Ironton, a small city on the Ohio River, has a substantial history. In the 19th century, the city formed and rose to national prominence due to its iron industry. Many Civil War cannons featured metal fired in the pig iron furnaces surrounding the city.

As the industrial city grew in size, sports became a key entertainment source. During the 1890s, the game of football found its way into the city. The Irontonians, a very early semi-pro team that wore a crimson and blue uniform, was the town’s team.

In a November 24, 1894, home contest against Portsmouth’s Y.M.C.A. team, the Irontonians won 14 to 6. Thomas Murdock, who scored the first touchdown for the home team, played a strong game for the Irontonians.

Ironton’s newspaper reported that the game was “free from any suspicion of rowdyism or viciousness.” The reporter called the members of the Y.M.C.A. squad, “gentlemen, both on and off the field.”

The Irontonians travelled to Portsmouth in November 1894 to take on the Y.M.C.A. team in a Thanksgiving Day rematch. Some Ironton fans utilized the N & W tracks, but most boarded one of the White Collar boats to make the trip down the Ohio River. Before 500 spectators, Y.M.C.A. defeated the Irontonians 6 to 0. Ironton High School was on the gridiron during the first decade of the 20th century. Unfortunately, the team was not very good. In a 1909 game played at Beechwood in Ironton, Portsmouth High destroyed Ironton High by the score of 34 to 0. Roughly 200 spectators lined the field to catch the action.

Following the contest on November 14, 1909, about sixty rooters from Portsmouth High were treated to a great dance in their honor at Berg Hall by Ironton.

This is the 1909 Ironton High School football team. Please note the nose guards the players have around their necks and the ‘pumpkin ball’ utilized in that era.

Ironton students in the early part of the 20th century attended Ironton High School at the Kingsbury Building. The school building, constructed in 1888 at a cost of $65,000 and dedicated in 1889, was named in honor of the district’s first superintendent. The building replaced the old Central School which was built in 1854 on the same ground. Kingsbury’s bell came from the Ironton Rolling Mill Company, where it was once used to summon the company’s employees. After the construction of a new high school in 1922, Kingsbury served as an elementary school until ruled a fire hazard in 1959. The aging structure was replaced with a modern elementary building bearing the same name.

By 1914, other early semi-pro football squads like the Ironton Lombards and Ironton Midlands (Middies) had become household names within the community. The Lombards had a short run as the town’s pro team, before being dispatched by a team bearing the name of the feared machines that dominated the European battlefield during World War I. The formation of the Ironton Tanks in 1919 brought football to a new level. While the Tanks started out as local adults playing football mostly for the love of the game, the club turned into a full-fledged professional outfit before the end of the 1920s. The 1930 season saw the Tanks defeat the New York Giants, Chicago Bears and Portsmouth Spartans, three of the finest teams in the National Football League. With Greasy Neale as head coach and Glenn Presnell on the field, the city was football crazy.

The stock market crash sent the powerful roster of the 1930 Tanks to greener pastures. There was simply no way to sustain the beloved team in a region impacted so harshly by the Great Depression.

Constructed on school property, Beechwood Stadium opened in 1926 and was shared by Ironton High School and the Ironton Tanks. Yet, it was the Tanks that the fans in Ironton supported in strength.

However, Ironton still had its high school football team. Despite prominent players such as Bill Brooks (1915 graduate), ‘Shorty’ Davies (1917 graduate), Harold ‘Boob’ Rolph (1925 graduate) and others throughout the early years of the school, the team never developed much community support. Losing was a primary reason for the community’s indifference towards the high school team. Ashland (KY) and Portsmouth dominated the high school gridiron game in the area. While the Tanks were unforgettable, the Tigers of Ironton High School were easily forgotten.

Before the construction of the new stadium, Ironton High School and the mighty Ironton Tanks played home games on this field. This is a 1924 photo of Beechwood prior to the covered stadium we now know as Tanks Memorial Stadium.

Bill Brooks, a rugged lineman, graduated from Ironton High in 1915. He would become an early semi-pro star for the Ironton Tanks.

Bill Brooks anchored the 1914 Ironton High squad.

Despite numerous losing seasons before 1930, there were a few good football seasons at Ironton High. T.C. ‘Shorty’ Davies, one of the school’s early stars, was captain of an excellent 1916 Ironton High team. The only blemish on the schedule was a 14 to 0 loss against Charleston. Ironton easily defeated Portsmouth twice that season. Ironton’s gridiron team was the self-proclaimed ‘champion of Southern Ohio’.

Ironton also defeated Cincinnati Norwood, 17 to 7. Norwood entered the contest as the self-proclaimed ‘champion of Southwestern Ohio’. With a win over Norwood, Ironton staked claim to that title, too.

After a stint on Ohio State’s football team, Thomas Charlton Davies returned to teach at Ironton High School. On Sundays, he played for the Ironton Tanks. Following his playing days, Davies became a principal at his alma mater.

Harold Rolph was a star player on the 1924 Ironton High football team. He was a lineman on the leegendary 1930 Ironton Tanks squad that defeated the Chicago Bears and New York Giants at Redland Field in Cincinnati.

This is how Ironton High School looked in 1924. The school was constructed in 1922.

The new Ironton High School boasted a basketball gym and an indoor swimming pool. The pool was later filled in. The space, sometimes called the Auxiliary Gym, was used as a wrestling room in the 1970s. With the famous Tanks out of business, the door was open for the high school team. All the school needed was the right coach and a few good players.

The fortunes of Ironton High School football changed when a family named McAfee moved to town in 1921. John McAfee gave the Tigers a powerful team in 1930. He went on to letter in football and baseball at Ohio State. At the time, he was the most famous athlete in Ironton High School history.

In 1933, the school hired Dick Gallagher, a 1927 graduate of Ironton High, to coach the football team. After directing nearby Pedro to two perfect seasons, Dick proved he was the type of coach the school needed for its football team. Inside the building were three McAfee boys that would take the school into the gridiron stratosphere.

With George, Clellan and Wesley McAfee in the starting eleven, the Tigers completed an impressive, perfect season in 1935. It was a season where the Tigers could lay claim to at least a share (with five other teams) of the mythical Ohio high school football championship. The debt on the football stadium was retired due to football fans flocking to see a future member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, George McAfee, and a future Philadelphia Eagle, Wes McAfee, play for the undefeated Ironton Tigers.

The school eventually ran out of McAfee boys. Jack McAfee played his last year of football at Ironton High in 1938. Dick Gallagher, the greatest coach in school history at the time, departed the school to accept a college position at William and Mary.

The 1940s presented a new challenge to the Ironton football program. Many boys from Ironton High School during the war years elected to leave school early in order to serve their country during WW II. Some brave kids never returned home, and those that did make it back to Ironton often brought the scars of war, both physical and mental, with them.

It was a challenge to field a high school football team during the war years.

Coach Davies was an icon in the Ironton community for many decades. This 1945 story highlighted his extensive gridiron accomplishments.

With WW II over, a little sense of normalcy returned to the halls of Ironton High School in 1946.

Some war veterans returned to Ironton High School to finish their academic studies. One of the four ‘students’ in the distinguished color guard for an Ironton high gridiron contest, William ‘B.J.’ Hannon, would later become a school board member at his alma mater. Dick McClary got into the football coaching business in the 1970s. Dick succeeded Bob Ford as head coach of the West Ironton Bears. Two members of his West Ironton squad became key contributors on Ironton’s first state title team in football.

(L) The 1946 backfield at Ironton High School featured Carl White ( 65) at quarterback, Richard ‘Meat’ Boykin (63) at fullback. Jim Koukos (63) as the featured halfback and Jim Porter (80) at the blocking halfback spot. (R) The Gryphon, the school district’s impressive newsletter, published this story on Boykin in 1947.

The 1950s and 1960s saw great instability within the Ironton football program. With winning seasons few and far between, coaches came and departed at Ironton High at an alarming pace. What the football-loving city and school needed was another Dick Gallagher at the helm.

(L) Jim Willis was a 200-pound, senior fullback for the Tigers in 1957. Howard Baughman, Portsmouth High’s football coach, said in a 1957 Portsmouth Times story about Willis “He’s a real ace and a tough-to-stop, hard-running boy.” Jim was named a 2nd-team, 1957 All-Ohio defensive halfback by the Associated Press, a very prestigious honor since there were no divisions by school size in that era. His eldest son, Scott, was a key member of the 1979 state football title team before joining the Marietta College squad. His youngest son, Steve, was named the 1984 S.E.O.A.L M.V.P. in football and later played on the gridiron for Marshall University. (R) Danny Pride was a stellar, senior athlete at Ironton High School during the 1960-1961 school year. Mike Burcham was his classmate and teammate in football. Coy Bacon, the legendary NFL pass rusher, was also a teammate with Pride and Burcham. Pride’s promising N.F.L. career with the Chicago Bears was unfortunately cut short by injury.

Dick Gallagher, shown here in 1936, was a very successful head football coach at Ironton High School, his alma mater, and set the bar high for all future holders of the position. His 1935 squad, featuring George McAfee and Wes McAfee, went undefeated and earned a share of the mythical state gridiron title. After seven years at Ironton High, Dick had coaching stops at William and Mary College, Santa Clara University and even served as an NFL assistant to Paul Brown in Cleveland. He also had a stint as personnel director with the Browns. He was later general manager of the Buffalo Bills. In March 1968, Gallagher departed the coaching staff of the San Francisco 49ers to take charge of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, where he served as the museum’s second-ever director.

“We have to get more exposure,” said the newly-named Hall of Fame director to Fred Tharp, sports editor of the Mansfield News Journal, in May 1968. “The groundwork here (Canton) has been laid beautifully. It may take a couple of years to build up the attention it deserves.”

Gallagher had the honor of presenting his former star player at Ironton High, George McAfee, at his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction in 1966.

Despite some trying football seasons, fans still had the Ironton High School band to entertain them. This photo depicts the band playing from the stands during the 1957 season. The sound of the band playing within the covered stands likely resonated inside the ears of fans.

“The band at that time was really special,” recalled Joe Holtzapfel in 2019. “You had to really be an excellent player to be a member of the varsity band. No one around here could even come close to being as good as they were, in my opinion.”

Part of the challenge for football coaches was the schedule. “Schedules at that time were with schools much larger than us,” said Joe Holtzapfel. When the Tigers exited the powerful Central Ohio League, the team fared better. Winning meant a greater demand for prime seating inside the stadium, and the band constructed a shelter near the old city pool during the 1970s. The 1971 football season at Ironton High was a breakthrough year for the program. After five years at Ironton, including a dismal 5-5 season in 1970, Coach Bob Bruney, a 1959 second-team, All-Ohio halfback (U.P.I.) and an Ohio State football scholarship recipient, led the Fighting Tigers to a 9-1 season. It was the most wins by an Ironton High gridiron squad since the legendary 1935 team.

Hal Spears (6’2”, 176 pounds) completed 50 of 80 passes for 845 yards and 10 touchdowns in the SEOAL during 1971. He was named SEOAL M.V.P. On the season, Spears connected on 73 of 111 passes for 1,254 yards and 14 touchdowns. He was named AA District Back of the Year by the A.P. He was named the starting quarterback on the 1971 All-Ohio AA squad by the U.P.I.

An excellent runner on the track team, Spears scored 11 points at the SEOAL meet both his junior and senior seasons. Capable of running the 100 or 220 at a very high level, the 440 was undoubtedly his best event. Rick Mayne recalled in 2018, “In track, he (Spears) anchored the mile relay team (Rodney Whitt to Bobby Smith to Jeff Hannon to Hal Spears). At the conclusion of the 1972 track season, Hal Spears had scored more points in track than anyone in Tiger history.”

