Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, December 6, 1994 TAG: 9412060081
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
They've played in the Rose Bowl.
W&J coach John Luckhardt played in the Rose Bowl, too.
``They were different Rose Bowls,'' Luckhardt said, laughing, by phone Monday from his campus office in western Pennsylvania. ``W&J got there a few years before I did.''
On Jan.1, 1922, the Presidents played Cal to a 0-0 Rose Bowl tie when the ``granddaddy of them all'' was just a kid. The sixth Rose Bowl was the first of four scoreless ties in the history of major bowls. There hasn't been one of those since a pointless Cotton Bowl in 1959 between Air Force and TCU.
That rosy W&J date finished the 1921 season, the autumn they began to call clipping and the year before they started trying extra points. The Presidents, guided by future pro and college football hall of fame coach Earle ``Greasy'' Neale, finished 10-0-1, including seven shutouts and victories over Lehigh, Bucknell, Syracuse, Pitt and West Virginia.
Hey, they could have won the Big East Football Conference. Not bad for the smallest school in Rose Bowl history.
Luckhardt played in the Rose 45 years later, as a Purdue special-teamer in the Boilermakers' 14-13 victory over Southern Cal, a triumph that was preserved when a Trojans' two-point conversion pass was tipped away with 35 seconds left. Luckhardt was a backup center and linebacker. His better-known teammates included Bob Griese and Leroy Keyes.
W&J, which enrolled 1,104 students this semester, played in the Stagg Bowl two years ago at Bradenton, Fla., losing 16-12 to Wisconsin-LaCrosse. When he was an assistant at Lehigh, Luckhardt was part of the NCAA Division II championship team in 1977 and I-AA runner-up two seasons later. His W&J teams have reached nine of the past 11 Division III playoffs.
``The Rose Bowl, that Stagg Bowl, those games at Lehigh, those all are special,'' said Luckhardt, 49, who also is the Presidents' athletic director. ``I dare say there are 198 other Division III teams that would do almost anything to be where Albion and Washington & Jefferson will be Saturday.
``The level of play doesn't matter so much as to the fact that this is likely to be the biggest game these players will play. You try to keep it in realistic terms, but that Rose Bowl was my last game as a player. It will be the same for the seniors Saturday in Salem.
``You do remember your last game best. There's going to be a lot of atmosphere, just on a different level, as there was excitement at the Rose Bowl. The game is for the players.
``You have to play to win and not play not to lose, but what happens, it stays with you.''
So do friendships. In his senior Purdue season, the Boilermakers' only losses were to Notre Dame and Michigan State, the teams that played the famous 10-10 tie and finished one-two in the polls. Purdue was seventh. More importantly, a star quarterback, Griese, and a backup center became friends.
Luckhardt talks with Griese on occasion, and one of those times came a year ago, after W&J lost to Rowan in the national semifinals and Presidents quarterback Jason Baer had a tough day against the Profs. Luckhardt told Griese about Baer's struggles, and the QB-turned-telecast analyst wrote a personal letter of encouragement to Baer, who has led W&J back to this Stagg Bowl.
It's just another connection across the miles and the classifications between the Rose Bowl then and the Stagg Bowl now.
``It's different than the players are used to, whether it's the Rose Bowl or the Stagg Bowl,'' Luckhardt said. ``There are functions to attend, TV cameras, a big crowd. I'm not sure Penn State spending a week somewhere [for the Rose Bowl], is as big as us going to Salem for three days, because of how different that is.
``Whether you're in the Rose Bowl or the Stagg Bowl, I know one thing is the same: It's a reward for hard work.''
by CNB