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Athletic Staff

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Col. Michael

Quinlan,

Associate Athletic Director

OLUmmlM

liUUdihfi Col. Ed Cliatt, Asst. Athletic Director for

I

Col.

234

.

John Clune,

�w

tain

Intercollegiates

\

Athletic Director

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Col. Marcos Kinevan, Officer

Lt. Col. Micki

Hogue,

Representative

Assistant Athletic Director for

Intercollegiate Activities

Col. Harvey Schiller,

Jim Bowman,

Faculty Representative

Asst. Athletic Director for Candidate

Counseling

STAFF

SPORTS

235

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1

mm

rT.M>*'-}TS ABOVE: Mike

Kirby

runs

interference for Marty's advance.

LEFT: Even though Jeff Kubiak did not do that much CSU in bad field position.

236

In the first game of the season the Falcons traveled up to Colorado St. Univ. to give the Rams a bit of sweet revenge from last year. The sun drenched crowd got its share of ex

season

citement

lot of

as

the

Falcons gave

the

Rams a little more than they could handle and came away with an im

pressive victory, In

the

34-13.

first

home game of the the Falcons also impressed a

people

as

they handed

Tech

a

punting, when he did, he put

in front of a audience. The

stunning defeat

regionally televised

win gave the Falcons a strong 2-0 on the long season that was

stand

ahead.

Texas

SPORTS

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ABOVE: The line up.

ABOVE: Another TD LEFT: The Falcons Texas Tech's offense

wrapped up during most

of the game.

237

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Larr\' Nicklas

gives the

"Bear Claw'

sign

as

V

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the defense flattens Navy's

Larry

quarterback.

On the way to the Commander in Chief's trophy this year, the Falcons handed Navy a 44-17 defeat on their home turf. In front of a record crowd of 34,257, Air Force befuddled Navy with a smorgasbord of fiexbone

finesse.

Marty Louthan launched the torpedo that sunk the Navy's armada.

Marty scored on runs of 2,1,7, 22 and 5 yards as the Falcons won for the

once

first time at Navy-Marine Stadium.

Marty's five touchdowns were also

the most

ever

scored in

a

single

game

against Navy, breaking the old record of four set in 1963 by Penn State.

Louthan's five scores equaled the Air Force record held by Ernie lenning in 1969.

Marty carried 19 times for 91 yards and hit eight of 15 passes for 130 more. Halfback Mike Brown had 136

again

tries to corral

on

just

10

Navy's quarterback.

carries,

burst,

as

yards,

340 of that

As

including

a

74-yard

Air Force amassed 510 total

on the ground.

Navy head coach Gary Tran-

quill put it, "We didn't make the big slap offensively and we didn't slow them down. That's what you call

an

old-fashioned kicking." The Air Force win evened the series with

Navy

at

eight victories a piece.

SPORTS

239

At a j^lance it looks like; a typical Falcon victory with the final outcome 37-25 over UTEP, but a deeper look will show it was

far from typical.

With the Falcons ahead 24-1 L oiiarterback Martv Louthan suffered a snoulder bruise on the end of a 20 yard run that put him out of the �ame late in the third period. Louthan left with four of seven passes for 118 yards and nine runs for 61

yards.

Brian

Knorr, the

sophomore backup

in. He shared the back up role witn Bart Weiss. Knorr had carried one time in the season before coming in to relieve Louthan in the fourth

quarterback, stenped

quarter.

He rushed four times for 22 yards and collected two touchdowns in the process.

This rescued the Falcons from the clutches of a UTEP rally.

The Miners had closed within six points with 14:01 left in the game before Knorr ran in two unanswered touchdowns from 10 and 3 yards out.

Defensive end Charlie Heath was the defensive man of the game for the Falcons when he jarred the ball loose from fullback Vic Staglaino at the UTEP 10 and fell on the ball.

"That was the play of the game and ac won the game for us," said head tually coacn Ken Hatfield.

Marty

runs

right over defender.

~\

A.

|. Scott hits the

arm

of Utah's

quarterback

before he

can

get the pass

Marty Louthan breaks

into the open field.

Air Force, worn and weary from trading touchdowns with Utah, finally outran the clock and the Utes, 33-31. In the end the Falcon's one-two punch of Mart\' Louthan and John Kershner outdid Utah.