Mayne added, “In basketball, Spears helped lead the Tigers to a sectional championship his senior season. There are others who may have out- lettered Hal, or set more records, or won more team or individual titles for Ironton, but a pretty strong case could be made for Hal as one of the best to ever suit up for the Tigers.”

Spears was president of the school’s student council, a member of the National Honor Society and a leader in his church. Recruited hard by Michigan, Spears elected to play college football for his dad’s alma mater, the Blue Devils of Duke University (see above right photo). He was honored at the Ironton Sports Day in 1997 and inducted into the Ironton Hall of Fame in 2018. Coach Bruney appeared to be the next great coach at Ironton High. In just a few seasons at Ironton, he had turned around a football program that had floundered for decades.

In a shocking development, Bob Bruney submitted his resignation on March 29, 1972 in order to take another coaching job at Brookfield High School. The school district was back in the market for a coach that could put together a winning football program. Bob Bruney’s Record at Ironton High School

1966 1-9 Central Ohio League 1967 6-4 No League 1968 1-7-2 South Eastern Ohio Athletic League 1969 7-3 South Eastern Ohio Athletic League 1970 5-5 South Eastern Ohio Athletic League 1971 9-1 South Eastern Ohio Athletic League Career at Ironton 29-29-2

In a 2018 interview, Rick Mayne, a longtime radio voice of the Fighting Tigers, pinpointed one season under Bruney’s tenure when the football fortunes for the Tigers finally turned around. “Personally, I think that actually happened with the 1969 team that went 7 – 3, triggering a string of non-losing records that ran consecutively until 1996.”

(L) During the 1971 football season, Coach Bob Bruney guided the Tigers to a nine-win season and a SEOAL co-championship. Bruney was named AA District Coach of the Year by the A.P. Bruney was assisted at Ironton by Mike Burcham, Bill Trent and Lou Parker. The nine wins were the most by an Ironton High School squad since the 1935 season. Dick Gallagher was the head coach in 1935. The 1935 backfield featured George McAfee and his brother, Wesley, future Duke University and NFL players. (R) Quarterback Hal Spears (15) pitches to Rick Boykin (30) in a 1971 contest against visiting Gallipolis.

With 18 returning lettermen, the 1971 team was blessed with experience. Bobby Smith (188-pound fullback) and Rick Boykin (200-pound tailback) were returning three-year lettermen. Boykin was the SEOAL scoring leader as a freshman.

Bob Bruney, a graduate of Martins Ferry High School and Ohio State University, submitted his resignation to the Ironton Board of Education on March 29, 1972. He stated that he had accepted a post as head football coach and athletic director at Brookfield High School in Trumbull County. Bruney compiled a 29-28-2 record in six seasons at Ironton High School. Bruney was also instrumental in starting a wrestling program at Ironton in 1966. Bruney posted an impressive 38-14-2 career record as Ironton’s wrestling coach.

Bob Bruney played halfback for Woody Hayes. “He’s (Bob Bruney) an admirable kid,” said Woody Hayes, Ohio State football coach, in 1963. “We’ve got to play him more.”

(L) The 1971 Owl listed Bob Bruney as football and wrestling coach. (C) Coach Bruney works the sideline in 1970. (R) Coach Bill Trent was photographed outside Tanks Memorial Stadium for the 1972 Owl.

Jim Payne, a star receiver on the 1971 team, told Jim Walker at the Ironton Tribune during the 1997 Sports Day, “Ironton had been down for a few years, and that season (1971) kind of paved the way.”

“Bruney came in and shook the system up, and got the idea of winning instilled,” said Hal Spear at the 1997 Ironton Sports Day. Spears added, “Bill Trent had one of the first real weight training programs around. We had some of the stronger people simply because of the program.”

“We were pretty much a running team with Ricky Boykin and Bobby Smith,” said Jim Payne to Jim Walker at the Ironton Tribune during the 1997 Ironton Sports Day ceremony honoring a teammate, Hal Spears. Payne added, “Hal only threw 10 or 12 times a game, but he was always 7 for 12 or 10 for 12. You knew the ball would be there, and he was able to read defenses and find the open man. He wasn’t just a thrower. He was a leader and a competitor. He made it all look so easy.”

“Coaching at Ironton was a great experience,” Bob Bruney told a Times Leader reporter in 2014. “I met a lot of good people down there.”

(L to R) Bobby Smith, Rick Boykin, Mike Albrink, Hal Spears and Jim Payne, stars on Ironton’s varsity football squad in 1971, attended the awards banquet of the 1971 Kingsbury-Lawrence Street Vikings held at the South Point Holiday Inn. As special guests at the grade school football ceremony, the high schoolers spoke and signed autographs. The young men also took time to pose for photos with the little boys from Ironton that dreamed about someday following in their footsteps. (Photo courtesy of Tim Hodges)

When asked in 2017 what player or players inspired the young Hodges, a starting halfback on the grade school championship squad, to later become a Fighting Tiger, Tim Hodges responded, “For me it was the Fab-5 from the 1971 team that went 9 - 1. Hal Spears, Rick Boykin, Bobby Smith, Mike Albrink and Jim Payne all went to D1 schools. Hal went to Duke, Rick went to O.U. (Ohio University), Bobby went to Kent State, Mike went to Marshall, and Jim went to Mississippi State.”

In a 2018 interview, Rick Mayne, a student statistician for Coach Bruney, described the 1971 gridiron team as, “a great group of athletes and people.” Mayne added, “These fellows helped further set the tone for the Ironton gridiron success to come.”

Mayne added, “Serving as Coach Bruney’s team statistician in 1971, I got an inside look at the team, the coaches, the locker room and the playbook. It was my assignment to call the Associated Press in Columbus every Friday night with the Ironton scores. I ended up ‘ghost writing’ Ironton game recaps for the Herald Dispatch, long before they started regularly assigning beat writers to cover the Fighting Tigers.

Hal Spears, Jimmy Payne, Rick Boykin and Bobby Smith were just about always featured performers in the 1971 team stat sheets, as well as on the field. Mr. Bruney knew the value of readily-available and routinely-published stats for his players to get consideration for statewide honors and scholarships.” With his untimely exit, the school and community were forever left to wonder whether Bob Bruney was truly a great football coach or just a one-year wonder blessed with a prodigious veteran team. Yet, Bruney had undoubtedly broken the glass ceiling at Ironton with his nine wins. His successful 1971 squad made the head football job at Ironton High quite desirable. The board of education could resume a thirty-year hunt for the next Dick Gallagher with substantial optimism.

The Ironton school board finally believed they had found their man when Larry Coyer, defensive coordinator at Massillon, an Ohio high school football powerhouse, was hired on May 8, 1972. He was formerly head football coach at Martins Ferry High School.

Larry Coyer, a graduate of Barboursville (WV) High School, was defensive coordinator in 1971 at Washington (Massillon) High School.

“This was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make,” said Coyer, a Marshall University graduate and former assistant coach for the Herd, to the Massillon Evening Independent. “It has been a great honor to coach for Massillon and Bob Commings— a tremendous man,” said the new head football and head wrestling coach at Ironton.

“Ironton wants to establish as much of the Massillon system as can be done in this situation,” said Coyer. “Ironton is a strong school and had a 9-1 record in 1971, second to Steubenville Catholic in the computer poll and fourth in the Associated Press poll.” Coyer even drove to Ironton and met with his new team’s returning core outside of the locker room at Tanks Memorial Stadium.

That employment did not last long as Coyer, 29, verbally declined the post just a couple of weeks later. Citing “personal reasons”, Coyer elected to stay at Massillon where he was given a raise. However, he denied that the pay raise had any bearing on his decision. “Ironton has a tremendous administration with some fine men in charge, but we just couldn’t work out a few details,” said Coyer. “Football is everything at Massillon, and I had to think long and hard before going somewhere else.” Coyer added, “I’m just sorry we could not work everything out to my satisfaction.”

At a special board meeting on May 23, the school decided to hire Bob Lutz. Lutz, a graduate of Ironton St. Joe and Marshall University, had three years of experience coaching at his alma mater. His coaching record at St. Joe was 20-8-1. St. Joe won the O.V.C. championship in 1969, finished second in 1970, and shared the title with two other teams in 1971.

Ironically, Coyer and Lutz were football teammates at Marshall University. When he heard that Lutz was hired to coach at Ironton, Coyer, a Barboursville, WV native, provided his opinion on the hire. “They couldn’t have made a better choice,” said Coyer. “I played ball with Bob, and he’s a good football man.”

Lutz joined a school system that was making other athletic changes. Ironton, the first winner of the SEOAL All-Sports Trophy for its successes during the 1971-1972 school year, was not resting on its latest laurels. Mike Burcham, a graduate of Ironton High and head coach of the 1972 AA state championship baseball team, was named athletic director. Bill Trent, the head track coach and a top assistant coach in football, resigned to take the head football job at Rock Hill High School.

After leading Ironton to its first SEOAL track championship in 1972, Bill Trent elected to return to Rock Hill where he was an assistant football coach and head track coach in 1966-1967. “I personally felt like the opportunity for head coach position in major sports is too great to pass up,” declared Trent.

The most important long-term contribution that Bill Trent made at Ironton was in conditioning the athletes. “Coach Trent introduced and oversaw weight training for Ironton athletics and the school’s overall physical education curriculum,” said Rick Mayne in 2018. “This area of emphasis was a big part of the foundation for Ironton football success. Athletes took pride in the required discipline, under Bill Trent’s visage, to become dedicated weight lifters. As many former players would later relate, the “Iron Land” weight training proved its worth in late game toughness and staying power, a key to outlasting, if not dominating, their gridiron opponents.”

The community was somewhat apprehensive about the hiring of Bob Lutz. Did the best man for the job get away? Was Bob Lutz going to be able to match what Bob Bruney did at Ironton? After a stellar sports year at Ironton High, why was the school system making so many coaching changes?

Bob Lutz was hired without much fanfare by the school. The employment of Bob Lutz was also an extremely understated news story. The hometown paper published no quotes from the new coach. No editorial welcomed the recent addition to Ironton High. The only glowing praise for the new coach was the few words provided by Coyer. The Bob Lutz hire quickly fell off the media’s radar. Memorial Day brought the annual parade to Ironton. Additionally, the NAACP was honoring Coy Bacon, a former Ironton High gridiron star, that day. Bacon, a NFL All-Pro, was honored during the parade and at the high school. Deacon Jones, Marion Motley, Coach Tommy Prothro and Emlen Tunnel, stars of the professional ranks, were in town to honor Bacon and sign autographs.

Another colossal story was the baseball team at Ironton High. Mike Burcham’s baseball team was having the best season in school history. With a dominant pitching staff, the team advanced in the state playoffs all the way to the title game. The baseball team returned home to Ironton as the 1972 AA state champions.

The story of the day in Ironton was the homecoming ceremony for Coy Bacon. With Deacon Jones and other members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame at the high school to honor Coy on Memorial Day in 1972, the town demonstrated little interest in the football coaching transition at Ironton High. Most local residents were more concerned about posing with Deacon Jones for a photo or obtaining a Marion Motley autograph.

The hiring of Bob Lutz took a backseat to the 1972 Ironton baseball team. Behind the pitching of Jerry Murnahan (14–0 on the season with 132 strikeouts) and Jeff ‘Sticks’ Collins (4-0 on the season), the school won its first state title and finished 29-3 on the season. Collins, a 6’5” hurler with a blazing fastball, struck out ten batters and recorded the win in the state title game. Murnahan, pitching without a day of rest, pitched the final inning to notch a save. Ironton scored two runs in the top of the final inning. Shortstop Jim Payne plated the first run in the seventh inning with a single. The winning run scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of first baseman Bob Bayert. (Please note that the newspaper bragged in its header about Ironton being “the industrial heart of the Ohio Valley.”)

