Nov. 12, 2014
Commodore History Corner Archive
When Kurt Page (1981-84) was searching for an institution to play college football, Vanderbilt was his desire. The quarterback from Nashville’s wish was granted as he signed with George MacIntyre’s Commodores, but not without competition.
“I was about seventh string my first day,” Page said. “I was a hometown guy and always wanted to play for Vanderbilt. I was black and gold as a kid growing up. And I was used to playing on Dudley Field with Father Ryan, where we played our games on Friday nights.
“Whit Taylor was set at quarterback. There were three quarterbacks signed in my class. Bob Capobianco was from Florida. Rufus Ardell Fuller was the South Carolina Player of the Year and he was signed as a quarterback. I was the third quarterback so right out of the gate I’m third in my own class. Then we had a couple of other upper classmen that were there.”
Watson Brown, then the head coach at Austin Peay, also recruited Page. Alabama wanted Page as a walk-on candidate and was recruited by Ken Donohue, coach Paul “Bear” Bryant’s defensive coordinator. The Tide had a fullback, wishbone offense, but realized that a strong passing game was in the SEC’s future.
“Watson Brown left Austin Peay for Vanderbilt as its offensive coordinator (1981-82),” Page said. “That was late in the spring. They had one scholarship left and I was the 30th signee. I thank Coach Brown every time I see him for giving me the opportunity to be a scholarship quarterback in the SEC and at Vanderbilt.
“I had built a relationship with Coach Brown. I knew and loved his system at Austin Peay. I went up to Austin Peay to watch about five of his games so I knew what type of offense he was going to install at Vanderbilt. The reason I didn’t sign at Austin Peay is I had three older brothers play football at Austin Peay. My dad told me I could go anywhere, but there. I really wanted to play for him.
“As it turned out I waited and in May I signed with Vanderbilt. I didn’t worry about being seventh string. I knew my skillset fit with what he liked to do. And I knew Whit Taylor would be ultra successful as well. So I partnered up with Whit and we learned together getting ready for the season.”
Vanderbilt was 4-7-1 in Page’s freshman season. Page was Taylor’s back up but did see playing time. He was 20 of 48 for 311 yards with two touchdown passes and four interceptions.
“Through the summer and pre-season practices I just notched my way up the ladder,” he said. “I was alternating with Ardell Fuller for the back up position in a couple of games. When Whit was injured we got to play. Then Ardell hurt his shoulder and moved to wide receiver. So he was one of my wide receivers in my junior and senior years.
“Ardell had exceptional speed, quickness and great hands. As a former quarterback he knew where the defenses were lined up and what pass patterns to run with route recognition. Capobianco became a pass catching running back in the mode of Keith Edwards. We were running the spread. It wasn’t called the spread at the time, but it was our base formation.”
The next season was historic for Vanderbilt football. The Commodores were 8-4, including a home victory over Tennessee and a loss to Air Force in the Hall of Fame Bowl in Birmingham. Taylor was a senior, which gave Page the No. 1 quarterback slot for his junior and senior seasons. During the 1982 season, Page was 22 for 45 with 339 yards and three touchdowns. Another loss from that season was Brown bolting for Cincinnati as the Bearcats new head coach.
“I was hoping he would stay, but when you are a hot offensive coordinator coach all the head coach suitors are coming out,” said Page. “I looked at it as that was our job to help promote our coaches. If we win they sometimes get accolades. Parts of the accolades they get are bigger programs to move up. Being the offensive coordinator at Vanderbilt and to get the opportunity to go to Cincinnati, as the head coach was huge for him and his family.
“As the season progressed we knew that Watson was going to be moving. He was progressive in his thinking. He knew how to spread the ball around to the different receivers and running backs. We struck a home run in hiring Lynn Amedee to replace him. He was a former LSU coach and player. We immediately had a great relationship.”
The Commodores slipped to 2-9 when Page was the junior starting quarterback in a recording-setting season. Page was 286-for-493 with 3, 178 yards and 14 TD’s. He became the first SEC quarterback to throw for over 3,000 yards. Other SEC records broken by Page were most attempts, most completions in a season and most yards passing. Page was second in the country for total yardage behind Brigham Young’s Steve Young.
“You failed to mention that I led the league in interceptions (29),” joked Page. “Offensively we knew that we were destined for greatness as far as stats. We knew that our defense would be very young. We graduated a lot of seniors so it was a sophomore team. We tried to go with the philosophy to outscore the other teams and make a lot of plays on offense.
“It was a double-edge sword. We might have run up good numbers stat-wise, but really you need balance for a winning football team. You need to be able to run and pass the ball, play great defense and have a sound kicking game. We didn’t have all those pieces put together. We threw the ball on most plays.”
Vanderbilt began Page’s senior year with wins over Kansas State, Maryland, Kansas and Alabama in Tuscaloosa. The 30-21 final over “Bear” Bryant’s squad is the last Commodore victory over the Tide.
“We felt confident playing Alabama,” Page said. “Coach Amedee had a great offensive game plan put together. We actually highlighted Joe Kelly in the passing game to go along with Chuck Scott, Ardell Fuller and Jim Popp. Kelly caught a touchdown pass in that game. His son Joe Jr., is a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. We ran the ball very successfully that kept them off balance.
