourth-and-goal from the 2 late in the third quarter to help preserve the win. Norwalk then totaled 418 yards rushing in a 33-6 win at Bucyrus. In a critical win the next week, it got another sound defensive performance in a 24-0 win at Tiffin Columbian. The Truckers then slipped past Bellevue, 20-12, to improve to 5-0. Another shutout, 26-0 at Galion, set up McCarty at running back for a career night when he totaled 258 yards and four touchdowns in a 35-12 win at Willard. After Tiffin Columbian upset Shelby, the Truckers ground out a 28-14 win at home over Upper Sandusky to clinch a share of the program's first Northern Ohio League championship. At 8-0, the Truckers were set to visit the Whippets (7-1) in the NOL finale in Week 9 at W.W. Skiles Field. Looking to also earn a spot in the state playoffs, the Truckers were instead humbled in a 20-6 defeat. They were co-league champions with the Whippets, but also no longer controlled their playoff fate. The OHSAA state playoffs started in 1972 with just four teams from each region making up the field. After the head-to-head win, Shelby had slipped past Norwalk for the top spot. However, not only did Norwalk cruise to a 42-0 win over Clyde in the regular season finale, but Huron had upset Bellevue for more computer points. That boosted Norwalk, but also denied Shelby, as both the Truckers and Whippets had beaten Bellevue already. Of all circumstances, it was a Lorain Catholic win over Perkins that denied Shelby any further points. It meant the Truckers had finished with 105.83 points to the Whippets' 104.16 and were headed to the state playoffs. "After the Shelby loss, we were all at our lowest," McCarty said. "But we picked it up and got over it. And when we were selected to go to the state semifinals, we felt ready, and I think it's because we had experienced loss. "I think it did us a lot of good. It made us understand we're not invincible. Obviously we didn't play well that game, but we took that attitude and carried it on to the final three games." Go for gold Despite having to face St. Vincent-St. Mary at the Akron Rubber Bowl — essentially a home game for the Fighting Irish — the Truckers never flinched. The late head coach, Bob Hart, was confident his team's defense was going to keep it in the game like it had done all season. The unit did a bit more than that. The Irish had just two first downs through the first three quarters and had just 28 yards. Meanwhile, Norwalk had totaled 204 yards and 12 first downs and were never really threatened in the 20-6 win. Both the Truckers and Louisville St. Thomas Aquinas made the long trip to Welcome Stadium in Dayton on Nov. 22, 1974, to meet for the state championship. "I remember Coach (Ken) Woodruff during the game, his speech to us was to look around the room because it may be the last time you guys ever play together," Tyson recalled. "We went out and won that game. The next game, he said this definitely will be the last time you'll play together — and that has always stuck with me." Despite falling behind 10-0, the Truckers capped off the season in epic fashion. Norwalk stormed its way to a 27-7 margin the rest of the way and never looked back in the 27-17 win. "When I think back, I see the title game at Welcome Stadium and at the end where we had more fans than they did," Waugh recalled. "It was just an electric atmosphere. "We had unbelievable support during that whole season, but especially that night." Full circle After NHS, Waugh went on to play for the Buckeyes, which included venues such as Rose Bowl Stadium among other Big Ten stadiums. But when reflecting on his football life, he always finds himself going back to the Maple City first. "I had the opportunity to play in some pretty big venues, but it all comes back to here and that first time," he said. "I can remember when we played St. Vincent-St. Mary, and that was the first time anybody had been on astroturf. It was such a big deal. "We got through that game and obviously the next one. But to be here tonight, this is something special." After the Truckers returned home with the trophy in 1974, Ed Arlin was quoted in the Norwalk Reflector about seeing a rainbow. During a pep assembly, the tight end noted there was a rainbow with a pot of gold on a curtain at NHS before the Truckers took on the Irish. On the way to Akron, there was a visible rainbow in the sky. "I knew right there we had it," Arlin said in the newspaper article. Flash forward 50 years later, and Arlin stood at midfield during a steady rain and addressed the crowd. Just before the players from the 1974 team took the field, the skies turned various colors of orange and purple — and produced a double rainbow visible to all from the home side looking east. "We really haven't seen each other as a group like tonight for 50 years," Tyson said. "It's impressive to see everybody and remember the camaraderie we had together and the good times. "Practices were tough, but we worked hard and stuck together. I don't think I was ever around a group of guys that came together like we did with that team." Though there were a handful of players who went on to play collegiately, McCarty said the Truckers just had "a great bunch of guys." "We all had older brothers and sisters that went through the bad times," he said. "And we just got together and said 'hey, we don't have to do that.' We put the work in together and produced the ultimate goal." After the four captains participated in the pregame coin toss on Friday, Hipp said the staying power of the memories remain as strong as ever. "You never forget it," he said. "You may reminisce in a scrapbook or see a football on the mantle, or go see the trophy when you're at NHS. But you never forget it, and you remember all the guys and what they have done."