The 1972 baseball team defeated Cleveland Solon by the score of 3-2 in the championship game. Rick Massie holds the state championship trophy. (L-R) Amy Roberts (varsity cheerleader), Keith Parker, Rick Massie, Terry Mowery (#28) and Jim Payne (#10). In the background far right are Tino Boll and Rick Boykin (with shades on).

The 1972 baseball team had a tough semifinal opponent at the state tourney in Columbus. Ironton defeated the defending state champions, Columbus Wehrle, 9-7 after a decisive five-run seventh inning. Jerry Murnahan’s two-run double gave the Tigers the win. Jerry Murnahan went the distance on the mound for the Tigers. Catcher Dave Kriebel hit a massive homerun in the fifth inning.

“I saw Jim Payne leave the Beechwood diamond, switch into track gear, run the 100-yard dash, win it and go back to the ball diamond— on the way to the state championship in baseball,” recalled Rick Mayne in 2018.

Ironton City Council recognized the achievements of the 1972 baseball team.

“A lot of Ironton followers stayed at the famous Holiday Inn ‘on the Lane’ (Lane Avenue), across from the O.S.U. campus,” recollected Rick Mayne in 2018. “It seemed as if half of Ironton, if not more, was in Columbus for those two games.”

Mayne added, “The semi-final win over Columbus Wehrle was big. Ironton showed it belonged on the big stage on the OSU ball diamonds by soundly beating a big-city school. Ironton’s pitching won the day, and the title, over Solon.

All of a sudden my baseball-playing schoolmates, especially the seniors just a year ahead of me in school, but with a kind of cosmic link since junior high days, seemed larger than life; big leaguers. I sure went to a lot of celebratory parties in a lot of neighborhoods that warm, summer night in June of 1972.” By mid-June, Ironton had added two men crucial to the success of the football program. Pat Sheridan, principal and assistant football coach at St. Joe, joined Bob Lutz at Ironton High. Lynn Schrickel, a 1970 Findlay College graduate and an outstanding track athlete in high school, was hired to replace Bill Trent as track coach. Schrickel was living in Berea, Ohio.

(L) Bob Lutz met with his new team during the second week of June. (R) Coach Schrickel, a new addition to the Ironton staff, signs out football equipment to Bryan Brown. As a student at Clyde High School, Schrickel was a member of the 880-yard relay team that set a Sandusky Bay Conference track record in 1960. The track record stood for about a decade. How did Lynn Schrickel end up at far-away Ironton? In a 2017 interview, Coach Schrickel explained that he, “saw the vacancy about the physical education job, assistant football and head track— and ‘bingo’; next thing I know I’m in.”

The 1972 team was Coach Lutz’s first year at Ironton High School. It’s the only time Coach Lutz and his staff partook in a team photo.

The 1972 Ironton High School football staff was photographed at Tanks Memorial Stadium.

Front (L-R) Mike Morgan (freshman), Pat Sheridan (offensive line). Lynn Schrickel (linebackers) and Ezra Simpkins (freshman)

Back (L-R) Buck Donley (offensive backs), Lou Parker (defensive line), Mike Burcham (defensive backs) and Bob Lutz (head coach)

Coach Schrickel proved instrumental in the weight training and conditioning of all Ironton athletes. As a man that loved to lift, Coach Schrickel inspired the kids to work hard in the weight room. Great competition existed among the student-athletes at Ironton High to see which player had the best bench or deadlift. A big board hung on the wall in the weight room that recorded the three best lifts in each weight class. Every kid in school wanted his name up there for all the other students to see.

Shown here flexing his biceps in front of the track team, Coach Schrickel also handled the weight program at Ironton. Many high schools did not have anything close to Ironton’s weight room and conditioning program. Other than the YMCA in Ashland, public access to weight rooms did not exist in our area.

Competent instruction in a well-equipped school gym gave the Tigers a significant competitive advantage on the gridiron.

(Mike Schrickel is standing to his father’s right.)

Not only did competition exist to get your name up on the big board, but student-athletes also worked hard to earn their black Ironman T-shirt with an orange Superman ‘S’ on it. Shirts were awarded to athletes that benched seventy pounds over their bodyweight. Lifting took place during the summers, after school, and in the middle of the school day. Nearly every athlete obtained a weight room pass to escape the study halls on their school schedules. Lifting weights became not only the norm at the school, but part of the academic regimen.

“We put a big emphasis on the weight program,” said Lynn Schrickel in 2017. “We were way ahead of our opponents in strength and conditioning.”

In a 2017 interview, Rodney Boykin, the 1978 S.E.O.A.L. M.V.P., recalled in great depth the Ironton weight program. “The Ironton High School weight room was a great place to work out,” said Boykin. “You had all of the equipment, motivation, and guidance that you needed to make yourself a better player. I know it worked wonders for me, and if you ask Kenny Fritz, I'd say he'll tell you the same thing.

I think some of the equipment we used was made right there on the campus of Ironton High School in the vocational shops that were located behind the school. Keep in mind weightlifting was not always as popular as it is now. But right around that time, Arnold Schwarzenegger was starting to put his stamp on the sports of bodybuilding and weightlifting. Arnold helped take weightlifting mainstream when his movie Pumping Iron aired in 1977. In my opinion, that was the beginning. That was when the general public began to embrace weightlifting. But we were still in the early phases of its popularity, so it wasn't considered cool to lift weights.

Have you ever heard the adage, ‘I was country before country was cool’? Well, we were pumping iron before pumping iron was cool. It really was more of a counterculture. But thanks to Lynn Schrickel and Bill Trent, weightlifting had already become a part of the fabric of Ironton football. Trent came first. He coached my brother, Rick Boykin, in the early 1970s, and then came Schrickel.

These guys pushed weight training and lifted themselves. Trust me, it's inspirational when you look over and see your coach bench pressing nearly 400 pounds. I was introduced to the iron during the summer of 1975. I was going from the 8th to the 9th grade and I was instantly addicted. During my freshman year at Ironton High, I met two of the guys that would fuel my addiction for the next four years, Kenny Fritz and Lynn Schrickel. Fritz had set the school bench press record at 425 pounds, and I desperately wanted to break his record. That in itself was enough to keep me motivated.

Sure, I wanted to lift, but I really didn't know that much about weightlifting. That's where Coach Schrickel came in. He set my workouts (sets, reps, and exercises), taught me the proper form and technique, and weight room etiquette. Yes, weight room etiquette. You don't lay weights on the benches, slam plates, drop barbells on the floor, or leave weights on the barbells when you're finished lifting. We lifted, and we lifted hard. I had several teammates I lifted with. Sometimes I'd lift twice a day. Lynn, Kenny, and a local bodybuilder named Kevin Keairns would lift together. There were a number of locals that frequented the weight room. Lynn would open the weight room anytime we wanted so that we could lift. How convenient was that? Overall, it was a great experience that helped to lay a solid foundation for the Ironton football program during the 1970's.”

It was great to have a weight coach at the school who practiced what he preached. Coach Schrickel is pressing an amazing 280 pounds in this photo. (Photo courtesy of Lynn Schrickel)

“There were so many outstanding football players at Ironton High School over the years, but two young men stand out— Ken Fritz and Rodney Boykin,” said Coach Schrickel in 2017. “Ken and Rodney never missed a weight-room session.”

“He (Coach Schrickel) was like a second father to me,” said Brian Jenkins in a 2018 interview. “He was a great motivator and coach.”

“Weight training, first with Bill Trent, and later with Lynn Schrickel, became a tradition of both singular athletic achievement among Ironton High’s competitive athletes (and some non-athletes looking for self-improvement), and a lasting impact for championship-level Tiger teams on the field of play,” stated Rick Mayne in 2018. “Regarding the weight program under Coach Schrickel, I would have rated it a 15 out of 10,” said Ken Fritz in a 2017 interview. “It was superior to other programs throughout Ohio at that time. We not only worked hard on getting stronger, we had fun. We would have weight lifting competitions with other schools, and in most cases, we would win the competition. Coach Schrickel not only worked our tails off, but he joined in the fun.”

“Before his (Fritz’s) senior year, Ken Fritz, Jeff Kriebel, Kevin Keairns and I lifted from 5:00 p.m. until 5:00 a.m.,” said Coach Lynn Schrickel in a 2017 interview. “The only time the weight wasn’t moving is when we grilled steaks. What a memory!”

“When I went to Ohio State, I was probably the strongest player on the team as a freshman because most high schools didn’t have a good weight program,” added Fritz. “The strength and speed I acquired through weight training at Ironton prepared me for not only high school, but for my future endeavors at Ohio State. It kept me from having any career-ending injuries, and it kept me in shape.”

“When I think of the weight program at Ironton, I can’t help but give a lot of credit to Coach Schrickel,” said Fritz. “His ability to push me to get stronger helped protect me throughout my entire career of playing football.”

Many decades later, Coach Schrickel remembered Fritz as an extraordinarily motivated student-athlete. “On one Sunday, there was a knock on the door, and there was Ken (Fritz) asking if I would open up for him to lift,” recalled Lynn Schrickel in 2017.

Ken Fritz also believed the weight program helped Ironton High take on much bigger schools. “We would not have competed at the level we did in the state of Ohio if it wasn’t for the weights,” stated Fritz. “We were able to play ironman football when other teams substituted players in and out of the game. We had to stay on the field because we didn’t have a hundred kids on the team.”

While the players were impressed by their weight lifting coach, Coach Schrickel was impressed by the football staff he joined at Ironton. “Every practice and game was a coaching clinic for me,” recalled Schrickel in 2017. “Coaches Lutz, Burcham and Sheridan were the ‘real deal’,” added Schrickel.

Even with a top-shelf staff at his side, Coach Bob Lutz got off to a rocky start at Ironton High School. After losing his first two games to Columbus DeSales and Portsmouth, the decision to hire Lutz appeared open to debate.

“I remember being in the locker room after the Portsmouth game in 1972,” said Tim Hodges in a 2017 interview. “After losing a close one to DeSales, and then another close one to Portsmouth, you could hear the grumblings about the hiring of Coach Lutz. After a few minutes, the coaches came in. I cannot remember what was said, but after about five minutes you would have thought the players were celebrating a 2-0 season instead of being 0-2. That team went on to finish 8-0 and began what was then a league record 34 straight wins. So I always knew this coaching staff was special. Each had a role, and they were very good in their roles.”

Coach Lutz’s ability to quickly regroup his team and finish the season with a record of 8-2 was impressive. Lutz, 29, was subsequently named AA district Coach of the Year for 1972. He was also unanimously named SEOAL Coach of the Year.

With five represnetatives, Ironton had the most players garnishing all-league honors in 1972.

The 1973 season was one of Lutz’s finest moments at Ironton. In just his second season as head coach, he took Ironton to new heights. His team advanced all the way to the state championship game at Massillon. After defeating Cincinnati Reading 7 to 0, Ironton entered the title game with an 11-0 record. Cleveland Benedictine entered the AA championship game with a 7-2-2 record.

This was part of a lengthy preview by the Lancaster newspaper for the playoff game between Ironton and Cincinnati Reading held at frosty Fulton Field in Lancaster.

Coach Lutz gave these statements following the first playoff appearance in the history of Ironton High football. With the win, Ironton earned a spot in the state championship game.

Rick Massie was one of five players nominated for league M.V.P. in 1973. Terry Parker was a repeat honoree on the All-SEOAL squad.

Following a scoreless first quarter, Benedictine put up 17 points in the second quarter and then added another 14 points in the third quarter to place Ironton at an impossible deficit. “They did a fine job of stopping us,” said Coach Lutz. “This has got to be the quickest team we have seen this year.” Coach Lutz added, “Once we fell behind, we had to change the game plan, and it hurt us.”