“Our kicking game was excellent with Ricky Anderson. He was all-conference punter and kicker. At one point in my life I thought I was going to Alabama to be their quarterback so it was really good to be on a team that beat Alabama during their homecoming. I’ve always cherished that Saturday afternoon. We just outplayed them.”
Though Vanderbilt began the season 4-0, they were just 1-6 the rest of the schedule to finish 5-6. The only win during that stretch was over Mississippi.
“That’s what happens with a lot of teams when they can’t build depth,” said Page. “We had Jeff Holt, who was injured in the Alabama game. Chris Gaines was injured in that game. Karl Jordan was injured so we had a lot of key players injured in that victory. We just didn’t have much depth that season. That is the name of the game with depth, especially in the SEC. We had injuries and no one likes to hear that, but that’s the truth. We just ran out of healthy bodies. We were able to defeat Ole Miss for our homecoming.”
Page’s numbers were down that final year, but it was by design. It was decided before the season for Page to use his legs more and not to depend on his as much. Page was 203 for 350 with 2,405 yards and 16 touchdowns. He threw nine interceptions. Page was also named First Team All-SEC at quarterback.
“When you run the football the clock is still running and the game is squeezed down,” said Page. “There are fewer chances for the other team to score. We were trying to make sure we won the time of possession. Since I became a high school football coach I understand how important it is for the offense to control the ball, the clock and the game.
“That’s what we built before the season. First down was still a good down to throw the football, but we wanted to establish a running attack. For myself, it put me on the edge to have run-pass options. Pick up three, four, five yards to move those chains. That’s what we tried to do all season – to keep our defense off the field and healthy.
“The Alabama game took its toll on us. I remember Jeff Holt lying on the field being injured. We were so close as players. After winning as sophomores with success and to stub our toe our junior year, we wanted to bring the program back up on a winning trend our senior year. We came up one win short of reaching our goal of a winning record and possibly going to a bowl game.”
After the season, Page was invited to participate in the East-West Shrine and Blue-Gray Classic games. Page played for the East where the West won 21-10 and his Gray team defeated the Blue, 33-6.
“I had never been out West and had a great week playing in the East-West Shrine game,” said Page. “It was played in Stanford’s Stadium in Palo Alto, Calif. The Super Bowl was played there a couple of weeks later with Dan Marino and the 49ers. It was incredible being out there.
“The highlight of those two games for me was throwing to a receiver that no one ever heard of. I told my dad he was the greatest receiver I’d ever seen in person or threw to. I threw two touchdown passes to him and he was Jerry Rice. Bruce Smith, who was the all-time sack leader, was with him in the Blue-Gray game. On the other side Randall Cunningham was the West’s quarterback.”
Page is listed in the Vanderbilt all-time record book first in single-season passing yards (3,178), fourth in career passing yards (6, 233) and first in career interceptions (44). Other single-season records include most attempts (493), most completions (286) and most interceptions (29).
With a record-setting career in college, Page was not selected in the 1985 NFL draft, but did play two seasons in the Canadian Football League.
“I worked out for the New York Giants and the San Diego Chargers, but opted to play in Canada because it was a better fit with my skill-set as a passer,” said Page. “They were in that mode in the NFL that you needed to be about 6-foot-4 and I was not 6-foot-4.
“Before I went back to Canada for my second year I worked out with Coach Amedee for quarterback training. He was at that time working for head coach Jackie Sherrill at Texas A&M. The USFL folded so a former USFL quarterback basically took my position in Canada after the second year. So I didn’t have a spot on any of the Canadian rosters. But I could go into coaching and earn a Masters.
“I was afforded that opportunity at Texas A&M for Coach Sherrill. I was really working for Coach Amedee, who was the offensive coordinator. That was a great two-year experience. We won two Cotton Bowls and I got to coach against Notre Dame and Tim Brown – their Heisman Trophy winner. We beat those guys. It was an incredible two years to coach with that strong powerhouse.”
Page moved back to Nashville after the A&M experience to become the head football coach at Battle Ground Academy in Franklin. He followed BGA with eight seasons as head coach at his alma mater Father Ryan where he won a state championship in 1997 in the private school division.
Page coached in Alabama for four seasons then two more in Texas. He returned to Nashville as coach and athletics director at Franklin Road Academy. The past two seasons, Page has been the head football coach and athletics director at Monsignor Donovan Catholic High School in Athens, Ga. Page’s 2014 team enters the playoffs next week in the Class AA Division of the Georgia State Independent Association with a 7-2 record.
Page was asked about being a Commodore.
“It has meant the world to me,” Page said. “Every time you are introduced in a meeting or setting people want to know about you. That’s how I lead in being from Vanderbilt University as a graduate and a former football player. I love the black and gold and being a hometown guy.
“I think we are well respected among the SEC schools. They know our guys do things right with character, which is what we stand for. We’ve had our bumps along the road. With the transition with new coaches this year I feel we will be on the rise next year. That’s what happens with teams that cannot have a tremendous amount of depth. We are very young and replenishing, but will rebound in the future.”
If you have any comments or suggestions contact Bill Traughber via email WLTraughber@aol.com.
