Feb. 12, 2010
Note: Many of the players, coaches and key support staff from the 1974 Peach Bowl team will gather on Saturday at a special ceremony during halftime of the LSU-Vanderbilt men’s basketball game. Collectively, team members will present a substantial check to endow a Vanderbilt football scholarship.
Steve Sloan, head coach of the 1974 team, also will be the special guest with 104.5 The Zone’s George Plaster and Willy Daunic on Friday afternoon. Sloan will be on location with the SportsZone hosts from 4-5 p.m., CT.
Eighteen months before Vanderbilt and Texas Tech slugged their way to a 6-6 draw in the 1974 Peach Bowl, the foundation for that Commodore team’s eventual success was poured far from the watchful eye of enthusiastic fans.
Casually gathered in McGugin Gym on a cold February afternoon, the Vanderbilt players never knew what hit them. The newly appointed staff, led by a loud, explosive man they’d later discover to be Art Zeleznik – Coach Z to the offensive backs – burst into the room, quickly laid down new rules and expectations, then immediately hurried the squad into its first winter workout, one for the ages.
“We had absolutely no idea what was coming. It was really just shock and awe,” former defensive end Tate Rich said. “But that Peach Bowl team definitely had its roots in that very moment.”
Following a 3-8 campaign in 1972 – the team’s 13th straight losing season – Vanderbilt athletic administrators decided to make a change. The search quickly targeted the offensive coordinator at Georgia Tech — a former Alabama All-American quarterback and top-notch coaching prospect who seemed destined to eventually replace Bear Bryant on the Tuscaloosa campus.
Clean-cut Steve Sloan of Cleveland, Tenn., accepted the Vanderbilt challenge at the ripe old age of 28.
The new coach was confident, brought some swagger to the campus, and was all business. He also assembled a formidable staff that would include three future major college head coaches, including a brilliant offensive mind in Rex Dockery and a tough, no-nonsense defensive coordinator named Bill Parcells. A decade later, the defensive back mentor on that staff, George MacIntyre, would direct the Commodores to their third bowl appearance.
“In my opinion, Coach Sloan’s staff was one of the greatest ever assembled in the Southeastern Conference,” former Commodore receiver and current LP Field General Manager Walter Overton said.
Sloan’s staff, from that first challenging winter workout until Dec. 31, 1974, orchestrated the Commodores toward a pain-staking path of team success.
In 1973, Sloan’s first Commodore squad went 5-6. During the season, Sloan also found some solid playmakers such as running backs Lonnie Sadler and Jamie O’Rourke, versatile tight end Barry Burton, undersized middle guard Tom Galbierz, athletic defensive end Joe Reynolds, and defensive backs Ed Oaks and Jay Chesley.
“We could see that that it could happen,” Overton said. “We had as much talent as other teams in the SEC. We just had to believe that we could win. It was all about mental toughness. That’s where Sloan, Parcells and that staff came in. They galvanized and harnessed every one of us on the task at hand.”
Armed with talent, quality leaders, Dockery’s ball-controlling veer offense and Parcell’s physical, ball-hawking defense, optimism was high for Sloan’s Commodores entering the 1974 season. After a 2-1 start, Vanderbilt took the attention of Southeastern Conference teams with a decisive 24-10 victory over No. 8-ranked Florida, then topped a talented Ole Miss team after dropping a last-minute decision at Georgia. Only a controversial score and ensuing 2-point conversion allowed Tennessee to tie the Commodores 21-21 in the finale, giving Vol fans enough reason to distribute postgame “We Tied Vandy” bumper stickers.
To many Commodore players, just hearing that they were invited to the Peach Bowl created a greater stir than the game itself.
“I grew up a long, suffering fan,” Rich said. “Dad used to say, `You have to kiss a lot of frogs as a Vanderbilt fan.’ I can still remember the incredible thrill of hearing that we actually were going to the bowl. There are just bedlam and pandemonium.”
To the players, the 1974 season meant far more than a 7-3-2 result. There were lifetime friendships to create and goals to achieve. Interesting characters, such as Burton, team doctor Picky Lipscomb, recruiter Ken Hudgens and grounds superintendent Richard Baker, roamed the hallways, sidelines and locker room. It was a lineup of scholars, including Scholar-Athlete Award winner Doug Martin. There were seven All-SEC performers and an All-American. There was a new commitment to weight lifting and offseason workouts full of monkey rolls, stick-fights and boxing competitions. It was a time that featured a 200-pound starting center in Bill Holby and a lanky freshman defensive end named Dennis Harrison who enjoyed stuffing quarterbacks and blocking kicks.
Then there were Sloan and his cast of remarkable assistants.
The year 1974 was truly a different time, especially in the college football arena. It was an era that allowed Parcells to insert student equipment manager Reno Benson into the scout team offense, then take snaps as a tailback against the first-team defensive unit – without the aid of pads or helmet. Then, at the end of practice, Parcells offered – or maybe he ordered – Benson the privilege of running wind sprints with the team.
Did it bother Benson? Not in the least.
“Really, it was all a blessing, I loved every single minute of it,” Benson said. “To this day, I relish it all. That ’74 team was just a very special group of coaches and a very special group of players.”
The former student manager shares similar thoughts to the former head coach. “I truly can’t wait to say hello to these guys,” Sloan said recently. “Just shake their hand, say hello, and let them how pleased I am to see each one of them. It will be very special for me.”
The former Commodores still hold dearly to their achievement. “It still means so much, first of all for being the second bowl team in Vanderbilt football history. Just to have been a part of it means a great deal to me, and probably to every one of us,” Overton said.
On Saturday, during halftime of the LSU-Vanderbilt men’s basketball game, about 65 of the players and staff will join Sloan for a special ceremony at midcourt. Vanderbilt officials including Head Coach Bobby Johnson and will present each with a replica watch commemorating the Peach Bowl achievement.
The 1974 team will also give something back to their university, joining the first Commodore bowl team (1955 Gator Bowl squad) to endow a scholarship for Vanderbilt Athletics. At midcourt Saturday, Sloan, O’Rourke, Tate, team captain David Lee and the rest of the squad will present a check totaling $325,632 to Johnson and Vanderbilt Vice Chancellor David Williams.
Simply adding to the memories and legacy of the 1974 Peach Bowl squad.