Dave Berry, a starter on the 1973 squad, said in a 2017 interview, “Benedictine was better, but I doubt much better than Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary was in 1979. It was the ‘big stage’ and our first time there. Perhaps we treated it too much like a party with a tour of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and a huge pre-game meal arranged by Ironton native, Dick Gallagher, then the director of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I remember still feeling that huge steak dinner at game time and that can’t help your play. All year, we relied on our great defense, which was even better the year before, and truthfully hadn’t really been tested that much even against highly-touted Cincinnati Reading in the semi-final game at Lancaster. On offense, we depended on bruiser fullback Terry Mowery and blazingly-fast Bruce Carter which of course was the same formula Lutz worked to perfection for so many years.”

Dave Berry was a key member of Ironton’s first playoff football team. Berry was an outstanding discus thrower for the track team. Berry added, “That type of offense just doesn’t have the firepower to pull you out from a deficit against a great team like Benedictine. Unlike us, they had very few people playing both offense and defense which makes it even harder to play catch-up ball.”

Despite a painful loss, Lutz’s young football program had made a giant leap towards its ultimate destiny. “Being able to make the state championship versus Benedictine was huge (for the football program), and then there was no looking back,” said Lynn Schrickel in a 2017 interview.

Getting back to the title game became a goal that the entire community was behind. The 1973 team also inspired the kids playing grade school football in Ironton. The youngsters knew that with some hard work, they too could someday represent Ironton high School in a state championship football game.

“Most of us (the 1979 Ironton team) attended the 1973 championship game in Massillon, and those that did not, remembered it,” said Tim Hodges in 2004. “I was only an11-year -old at the time, and always believed I would play in a championship game as the 1973 Tigers had done.”

By making the state title game, the 1973 team paved the way for future Ironton squads. (Photo courtesy of Dave Berry)

(L) In just his second season at Ironton High, Bob Lutz took a football team to the state championship game. A crowd of about 6,000 fans took in the game at Massillon. (R) Bruce Carter, a 9.7 sprinter in the 100-yard dash (still tied for the Ironton High School record), had a thrilling 76-yard touchdown run with less than four minutes remaining in the 1973 state championship game. Carter would later play college football for Gene Slaughter, an Ironton High graduate, at Capital.

The 1975 season started off with a tough loss to an outstanding Ashland team. Shamefully, the biggest story on that Friday night in Ironton took place at the home of the head football coach at Ironton. Within a short time after the conclusion of the game, a shotgun blast entered a side window of the Lutz home where his young children were sleeping.

Somehow, Coach Lutz managed to keep his focus on winning football games at Ironton. He quickly had the 1975 football squad on track for another memorable season.

Not every football fan in Ironton was an upstanding citizen. A tough loss to rival Ashland, top-ranked at that time in Kentucky 4-A football, in September 1975 prompted a drive-by on an occupied house where the young children of Coach Lutz were sleeping. The event took place at a corner home in Green Valley Estates, one of the city’s finest subdivisions. Even with a sizable reward for information and the Ironton police department giving the case top priority, no arrest was ever made in the horrible shooting incident that jeopardized the lives of the Lutz children.

These newspaper photos showed how close the newest member of the Lutz family was to the window.

(L) This editorial by the Ironton Tribune addressed the shooting incident. (R) With a 9-1 regular season record, Bob Lutz won his fourth Coach of the Year award in as many years. His record in league play was a remarkable 28-0. His record at Ironton going into the 1975 playoffs was 36-5-1.

The 1975 team had a superstar player in Ken Fritz. Fritz (6’3”, 225 lb.), the AA Lineman of the Year in 1975, was in on 20 tackles per game and 85 percent of the runs from scrimmage followed his blocks. A guard and linebacker for the Tigers, Fritz had a 405-pound bench press to accompany his incredible speed.

When asked in 2017 about the coaches at Ironton High, Ken Fritz said he “looked up” to them. “I always felt they were the best in the state,” said Fritz. “I would probably do anything they asked of me.”

Coach Lutz (center) and Coach Burcham (left) speak to Ken Fritz on the Ironton sideline.

Ironton had more than Ken Fritz. Colossal two-way tackle, Phil Hieronimus (6’5”, 250 lb.), was a force along the line of scrimmage. Fullback Jeff Kriebel (6’1”, 195 lb.) had over 800 yards of rushing for the Tigers.

A regular-season loss to Ashland, KY did not prevent Ironton from becoming one of the four teams in the AA playoffs. Ironton met a high-scoring Cincinnati Wyoming squad at Dayton.

“They (Wyoming) make a lot of big plays, and we pride ourselves on shutting off the big play,” said Coach Lutz. “It’s going to boil down to how tough we are against them inside.”

Rick Howard, a junior halfback, still remembers the chartered bus trip to Dayton. “We were going over Rosemount Hill, and the bus could not make it over the hill,” said Rick Howard in 2017. “The team had to get off the bus and push it over. Guess who was in the bathroom? I came running to the front of the bus and the driver said, ‘Sit down, son. If I go, I want somebody to go with me.’”

The semi-final game was played on a cold night in front of 5,000 fans. “It was one of the coldest games we played in, and there was snow on the side of the field,” recalled Rick Howard in 2017.

As usual for a team coached by Bob Lutz, Ironton played some tough defense. In the first half, Wyoming’s offense suffered from three fumbles deep inside Ironton territory. Ironton also intercepted a pass in the first half. Wyoming held a slim 6 to 0 edge at the half.

Controlling the ball while limiting turnovers to just one interception, Wyoming owned the second half. Wyoming dominated the Tigers and sent Ironton home with a 26-7 beating. Ironton had minus 15 yards rushing for the game and only 57 yards passing. Wyoming rushed for 237 yards and passed for another 88 yards. Late in the final quarter, Jeff Kriebel ran for Ironton’s only touchdown.

“We held Fred Jacobs (who gained more than 2,000 yards in the regular season) under 100 yards (91 yards on 21 carries against Ironton), and he was getting 200 a game,” stated Rick Howard in 2017. “Their fullback killed us, and we just could not move the ball. It was a great experience even though we lost.”

With a resume packed with success at Ironton High School, Coach Bob Lutz applied for the open position at Woodrow Wilson High School in Beckley, West Virginia. The school was near his wife’s hometown.

For whatever reason or reasons, the job at Woodrow Wilson High in Beckley did not pan out. Coach Lutz was back at Ironton High School for the 1976 gridiron season.

The Beckley Raleigh Register published this story on February 18, 1976. Coach Lutz’s application came just five months after the shotgun blast into his Ironton home.

The defeat in 1975 left the Ironton program wanting another shot at the playoffs. The 1976 team was loaded with talent and expectations. “We were Coach Lutz’s first team to be named number one in the A.P. poll,” said Rick Howard in 2017. “We got upset by Gallipolis (18-14). It was a heart breaker. They had signs all over Gallipolis stating ‘34-0, no more’ (referencing Ironton’s number of consecutive league wins, 34, a league record) when we pulled in. We were 9-1 and didn’t make the playoffs that year. It was a rip off.” With a backfield featuring three seniors, Juan Thomas and Bodie Deeds at halfback, and Bobby Williams at quarterback, the 1977 Ironton squad opened on the road with Russell. Unfortunately, Juan Thomas was sidelined for the game due to injuries sustained in a car wreck. The Ironton defense allowed a 20-point burst in the second quarter, and Ironton left Russell, KY with a 23 to 14 defeat.

After squeaking by Meigs in the league opener, the Tigers lost to Logan at Tanks Memorial Stadium the following week, 20 to 14, in league action. Again, the defense let the Tigers down, as Logan scored on a 57-yard winning drive with just 1:12 left in the game. The Tigers finished the season with an 8-2 record.

The 1978 football season was one of perfection and great disappointment. With an exceptional line anchored by Robert Clay, a Miami of Ohio recruit, and great depth at nearly every position on the team, the 1978 team cruised to a perfect 9-0 record during the regular season. None of the nine opponents offered much resistance.

“I don’t think we played anybody who could beat us,” said Robert Clay at the end of the 1978 season. “We were tougher than anybody we played,” added Marty Scior, a senior end, to the Herald Dispatch scribe. 1978 Ironton Fighting Tigers

Ironton 34 Ashland 2 Ironton 29 Portsmouth 0 Ironton 46 Washington Court House 24 Ironton 35 Athens 0 Ironton 35 Meigs 20 Ironton 36 Wellston 7 Ironton 36 Gallipolis 8 Ironton 41 Jackson 8 Ironton 66 Waverly 14 The only opponent the 1978 Tigers could not defeat was the teachers’ union at Logan High School. The SEOAL game against Logan was not played due to a lengthy strike at the district. A win over Logan, a highly-likely event in 1978, would have supplied enough computer points to put Ironton into the state semi-finals.

“At the time, I really wasn't concerned about missing a game,” said Rodney Boykin in 2017. “I didn't realize the impact it would have on our team when the postseason came around. I was more concerned with winning another league title. I really hadn't thought about postseason play. We hadn't discussed it in the locker room.”

When we moved up to second (in the regional computer rankings), I thought there was a slim chance,” said Joe Singleton, a senior guard and linebacker, to a Herald Dispatch reporter in 1978. “We got up and made sure we won our games.”

(L) Rodney Boykin ran through many would-be tacklers in 1978. “If he (Boykin) breaks through the line, there’ll be some deep backs scrambling,” said Coach Bob Lutz to Jim Walker at the Ironton Tribune prior to the start of the 1978 season. (R) Terry Royal follows the block of Brian Jenkins in a 1978 contest. (Photos courtesy of Tim Hodges)

The 1978 Ironton squad was one of the most dominant gridiron teams in school history.

Front row (L - R) Steve Sutton, Scott Willis, Joe Singleton, David Clay, John Lewis, Terry Royal and John McClellan

Second row (L - R) Lon Hilton, Gabriel Lewis, Darwin Conwell, Craig Thomas, Rodney Boykin, Patton Riffe, Larry Lambert and Jeff Wallace

Third row (L – R) Ken Barnette, Ben Saunders, Brian Jenkins, Richie Bunker, Robert Clay, Joe Hacker, Daryl Womack, Marty Scior and Joe ‘Bubby’ Fletcher

Back row (L - R) Kent Koerper, Gene ‘Tink’ Williams, Greg Ainsworth, Dave Bryant, Dan Bryant, Darrell Harris, Tim Hodges, Brent Wilcoxon, Dan Fisher and Adam Ainsworth

(Photo courtesy of Lorie Wyant)

The 1978 senior class had plenty of size and talent.

“That senior class was part of the best Ironton football team I have seen,” said Brian Jenkins in 2019. “They were bigger, better, faster and stronger than my 1979 team. They would have won the state that year.”

Kneeling (L- R) Dave Bryant, Rodney Boykin, Joe Singleton, Dan Bryant and Ben Saunders

Standing (L - R) Richie Bunker, Daryl Womack, Greg Ainsworth, Marty Scior and Robert Clay

(Photo courtesy of Tim Hodges)

1978 Ironton Football Staff

Kneeling (L –R) Coach Jim Payne, Coach Jeff Handley, Coach Pat Sheridan and Coach Mark Lewis

Standing (L – R) Coach Lynn Schrickel, Coach Paul Fugitt, Coach Mike Burcham, Coach Bob Lutz and Coach Tom Ben

(Photo courtesy of Tim Hodges)

After averting a strike in 1977, the Logan district stayed on strike a state record of days in 1978. The strike was settled on November 3.

The 1978 team featured Rodney Boykin, the SEOAL MVP that season. “He was a nose guard and fullback,” recalled Lynn Schrickel in 2017. “With that combination, he couldn’t take a play off— contributing from tackle to tackle on defense and carrying the ball 25 to 30 times a game.”

Schrickel added, “Rodney Boykin was a man playing boys in high school— great work ethic, great role model. To this day, I am so proud to have coached him. Rodney developed into the player he was in the weight room; 400-pound-plus bench press at sixteen years of age.”

