UHS

1963-64 UHS Undefeated Football Team

I had the good fortune to come back to Union High School in the fall of 1963 and serve as assistant coach to Leonard Houchins.  The team had worked very hard to prepare for this all-win season.  Three events come to mind.

At Ronceverte:  Ronceverte had a favorite play where they would make a wide pitch to a backfield man to get outside the defense.  Coach Houchins thought they were going to run that play.  He grabbed Grover Shaver and said to Grover:  Go in and play to the right side very wide, you will be there for that play.  When Grover got on the field, he remembered to line up very wide to the right of Union’s defense.  Coach Houchins had meant for Grover to line up wide to the right of their offense.  Guess what, before Coach Houchins could call time out, Ronceverte ran the play, but ran to their left. Grover was in the exact right position and made the tackle for a huge loss.  I can still see Grover jump up and wave an “ok” to Coach Houchins.

At White Sulphur:  My job prior to pregame warm-up was to tape ankles.  After pregame warm-up, the team went to the dressing room for Coach Houchins’ pregame talk and everyone one knew to be absolutely quiet for the talk.  As we entered the dressing room, I saw Larry Hill motion to me.  I quietly went over to Larry who whispered in my ear, “You taped the wrong ankle.”  I quickly taped the correct one during Leonard’s speech.  During the game I remember Gooch running for a touchdown and it looked like his feet never touched the ground.   Also, White Sulphur had a favorite play where the tailback would hand off to the wingback on a reverse and the tailback would drift away from the line of scrimmage to give the tailback time to get downfield, then the wingback would throw a pass to the tailback, a very successful play in previous games.  Coach Houchins had instructed Danny Wickline, linebacker, that if the tailback handed the ball off to the wingback, Danny was to tackle the tailback.  When White Sulphur attempted to run the play, Danny did exactly as he had been instructed and flattened the tailback. The wingback turned to throw the pass and saw that his tailback was not where they had planned.  Union’s defense tackled the wingback for a huge loss; it seemed White Sulphur never recovered from this play.

At Rupert:  Union had completed their regular season undefeated and had to wait and see who they would play for the Greenbrier Valley Conference Championship.  There was a possibility that Rupert could be the opponent.  Coach Houchins and I went to Rupert to scout them.  We were standing next to the stands on the Rupert side of the field.  We heard one fan ask another fan:  “What has Union got?” The other fan answered:  “All they do is center the ball  ’holler whoopee’ and run over everyone on the field.”

Union turned out to play Meadow Bridge for the Conference championship and won to complete an undefeated season.

Kyle Baker, Asst. Coach

UHS – 1963-64