Rodney Boykin said in 2017, “The 1978 Ironton Fighting Tiger football team, in my opinion, was one of the best to ever take the field. Of course, I'm a little biased since I played on that team. It was my senior year. That team was loaded with talent. I think we were almost two- deep at each position. We had a lot of seniors starting, most were on the line. A lot of the juniors and sophomores filled the skill positions, which leads to my next statement. The senior class had a lot of power and grit, and the underclasses had a lot of athleticism and grit. When you put the two together, you had a team with unlimited potential.”

Rodney Boykin (left) is wearing what every guy in the high school wanted to earn, an ironman shirt. Robert Clay (right) is flexing his muscles in front of the ‘big board’ that recorded top lifts in the school each year. Boykin and Clay were key members of the 1978 Ironton gridiron team.

The weight room was located upstairs in the $1.5 million Ironton Sports Center (now called the Conley Center) which opened during the 1975-1976 school year. Unpainted concrete walls, no functional windows, no air conditioning, and a baseball batting cage at the other end of the room gave the facility a hardcore look. Sweating athletes cooled off by walking the length of the basketball gym to the water fountains. (Photo courtesy of Rodney Boykin) “Sadly we were never even tested and were denied an opportunity to play in the postseason,” added Boykin. “As a result, I don't even think we ever lived up to our full potential. I do think that, given the opportunity, we could have brought home a state title.”

“The 1978 Tigers was the best team (Bob) Lutz ever fielded,” said Tim Hodges in 2004. “If there was any weakness in the starting lineup it was me. I had not played since junior high, and it took me a while to get my football legs.”

In contrast, Rodney Boykin saw Hodges as a valuable player on the 1978 team. “Tim was sort of a Swiss army knife type of player,” said Boykin in 2017. “He was asked to play many positions. He did, and he played them well. I believe he was asked to cover just about every skill position. Honestly, I think Tim could have played any position on the field.”

Hodges added, “The 1978 team had amazing strength and superior speed. We dominated all the teams we played, and I do not have any doubt that the state championship would have been ours had we garnered enough points to make the playoffs.”

In a 2017 interview, Coach Schrickel concurred with Hodges’s assessment. “We would have won it all in 1978, powerful team,” said Schrickel.

“The 1978 team had it all,” recalled Hodges. “I often wonder how we would have competed against the (great) AAA teams of the day. I am not saying we would have beaten (Cincinnati) Moeller (AAA state champions in 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1985), but they would not have had an easy time of us.”

Brent Wilcoxon also held the 1978 team in high esteem. “I imagine we could’ve hung with anyone in the state that year,” said Wilcoxon in 2017.

With the football playoffs out of reach, the 1978 Ironton team delivered a final message about the squad’s abilities.

Behind the scenes, Mike Burcham worked hard to get Ironton another opponent to replace Logan. Not covered in this newspaper article is whether Ironton was willing to travel to Cleveland to play St. Ignatius.

The computerized Harbin system did not anticipate the impact of teachers’ strikes in its point system. The Logan strike proved devastating to Ironton’s playoff chances.

The 1978 team had to settle for a perfect regular season, a SEOAL title, a second-place finish in the Region 7 computer ratings, and the eighth spot in the final poll by the Associated Press. The sensational squad could only dream about their chances in a four-team hunt for the AA state football title.

“I was disappointed, but not nearly as much as those seniors that year,” said Brent Wilcoxon in a 2017 interview. “That would’ve been tough to swallow in your last year.”

One of those seniors, Rodney Boykin, has not forgotten what took place in 1978. “Sitting here as a 56- year- old, it burns my ass,” said an emotional Boykin in 2017. “We were robbed. I'm still salty about it.”

“Like many others, I was disappointed we did not make the playoffs,” said Tim Hodges in 2017. “I did not dwell on it long. Basketball season was up next, so that took my mind off football.”

Coach Lutz works to get the field at Tanks Memorial Stadium ready for play. The grass and lines were meticulously maintained by the head coach.

“I wish my lawn looked as good as the I.H.S. football field,” recalled Steve Sutton in a 2018 interview.

Ironton dominated the 1978 all-league squad. The 1978 season saw the emergence of Terry Royal, a sophomore, at running back. He led the SEOAL in rushing and averaged 9.8 yards per carry. Gabriel Lewis, a junior, averaged 9.2 yards per carry in the league.

The city was rocked by an explosion at Rich Oil on Thursday, March 22, 1979 shortly after 3 p.m. Residents in town worried about the safety of the brave men fighting the raging inferno engulfing an area close to the downtown business district. Without their incredible efforts to combat and contain the fire, a significant portion of the city might have been consumed by the fire. (Photos courtesy of Carl Witt)

The explosion “shook the store and sounded like a sonic boom,” said Frank Mascari, an employee at Harmon’s Men’s Clothing, a downtown business. “The sky is black with smoke,” added Mascari to the reporter.

“Rich Oil fire, unfortunately, put Ironton on a world map— because it was an oil fire,” recalled Rick Mayne in 2017. “WIRO fielded phone calls from Australia, Great Britain, Texas, California, and network news outlets, all wanting capsule summaries of the fire which we could see from the huge picture window in the WIRO studios. People who knew me told me they heard me on WLW Cincinnati and other stations throughout the country with coverage of the fire.

I teamed up with WIRO News Director, John Wolfe. I phoned in a live update from the phone booth at the corner of Third and Jefferson. I stayed on the phone until the police cleared the area. The intensity of the heat even there was tremendous.

While on the phone, I witnessed Father Jerome Gabis of St. Lawrence O'Toole Church, administer the Last Rites to a fallen figure on the Rich Oil parking lot, until EMT's asked him to step away.”

Three men were injured by the explosion and fire. Two men, a truck driver and the co-owner, subsequently died from their wounds.

“My cousin, Glen Lewis, survived that fire,” said Tim Hodges in 2017. “He nearly lost his life— badly burned.” The 1979 football team was impacted by two tragedies. Larry Lambert, a powerfully-built lineman, lost his eyesight before the 1978 football season was completed. A starter on the offensive line as a sophomore, the coaching staff could only imagine how good of a player Lambert would have been in 1979. Another possible offensive line starter, Darrell Harris, drowned in a boating accident at Lake Vesuvius on Memorial Day weekend in 1979.

(L) Larry Lambert, a 5’10”, 175-pound guard on the 1978 team’s offensive line, would have been a key member of the 1979 squad. A prodigy of the weight program at Ironton, Lambert was one of the strongest kids in the high school. As a sophomore, he boasted a 285-pound bench. Lambert started on the 1978 football team until blindness abruptly ended his playing days on September 29, 1978. His vision had whittled away since the spring of 1978.

“What really scared me were interceptions,” said Lambert in a November 8, 1978 Gannett News Service story. In a game against Ashland on September 8, 1978, a Tomcat returned a pick 44 yards. “This guy just started hitting me and took me about ten yards downfield, because I didn’t know what was happening.”

(R) Darrell Harris, a sophomore at Ironton High School, drowned at Lake Vesuvius when his canoe overturned. He died on May 27, 1979 at the age of sixteen. Harris, an athletic kid who dunked small balls while in junior high school, was a potential starter on the 1979 team’s offensive line.

The Ironton Tribune brought the heartbreaking news about Darrell Harris. His family and the entire community were profoundly shaken by the young man’s death

Tipton’s was the place to go for groceries and bakery items. The store was also a dependable booster. The store proudly contributed to area schools, and the Ironton district was a frequent recipient of their generosity.

This is how Ironton High School looked when the members of the 1979 football squad attended school. The high school had 740 students (grades 9- 12) inside its doors in 1979. Principal was Mr. J. Curtis Boggs. Superintendent was Mr. Harold Conley.

(L) The Tiger Clan, the official booster organization for Ironton High athletics, was there to back the 1979 football squad. (R) Bob Linn’s was the place in Ironton to buy sporting gear.

Coach Bob Lutz had the football program in high gear. Ticket demand was extremely high in 1979.

With homerooms assigned at Ironton High, students reported to the building on August 20, 1979. The 1979 football season started off with a week of physical fitness followed by two-a-days. Designed to get the players in shape, physical fitness consisted of a mixture of sprints, grass drills and other calisthenics. Sessions were in the mornings and lasted for about one hour. It was an arduous experience, but routine to the Ironton kids that had been playing football in the Lutz system since junior high school.

“I remember physical fitness; grass drills, bear crawl and a 440 at the end,” said Tim Hodges in 2017. “I hated distance running, so I never made my 440 time and had to do more grass drills which never bothered me.”

“Physical fitness was hell— sixty minutes of constant motion,” recalled Mark Dickess in a 2017 interview. “The only break was waiting for everyone to complete the halfway 440. If you were quicker to finish, then you got a little break waiting for the next set of grass drills to start.

I guarantee you we never got gassed in the fourth quarter of games. Little things like that, which people don’t think about, win a lot of games. Lutz, Burcham and the other coaches were great at the little things.”

Two-a-days, a protracted and exhausting part of football training, challenged an individual’s commitment to the game. “I remember having to stay between sessions,” said Hodges in 2017. “I climbed up over the locker room and took a nap in the high jump pit foam.” Mark Dickess in 2017 described two-a-days as “rough” and remembered “trying to find a quiet place to rest while hoping your pads and shirt would dry before you had to put them back on.” Brent Wilcoxon added in 2017, “It was tough, but not tortuous. I remember lying on the high jump pits in the stadium, resting up for the second practice. We may have also gone out between practices and thrown some routes, not an everyday thing though. I have much worse memories about physical conditioning down at the junior high than two-a-days.”

Dickess added, “I think keeping us there in between (practice sessions) was a disciplinary thing. A lot of schools let you leave for lunch. The Tiger Clan would buy food (cold cuts, chips, etc.) and we would go into the cafeteria and eat whatever we wanted. I know that always made me feel like we were in a big-time program— having a training table and such.”

With substantial losses to graduation on the line and in the backfield, Coach Lutz was challenged to fill the voided spots in his starting units. Gone was Rodney Boykin, the 1978 league M.V.P., leaving holes at fullback and nose tackle. With the departure of Greg Ainsworth, the starting quarterback spot was also up for grabs. The offensive and defensive lines were decimated by graduation. Robert Clay, the line anchor on both sides of the ball in 1978, was now playing college football in Oxford, Ohio.

The biggest challenge facing the 1979 team in camp was piecing together a starting line. Adam Ainsworth, a senior, was heir to Dave Bryant’s center spot. “He’s looking better,” said Lutz. “He’s starting to come around.” In 2017, Tim Hodges described Adam Ainsworth as “wiry, but tough”. Hodges added, “He was a heck of a center and linebacker.”

The guard position had the line’s lone returning starter, Darwin Conwell, a junior. “Conwell played last year and the experience should help,” said Lutz. In 2017, Hodges remembered Conwell as being “tough on offense”. Scott Willis, a junior battling a shoulder bruise, had the edge on Joe Singleton’s guard spot. “Willis will be alright if he’s healthy,” commented Lutz. John Lewis, a senior, and David Clay, a junior were also in the mix. “Lewis looks better than last year, and Clay looks really good,” added Lutz. “Scott, John and David were small, but tough, and played smart,” said Hodges in 2017. “Most of the time they were playing against bigger players than themselves, but always found a way to get the job done,” added Hodges.

Coach Lutz had to find replacements for Robert Clay and Daryl Womack at the tackle spots. Joe Hacker and Brian Jenkins, both seniors, looked to be the next set of tackles. John Moritz, a senior that had not played organized football in years, was expected to see major playing time at the spot. “With Moritz, that gives us three offensive tackles,” said Lutz.

Hodges stated in 2017, “Brian (Jenkins) had a lot to prove his senior year filling the shoes of Robert Clay. He hit the weights and, in my opinion, was the most improved player on the title team. He had a heck of a senior season and led “Cat” (Terry Royal) around the end on several fine runs.”

“John (Moritz) didn’t play his 10th or 11th grade years,” recalled Hodges in 2017. “It was good to get him out for his final year as he made a big contribution to the team.”

The end spot was anchored by Joe “Bubby” Fletcher, a returning starter. “Fletcher looks good,” noted Lutz of his senior. Fletcher, a great basketball player with soft hands and an athletic body, was a nice target in the passing game. Tim Hodges noted in 2017 that Fletcher was a “very good lineman, offense and defense.” Hodges added, “Fletcher was just an outstanding athlete. He was equally talented as an offensive end and a defensive end. He had great speed for a big man, and we all witnessed his knack for pulling in the big catches. I once saw him take on a lead blocker and knock off his feet with just his right arm in a game and not miss a beat.”

Two more seniors, Craig Thomas and Gene “Tink” Williams were in position to fill the other end spot. “We’ve moved Thomas and Williams to end,” said Lutz. “Neither one has great size, but they should be able to get the job done.” In 2017, Hodges said, “Tink was a better player than people gave him credit for. He had a lot of speed. I would have liked to have seen him given the ball out of the slot a few times on offense.”

Set to replace Greg Ainsworth at quarterback were two juniors, Brent Wilcoxon and Steve Sutton. ‘Both will get the job done, whoever starts,” stated Lutz. The starting quarterback slot eventually went to Brent Wilcoxon. “Brent had a good center of gravity, so he was hard to bring down,” recalled Hodges in a 2017 interview. “He was also an accurate passer— very good at getting the ball to his receivers.”

Wilcoxon brought some experience to the varsity quarterback position. Brent started every game at quarterback on a strong freshman team. “I was the junior varsity quarterback my sophomore year,” said Wilcoxon in 2017. The talented sophomore was also a reserve quarterback on Friday nights.

Sutton, an avid weightlifter, was a consummate team player. Whatever position Coach Lutz needed his services at, he was ready to step in and play at a high level. He could throw passes, catch passes and intercept passes in critical situations.

“Steve (Sutton) was like me my junior year,” recalled Hodges in 2017. “He played when and where the team needed him most, and he did a heck of a job at it,” added Hodges.

Tim Hodges was moved by the coaches from end to fullback in an attempt to fill the position of departed 1978 SEOAL M.V.P., Rodney Boykin. “He’s not as powerful as Boykin, but he’ll have more speed in the open field,’ noted Lutz. “If we get in a pinch, he can play halfback or quarterback.”

“It was fairly easy,” recalled Hodges in 2017 of his position switch on offense. “Only difference was running more between the tackles than running outside. I played several games at halfback during the 1978 season when Gabriel (Lewis) was injured.”

Coach Schrickel stated in 2017, “Tim Hodges was a great player and young man. He had huge shoes to fill in replacing Rodney Boykin. I think every boy in Ironton wanted to play fullback. Fifty-six and fifty-seven, (off right- and left-tackle runs), were ‘garden plays’ (in the Ironton offense).”

Hodges, a versatile senior, also handled the punting duties. His skill set made him a threat to run or pass out of punt formation.

Terry Royal, a junior, returned at one halfback spot. Royal was the most dynamic player in the league as a sophomore. He rushed for nearly 1,300 yards and averaged over 10 yards per carry. However, Royal underwent knee surgery in the spring of 1979.

Terry Royal was a “very talented runner,” said Tim Hodges in 2017. “(He was) slowed by knee surgery, but still better than most of the backs in the league that year.”

The other halfback was another returning starter, Gabriel Lewis. Lewis, a senior, played through a shoulder separation his junior year. He also was hobbled by a tailbone injury, but managed to compile over 1,000 yards rushing. “Lewis looks quicker this year,” said Lutz. “He looks to be back where he was before he hurt his tailbone.” Jimmy Morris, a tall sophomore capable of wowing fans with his incredible athleticism, was a factor at halfback. A deep thigh bruise impacted him during camp. “He’ll see plenty of action,” proclaimed Coach Lutz. Hodges added in 2017, “Jimmy Morris did a heck of a job as a sophomore filling in on offense for Gabriel when he was injured. He also did a good job on defense and returning the ball as well; another fine all-around athlete.”

The defense featured a talented and experienced secondary. Gabriel Lewis, a senior corner, was one of three returning starters in the defensive backfield. Lewis was well-known as an intimidator on the gridiron. Tim Hodges called him in a 2017 interview, “the hardest hitter I ever saw in high school.” Hodges added, “He didn’t just form tackle. He sprang into the runner. It was like he had springs in his calves.”

Darwin Conwell, a junior, returned at the other corner. “Darwin was a great open field tackler, and had a good nose for the football— much like Gabriel,” said Tim Hodges in 2017. Hodges added, “It was tough to run outside on us.”

Terry Royal, a junior, was back at safety. Two seniors, Tink Williams and Craig Thomas, were in a tight battle with Steve Sutton, a junior, to fill the other safety spot. In 2017, Hodges called Williams a “good defender”.

Tim Hodges, a senior, and Scott Willis, a junior, were moved to the linebacker spots. “Hodges looks like he can handle it, and Willis has great upper-body strength,” said Lutz. David Clay, a junior, was set to see time at the spot. “David Clay looks good,” added Lutz. “We’ve got three that can play.”

The returning cog on the defensive line was Joe Fletcher, a senior end. Brent Wilcoxon, a junior, and Jimmy Morris, a sophomore were competing for the other end spot.

John Lewis, brother of Gabriel Lewis, was placed at middle guard. “He’s stronger this year at the position,” said Lutz about the senior. “John was pretty much like Gabriel— quiet and (he) let his play speak for itself,” said Tim Hodges in 2019. Hodges added, “He did a great job during the season often going up against players that outweighed him by 25 pounds or more.”

Joe Hacker, a senior, was a force at defensive tackle. “He’s stronger and more aggressive,” commented Lutz. Tim Hodges added in 2017, “Joe Hacker was our biggest defender on the line. He was quick and strong.” Brian Jenkins, a senior and Dennis Bacon, a sophomore, were expected to man the other tackle spot. “With Bacon, that gives us three defensive tackles,” surmised Lutz.

Bill Allen, a junior, was a camp surprise. The first-year player was looking at possible action at middle guard or offensive tackle. “He’ll stick his nose in there,” noted Lutz. Hodges added in 2017, “Dennis Bacon and Brian Carter were two hard-nosed players. Both of them had great speed for players their size. They played most of the title year on defense— Brian at middle guard, and Dennis at defensive end giving Wilcoxon a breather. Both of them were outstanding players.”

The punting job went to Hodges who was capable of running or throwing out of the position. Craig Thomas returned as the snapper.

“I started long snapping in the 5th grade for the West Ironton Bears,” said Craig Thomas in 2017. “Bob Ford was our coach that year, and he taught me to long snap. He always told me if I stuck with it, I would have a starting job.”

“Craig Thomas was one of the silent leaders on the team,” said Hodges in 2017 He had three or more years of varsity experience as a center on punts, extra points and field goals. That was tough to do at Ironton in those days and, if I recall, he never had a bad snap.”

Besides starting on both sides of the ball at end, Fletcher served as the team’s kicker.

“I started kicking in middle school so I would say around 13- or 14-years old,” recalled Joe Fletcher in a 2017 interview. “Of course, we never attempted any kicked extra points or field goals.

My freshman year, Jimmy Williams, a sophomore at that time, handled the kicking chores for the junior varsity and varsity. Jimmy tore his knee up in a junior varsity game which left the Tigers without a kicker.

I'm sitting in class one day and someone comes to my class and says, ‘Coach Lutz needs to see you in his office in the stadium.’ I'm thinking, ‘What have I done now?’ When I get there, there's a travel bag laying there full of equipment with my name on it. He looked at me and said, ‘What if I told you you're kicking off tonight?’

I tried to keep my composure the best I could, but I'm thinking wow, Ironton versus Dayton Jefferson, Friday night under the lights in the Tank! That was a lot for a freshman to absorb, especially joining a team that was ranked A.P. preseason number one.

I kicked off for the varsity my freshman year, but didn't attempt any extra points or field goals until my sophomore year. I was so uneducated. On one occasion versus Logan, Logan blocked the field goal and ran it back for a touchdown to win the game. The worst part of the play was me thinking it's a dead ball. I bent over to pick my tee up and never attempted to give chase. Lutz had a field day with this during film session on Sunday.”

When asked about early favorites to win the league, Wellston was one of two teams at the top of Lutz’s list. Wellston returned many starters from a team that finished second in 1978 league play. Wellston’s top returnee was Jeff Montgomery, a mega three-sport star. The other team was Gallipolis, coached by a former Ironton High assistant coach. “Bill Trent always has a strong team, and they’ve got everybody back,” said Lutz.

(L) Rick Mayne, the radio voice of the Fighting Tigers in 1979, is shown working in the WIRO auxillary studio which also housed WITO-FM. Photo is dated November 1978. (R) This is the WIRO studio-console. The football games would be routed through here via dedicated phone lines or conventional phone lines (away games). (Photos courtesy of Rick Mayne)

Rick Mayne was able to keep tabs on Ironton Fighting Tiger football throughout the 1970's in several capacities. In 1971-72, he was an I.H.S. student and served as statistician for the football program. In the mid-70's, he was a volunteer announcer helping with delayed cable-television broadcasts of Tiger football games, in conjunction with the fledgling I.H.S.-TV program.

By the end of the decade, Mayne was working in radio at WIRO in Ironton. Initially, he was the in-studio manager of Ironton football game broadcasts on WIRO for the 1977 and 1978 seasons. He was subsequently given the opportunity by station owner, Ken Auble, to serve as the play- by-play radio announcer for Fighting Tiger sports— just in time for the unbelievable 1979 season!

“Rick is a great source of knowledge about I.H.S. sports,” said Tim Hodges in 2018. “He was there for a lot of the early things, and called games for WIRO in basketball and football in later years.”

Gene ‘Tink’ Williams is doing curls in the Ironton weight room. David Clay is in the background watching him. On the wall is the ‘big board’, titled Ironton Fitness, where top lifts were recorded.

“I had been looking at those tally boards since junior high,” said Steve Sutton in a 2019 interview. “I remember being amazed that somebody had done 70 push-ups in a minute, plus other important records like pull-ups and sit-ups. Once in high school, I wanted my name on the ‘big board’ in the weight room, since I spent so much time there. As a frosh, it seemed that Rodney Boykin's name was up there multiple times. Hitting the 300 mark in bench press was the magic number, like running a 4-minute mile! It was great motivation for a young weightlifter.”

“The ‘board’ became a significant part of my life in high school,” stated Brian Jenkins in a 2019 interview. “The goal was right in front of you. If you were fortunate to make the board, then you were first, second or third in your weight class. It was something I looked at every day when I was in the weight room.”

On Friday nights, the Ironton band boosters manned the concession stands at the stadium. Despite being at the game, most concession workers never saw the team play or the band perform. The volunteers raised funds to help offset the cost of band uniforms, equipment and travel.

Rick Mayne’s sister, Cheri, was a proud member of the Million Dollar Marching Band in 1979. “Our parents (Don and Dot Mayne), like the others, enjoyed being supportive of their childrens’ extracurricular activities at school, and being active in the community,” said Rick Mayne of the band boosters in a 2019 interview.

Mayne added, “It was a time for school spirit and pride to be high, given the success of the football program to that point, and that season under Coach Lutz. It was also, no doubt, a time of a rising sense that Tanks Stadium was ‘the place to be’ on home-game Friday nights. The boosters surely felt that in the demand for their concession wares; the large crowds and the rumble from the stands above and across the field as the 1979 Fighting Tigers success story grew.”

Hungry and thirsty fans were not the only customers served by the concession stands operated by the band boosters. Lorie Wyant, a member of the Million Dollar Marching Band in 1979, stated in 2019 that she recalled, “going to the concession stand in the third quarter— the only time we could leave the band shell.”

It was an era at Ironton where there were enough kids in town to have a section of Tanks Memorial Stadium reserved just for students to watch the game. Pictured here in 1980, the often vocal student section was at the end of the stadium closest to Central Christian Church. As enrollment continued to decline, the student section was disbanded to make room for more general admission sales.

Coach Bob Lutz

With his former assistant and friend, Mike Burcham, now the athletic director at Ironton, former Ironton head coach, Bob Bruney, brought his football team to Ironton in 1979. It gave the Tigers a chance to block and tackle players not on their team in preparation for a demanding 1979 schedule.

“The 1978 Tigers traveled to Martin’s Ferry for a scrimmage game,” said Tim Hodges n 2011. “It was an all-day affair. There was lunch before the game and dinner afterwards, then the long trip back home. Martin’s Ferry came to Ironton the following year.” The 1979 football season started with a visit to Ashland, Kentucky. The Ironton-Ashland game was a rivalry magnified by the proximity of the two high schools. Prior to the hiring of Bob Lutz, it was a game where Ashland had an advantage in the long history of the series. The games in the 1970s tended to be wars for bragging rights in the neighboring communities. “Ashland football coach, Herb Conley's job was allegedly on the line leading up to the 1970 Ashland-Ironton game, recalled Rick Mayne in 2017. “Perhaps inspired by this fact, the Tomcats nosed out Ironton 7-3 at Tanks Stadium. Rain had peppered the stadium turf all day. The game was played on a muddy field.

The 1971 Tigers, led by Hal Spears, Rick Boykin, Jimmy Payne, Bobby Smith and Mike Albrink, got down 13-0 early to the Tomcats. But inspired defensive play helped rally the Tigers, and they outscored Ashland 28-6 the rest of the way to win 28-19 in the regular season finale. Ironton finished 9-1, co-champions of the SEOAL (along with Athens), and completed what turned out to be Coach Bruney's final season as coach of the Fighting Tigers— although nobody seemed to know that at the time.

Beating Ashland at that point was very big. Ironton assistant coach, Bill Trent, had promised his father in Russell that if the Tigers won, Coach Trent would honk his horn loud and long on his way back to Ironton. I was in the equipment truck with Coach Trent when he drove specifically through Russell, and he did exactly that. You could see, even in the dark, how proud Coach Trent was to be able own up to his end of the bargain.

Ironton fans tore down one of the goal posts at Ashland, triggering a long and wild night of celebrating back in Ironton.

Ashland took a couple of years off from the rivalry, after playing Ironton annually since 1940. They came back on line in 1974, when they had the first of back-to-back strong teams that challenged for Kentucky state honors.

Ashland knocked off Coach Lutz's Tigers, back to back in 1974 and 1975. With their self-titled ‘JAWS’ defense dominating teams, they captured the at-large (Non-Louisville metro) Kentucky state title in 1975. The Tomcats defeated the Ken Fritz-led Tigers, 14-0, at Putnam Stadium in 1975, in what many Ashland fans regard as one of their greatest victories ever.

Ashland was very much into beating the team from the smaller town of Ironton any time they could. It was the only time in the Lutz era at Ironton that Ashland defeated the Tigers in consecutive seasons.

The series stopped in 1976 to 1977, then resumed in the banner 1978 season for Ironton, and marked the start of nine consecutive wins by the Tigers versus Ashland.”

The 1974 Tigers were the first squad coached by Bob Lutz to take on the Ashland Tomcats. The backfield featured Alfonso Johnson, a 1,000-yard rusher that season and SEOAL MVP.

Front Row (L-R) Bobby Williams, Ralph Long, Jeff Houston, Randy Ratliff, Bobby Thomas, Stark Hughes, Randy Doyle, John McGirr, Greg Houston, Larry Bill, Mark Fairchild

Row Two (L-R) Mark Ferguson, Rick Howard, Jeff Kriebel, Bobby Crockrel, Sam Wieteki, , Steve Collins, Joe Mason, Steve Vance, Ronald Vinson, Tyree Allen

Row Three (L-R) Vince McCreary, Phil Hieronimus, Ken Fritz, Jack Rowe, Eddie Lawless, Bill Hieronimus, Jim Taylor, Barry Holderby, Dan Scior

Top Row (L-R) John Whitehead, Jody Vass, Jim Colegrove, Rick Franz, Nick McMahon, Alfonso Johnson, Darryl Dalton, Paul McDaniels

No matter the year, the game always gave Ironton a chance to show how it stacked up against its larger neighbor. Ashland was a significantly bigger city with merely one public high school serving it. Ashland had a population of 27,064 (1980 U.S. census) compared to just 14,178 for Ironton.

Many Ironton students had fathers that worked across the Ohio River for massive companies, namely Armco, Ashland Oil and the railroad yards, with the fathers of the Tomcats. After working decades at each other’s side, the dads often knew each other’s kids like part of their own extended family. Work discussion often centered on high school football and how ‘their boy’ was doing this year. The annual game between Ironton and Ashland carried bragging rights at work, and nobody wanted to come back to the plant or yards after a one-sided loss.

The Ironton Tribune’s ‘Gridiron Goober’ offered his game prediction for the 1979 Ashland game.

This is how magnificent Putnam Stadium looked in 2001. The stadium seated almost 6,000 fans. The concrete stands to the right held the visiting fans. The original stadium, a W.P.A. project completed in 1937 for $6,500, was dedicated on Thanksgiving Day that same year. Located on Kansas Street, the concrete structure became ‘dust in the wind’ following the 2013 season. The all-concrete structure was demolished and replaced with metal bleachers and plastic chairback seats. (Photo by Jim Ridgeway)

“The visitor locker room in that place was horrible— pipes leaking, etc.,” recalled Tim Hodges in 2019. “I think we showered back at the Tank after the game.”

Over 5,000 fans filled historic Putnam Stadium to see the Tomcats host the Fighting Tigers. With the stands extremely close to the field, it was one of the nicest venues around for fans to watch high school football

The venue could prove inhospitable for visiting players. Tim Hodges remembered Putnam Stadium as being “loud due to the proximity of the stands.”

Ashland Paul Blazer Coach Mike Holtzapfel was no stranger to the visiting Tigers. “Mike and I are cousins,” said Joe Holtzapfel in 2017. “Mike graduated from Ironton St. Joe in 1965. He played in the North-South all-star game in Canton. St. Joe won the conference title his junior and senior years. He went on to play at Notre Dame and was a member of the 1966 national championship team.”

Pat Sheridan, on the opposing sideline as an Ironton High football assistant in 1979, coached Holtzapfel at Ironton St. Joe. Coach Sheridan watched Holtzapfel, a talented back (quarterback and running back) in high school, lead the Flyers to some of the greatest gridiron seasons in the small school’s history.

Holtzapfel, at age 29, was named head football coach on December 28, 1976 by Ashland Paul Blazer High School. Ironically, the social studies teacher was introduced at a news conference that took place at a hotel in his hometown of Ironton. Following two years as the Raceland head coach, he spent five years on Herb Conley’s staff at Ashland. Conley, head football coach at Paul Blazer for nine seasons, retired early from coaching and took an assistant principal position at the school.

“Notre Dame recruited me as a halfback, a slow halfback,” kidded the 6’1” former Ironton St. Joe star at his introduction as the new Ashland head football coach. “I weighed 195 when I first went to Notre Dame, but I kept getting bigger every year and grew out of being a back,” added Mike Holtzapfel. “I ended up lettering as a tight end as a senior, and I centered the ball on extra points and field goal tries”.

The early start of Kentucky football had allowed Ashland to complete two games in 1979 before Ironton played its first. Ashland was 0-2 on the young season. The Tomcats were held scoreless in the squad’s second outing.

Seeking more firepower, Holtzapfel elected to scrap the wishbone, a staple of the Ashland offense since 1970, for the Ironton game. Instead of the offense featured during the glory years of Coach Herb Conley, the new coach was going to showcase the power-I against the Fighting Tigers. Roy Sexton, a 6’1”, 175-pound senior, was the featured back in the newly implemented power-I. He entered the Ironton game with a sprained ankle that had him using crutches since practice on Wednesday.

The Ashland Independent had Ironton as a four-point favorite in the contest. The newspaper published a lengthy preview where Holtzapfel spoke about the Ironton series.

“I used to think it wasn’t that big a rivalry until we played them that night (last year) over there,” Holtzapfel said. “I found out differently.

You don’t hear that much about it anymore because of Russell, Boyd County and Greenup County, but every time we play Ironton we’ve had a packed house. So many of our kids’ dads work with their kids’ dads, and they remember the old rivalry.

It’s not what it used to be, but it’s still there. It’s still pretty big. They like to beat us, and I know I’d sure like to whip them.”

“We’ve lost two games to good teams, and we’re still working hard in practice,” proclaimed Holtzapfel. “I feel we’re improving and before this thing is over we will beat some people.”

Holtzapfel praised his opponent. “Ironton has the same type of team they’ve had the last seven or eight years. You get out the films of Ironton from 1974 or 1975 and they won’t look any different than they do now. They’ve got about half their offense and half their defense back from last year, and they were undefeated last year. They’ll be a good football team, especially as long as Bob Lutz is coach over there. This is his eighth year and the worst record they’ve had under him is something like 8-2.

They will line up in a full-house backfield with two tight ends and run the thing off tackle. They will run some traps and sweeps. That’s the same stuff they’ve done for eight years. On defense, they will sit there in a 5-2 and play you tough.”

“A win would be great for us,” added Holtzapfel. “That’s what builds attitudes and confidence. We’re getting better, but we need a win. When you win, you get a whole lot better.”

“We’re just going to have to play hard, hit people and get the football,” Holtzapfel replied when asked how a win over the Tigers could be secured. “They don’t do anything fancy. If you stop them, you whip them.”

(L) Mike Holtzapfel, a junior at Ironton St. Joe, holds his all-OVC football trophy. He was also all-OVC in baseball. (M) Mike Holtzapfel carries the football his junior year at St. Joe. (R) Pat Sheridan holds his 1963 Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year in football award. Pat also won the same award that school year in baseball. St. Joe won the league championship in football and baseball that school year. It was just the school’s second season in the conference.

“What can I say about Pat Sheridan,” said Rodney Boykin in 2018. “He was one of the best coaches on the (Ironton High School) staff— a staff that had as many star coaches as we had players. There's always that one coach in the background that all along is making significant contributions; Pat was that guy.”

Coach Holtzapfel and his staff were photographed at historic Putnam Stadium. (Image courtesy of Steve Sutton)

Along with many new faces on the line, Ironton entered the big game with a new starting quarterback “I really felt the same every game,” responded Brent Wilcoxon when asked in 2017 about the Ashland game. “I was never nervous or overly excited, although the rivalry was much more intense back then.”

Ironton routed the Tomcats in 1978. Playing at home, the 1979 Ashland team was out for revenge. (Image of roster courtesy of Steve Sutton)

1979 Ashland Tomcats (Image courtesy of Craig Thomas)

As a child, the author would occasionally get to hang with Tomcats such as Crank and Gothard during our fathers’ annual company outing at Camden Park. Kevin Gothard’s older brother, Mike, played football at Vanderbilt University. (Image courtesy of Steve Sutton)

Roy Sexton was a back the Tigers had to stop. (Image courtesy of Craig Thomas)

Drew Hall (88) would go on to become one of the most famous graduates of Ashland Paul Blazer High School. (Image courtesy of Steve Sutton)

Drew Hall attended Morehead State University where he was named the left-handed pitcher on the 1984 College All-American Baseball Team by the Sporting News. Hall was drafted in 1984 (third player overall, 7 picks ahead of Mark McGwire) by the Chicago Cubs and pitched for several years in Major League Baseball. A member of the 1984 U.S. Olympic baseball team, Hall, age 21 at the time, reportedly received an $119,000 signing bonus from the Cubs.

“He was a tall lefty,” said Brent Wilcoxon in 2018. “I batted left-handed and hated hitting against him because he was good, and the lefty-versus- lefty factor. With his long arms, it seemed like the ball was coming from first base— always felt handcuffed.”

A piece bearing the title to the J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy novel opened the halftime show. The book was a popular read in 1979. (Image courtesy of Steve Sutton)

Ironton received the opening kickoff and drove from the Ironton 27-yard line to the Ashland 3-yard line in eighteen plays. A short pass on the next play from Brent Wilcoxon to Joe Fletcher appeared to have the Tigers on the board, but the ball was placed just a few inches short of the goal line which gave the ball back to Ashland on downs. “I remember Fletcher being stopped at the goal line,” said Brent Wilcoxon in 2018. “I remember it being a really close call as to whether or not he actually scored.”

The Ironton defense took the field with the Tomcats having as bad a field position as possible. After two runs by Crank and another one by Sexton, Ashland had to punt. Ike Ramey’s 48-yard punt got Ashland out of a deep hole.

“There wasn’t anything else we could do that first series,” said Mike Holtzapfel in the Daily Independent. “We were just trying to get out far enough to punt.”

Early in the second quarter, the Tigers started a decisive drive from the Ironton 43-yard line. Behind the running of Royal, Lewis and Hodges, the Tigers moved the ball to the Ashland 24-yard line. On the eleventh play of the drive, Brent Wilcoxon found a wide open Tink Williams, running a post pattern, in the end zone on a 24-yard touchdown pass. The extra point kick by Fletcher was blocked by Scott Borders, but Ironton held a 6-0 advantage with 4:43 left in the first half.

“The pass to Tink was a T-56 pass,” recalled Brent Wilcoxon in 2018. “They bit on the run fake, and Tink got behind them.”

“It was a play-action and two-deep instead of three-deep, and we just happened to burn them,” said Lutz of the touchdown pass to Jim Walker, the Ironton Tribune reporter.

“It didn’t take long for Wilcoxon to adjust to his starting role at quarterback by throwing a TD pass to Tink (Williams) for our only score in the Ashland game,” said Hodges in a 2017 interview.

“I was the holder and that was our first game, so Fletcher and I were getting into sync,” said Steve Sutton in 2018. “I know we (Fletcher and I) weren’t happy that we did not add that point since it was a close game. Thankfully, it did not make a difference in the game.”

After dominating the first half, Ironton went to the locker room with great confidence. Ironton led in offensive plays 34 to 15. Ironton had a 10 to 2 advantage in first downs. Ironton had 134 total yards of offense and held Ashland to just 37 yards. Yet, a slim, six- point advantage on the scoreboard left the door open for a comeback by the Tomcats.

“They controlled the ball on us the whole first half and the score they got was a legitimate one,” said Coach Holtzapfel to the scribe with the Herald Dispatch.

The opening kickoff of the second half was returned by the Tomcats to the Ashland 23-yard line. In sixteen plays, with Sexton carrying the pigskin on thirteen of the plays, Ashland had the ball just a single yard from evening the game up. On a fourth-down play, the pitch went to Sexton who wanted to go around left end. The pitch was bobbled and Sexton was nailed at the 4-yard line by Hodges and Conwell ending the 17-play drive.

With their back to the wall, Coach Lutz called primarily on Hodges to help the Tigers move the ball. Ironton got all the way out to the 48-yard line before Ashland stopped the drive.

With neither team doing much on their next possessions, Tim Hodges booted the football into the end zone giving Ashland one final chance to score. With 2:04 on the clock, Ashland faced 80 yards of field defended by an Ironton defense that had turned away the Tomcats all evening.

Behind the arm of a sophomore quarterback and the feet of the team’s star running back, Ashland mounted a six-play drive that gave the Tomcats a first-and-goal at the Ironton 7-yard line with 27 seconds left. Crank started the drive by hitting Ramey on an 18-yard pass. He found Drew Hall on a five-yard pass on the second play of the drive. Kevin Williams ran for just four yards on the following play. Sexton ran the ball twenty-one yards to the Ironton 32-yard line. On the next play, Sexton ran for another seven yards. Scrambling for his life, Crank tossed to Donnie Keeton for eighteen more yards.

Crank nearly tied the game when he threw a pass to a diving Ramey in the right corner of the end zone. In tight coverage, the ball trickled off the fingertips of the receiver. The clock stopped with 14 ticks remaining on it.

Crank rolled out with a run-pass option in front of him. Out of timeouts, he had to get out of bounds if he elected to run. Fletcher, the talented senior end, was there to turn Crank back to the inside denying him any chance of reaching the sideline. Fletcher then stripped Crank of the football forcing the quarterback to fall on the ball with four seconds on the clock. The Tomcats struggled to regroup for another play, and the fans watched the remaining seconds tick off the clock to give the Tigers a 6 to 0 road victory.

Leaving Ashland with a win in the rivalry came with a price. Lorie Wyant was a sophomore member of the 1979 Million Dollar Marching Band that travelled to Ashland to support the Fighting Tigers. Wyant said in a 2019 interview that “at times, things were intense.”

“I will always remember that when the band would load up the busses to leave, we had to lower the windows just enough to hang our heavy, wool uniform jackets as protection and sit with our backs to the windows, as the busses would get pelted with rocks,” recalled Wyant in 2019. “That was pretty scary as a sophomore— (knowing) the Ashland students and fans were pretty angry after that 1979 game!” “Crank was athletic, and he got tackled while rolling out,” recalled Brent Wilcoxon in 2018. “He just turned up inside, and I caught hold of his arm,” said Joe Fletcher to the Ironton Tribune’s reporter on his strip. “I don’t know what happened after that. Everything just happened so fast.”

“We have strength at the corners, and that’s where they ran that play,” stated Bob Lutz to the reporter at the Herald Dispatch.

“I believe Crank would have scored,” said Tim Hodges in 2004. Hodges added in 2017, “Fletcher secured the win against Ashland by stripping the ball from Scott Crank when Ashland was inside our ten and time running out. That set the tone for the season. Had we lost that game, I don’t know what would have happened to us.”

As for the earlier defensive stop near the goal line on Sexton by Ironton, Lutz said to the Herald Dispatch, “We had our people going that way. I don’t think there was any way he could have gotten in even if he hadn’t fumbled the pitch.”

“Hell no, we weren’t lucky,” snapped Lutz to a question asked by a reporter at the Ashland Daily Independent regarding Ashland being less than five yards from a touchdown on two occasions. “We played good solid defense down there. Ashland played good football, and we played good football. There was no luck involved in this game.”

“We played good defense when we had to,” said Lutz to Jim Walker at the Ironton Tribune, “especially with our number one defender out.” Joe Hacker left the field early in the second half with an injury and never returned. “Royal was in and out, and didn’t play in the second half,” added Lutz. “We had some young kids in there in the secondary, and a young defender has a tendency to lay off instead of coming up.”

Lutz added, “We’ve seen Ashland in both their other games. They’ve made a lot of mistakes which hurt them, but they weren’t making mistakes tonight. They didn’t fumble the ball away tonight like they have been doing. Going into the game, we knew they had one good back, so we knew we had to cover Sexton.”

This was the headline from the Ironton Tribune following the Tigers opening win.

These are the game statistics as compiles by the Ashland Daily Independent. Drew Hall, a future M.L.B. pitcher, caught one pass for five yards. (Image courtesy of Tim Hodges)

Coach Holtzapfel praised his senior back, one of only eight seniors on the roster, who rushed for 94 yards on 23 carries on his bad ankle against the Tigers. “It was a courageous effort,” said Holtzapfel to the reporter with the Ashland Daily Independent.

Steve Sutton, a junior, was a versatile player for the Tigers. (Image courtesy of Tim Hodges)

Gene “Tink” Williams hauls in a touchdown pass after getting behind the defense of Kevin Gothard. It was the game’s only score.

(Image courtesy of Craig Thomas)

Ironton’s Gabriel Lewis reaches out to tackle Scott Crank before he could turn the corner.

“This is a tough loss to take, but we can’t sit around and worry about it now,” the disappointed Ashland coach told the reporter at the Ashland Independent. “We came back in the second half, but couldn’t get it in,” stated the Ashland head coach in the Herald Dispatch. The final drive by Ashland was epic. “We started on our 20 with just a little over two minutes left and went to the 5 or something,” said the frustrated Ashland head coach to Rick Nolte, a Herald Dispatch reporter. “You’re not going to see a better drive than that on Sunday. We played well enough to win.”

“I’m disappointed because I felt like we could have won the football game,” said Holtzapfel to the Ashland Independent. “I really just don’t know what to say right now. Ironton played well, and it’s a well-coached team. But our kids gave a great effort, and we could have won. We played well; they played well. I’m sure Ironton feels they should have won, and I feel we should have won.”

“We probably should have used more play-action passes,” said the victorious Ironton coach to the Ashland Independent.

“We wanted to play close to the vest,” said Coach Lutz to the Herald Dispatch. “That’s why we stuck to the ground. It was our first game and their third. I don’t care if they had lost two games, you can’t spot a team two regular season games.”

Lutz added to the Ashland Independent reporter, “We have an inexperienced offense, and Royal had an injured ankle. If we had treated this like a scrimmage, we would have opened up more.”

In his first varsity start, Brent Wilcoxon hit all of his passes. His 24-yard pass to Williams produced the game’s only score.

“Outside of his one fumble, he did an excellent job for his first varsity game,” noted Lutz of his quarterback to Jim Walker of the Ironton Tribune after the game. “He didn’t fumble a snap or miss a handoff, and he hit every pass. I’m well pleased.”

“The game pretty much set the tone for the season— mostly the untested guys buying into the (season) game plan, complementing the more talented and experienced players,” said Rick Mayne in 2018 when recounting the Ashland contest.

Special thanks to Coach Lynn Schrickel, Coach Mark Lewis, Ken Fritz, Rodney Boykin, Tim Hodges, Brent Wilcoxon, Steve Sutton, Mark Dickess, Jimmy Morris, Craig Thomas, Joe Fletcher, Gabriel Lewis, Brian Jenkins, Dave Berry, Rick Howard, Rick Mayne, Dan Sutter, Brian Dodds, Lorie Wyant, Tim Hickman, Tim Thomas and Joe Holtzapfel for their assistance with this article. Interviews with the above participants were conducted in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Article is an educational tribute to a hometown legend, the 1979 Ironton High School football team. Written and researched by Jim Ridgeway. Research conducted at Briggs Library, Boyd County Public Library, Carnegie Public Library and other sources. The efforts of the staff at these libraries were greatly appreciated. Another special thank you goes to the staff at the Lillian E. Jones Museum in Jackson, Ohio for their assistance. This story is dedicated to three 1979 team members- Joe Hacker, Kraig Koerper and John Moritz- who left us too soon, and my freshman football teammate and friend, Darrell Harris, who died only a few months before the 1979 season started.

This is the end of part one. Please click on the next pdf to read part two of the amazing story about the 1979 Ironton High football team.

About the Author

Mr. Ridgeway graduated from Ironton High School in 1981. An outstanding business student in college, his real passion was always history. In his spare time, he enjoys researching the history of his hometown and the development of professional football in Ironton, Portsmouth and Ashland. A member of the Portsmouth Spartans Historical Society, he appeared in Before the League, a TV documentary on early professional football that aired nationally in 2015.

Tanks Memorial Stadium (Photo by Jim Ridgeway)

Copyright Jim Ridgeway 2019.

All rights reserved. Republication, reproduction and/or modification expressly prohibited without prior written consent of author.