Louthan scored three touchdowns and rushed for 155 yards tying his career high.

Kershner bulled for 113 yards on 20 carries and vaulted past Brian Bream at the all-time career rushes at the Academy with 2,321

yards.

But it took those heroics and more for the Falcons to hold off Utah. The Falcons raced to a 17-0 lead, tied 21-21 at half-time and finally regained the lead at 26-21 in the third period. And while the Falcons never trailed again, they never could relax as the teams played give and take the rest of the way.

After Mike Brown's 22 yard touchdown run made it 33-24 with 11:52 left, things looked safe for the Falcons. But the Utes came back on a 24-yard scoring strike and it was 33-31 with 1:14 left. Falcon safety Greg Zolinger, though, pounced on the ensuing on-side kick and from there the Falcons ended matters by running out the clock.

Again the Falcon defense stretched but never broke.

"We may give up a lot but when it gets down there close to the end zone, we get tough. And we just know one of us will make the big play," said senior corner back Chuck Peterson.

Chuck made his share. In the third quarter with the Falcons clinging to a 26-24 lead, he nailed Utah's tailback with a vicious hit, forcing a fumble that A. J. Scott recovered at the Falcon 5. Then, with eight minutes left in the game and Utah threaten ing to take command, Peterson made a goal-line interception to thwart a Ute drive.

Tom

Stansbury makes the tackle.

241

Jody Simmons breaks into the open field for more yardage.

|ohn Kershner battles forward for a couple extra yards.

Marty Louthan falls just touchdown.

a

few feet short from

242

/

/"

an

eventually Falcon

�N

Mike Brown does his best

to outrun

the Irish defense

on a

kickoff return that ended up in

a

Falcon

score.

stunned full house crowd of 59,075 spec pulled off a victory' over Notre Dame with the last play of the game. Defensive tackle Chris Funk swatted aside a 32 yard field goal chip shot by the fighting Irish placekicker to ensure the Falcon upset. It was the second blocked kick of the game for Chris and ranked highest among a game full of eventful plays.

Marty fired a 48 yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Mike Kirby with 10:19 to play to pull within six points of the Irish.

The Falcons took the lead at 23-22 with 1:35 left in the game when fullback John Kershner capped a 74 yard drive with a 1 yard plunge, his second score of the day.

After Sean Pavlich shanked the extra point, the game was tied at 22-22. But a Notre Dame penalty gave the Falcons another chance.

This time Pavlich drilled it and the Falcons led 23-22.

Notre Dame promptly came back behind their strong passing attack. In six plays the Irish were at the Falcon 14 with four seconds left. Some of the Notre Dame players already were hugging each other in anticipation of a last second win when Funk reached up to shake down their thunder with one hand.

"It felt just great when that ball hit my hand," Funk said. "My first thought was 'we win!' My next thought was that it was the first time I ever wanted to cry in a football game."

"I can't explain it," said John Kershner. "I've never had a feeling like this. We'd seen comebacks happen too much to give up. This team this is definitely the big gest. Nothing else matches this. I just don't know what to Before

a

tators, the Falcons

.

say. Someone

was

watching

.

.

over

us."

Tackle John Weigand and guard Scott Wachenheim, both seniors, were pictures of quiet satisfaction in the noisy Falcon locker room. No wild jumping around and screaming here, just the sneaky grins of players who knew they'd pulled off something special.

FOOTBALL SPORTS

243

For the second consecutive year the Falcon laid sole claim to the Commander in Chief's trophy. In an impressive fashion in front of 47,032 spectators, fourth largest in Falcon Stadium history, the Falcons' offense rolled up a recordsetting 469 yards on the ground and came away with a resounding 41-20 win over

Army.

Quarterback Marty Louthan dazzled Black Knights with his wishbone wizardy. He rushed for 142 yards on 20 carries, including touchdown runs of 4, 38, and 2 yards. Halfback lody Simmons added 133 on 17 carries and fullback John Kershner picked up 79 more.

Air Force's 469 rushing yards broke the previous record of 464 set against Col orado State in 1965. Along the way, the Falcons set a record for rushing first the

downs with 28.

Yet, it wasn't until late in the third quarter that Air Force could savor its vic tory. Until then the Army traded blows with the highly favored Falcons. The Falcons led 21-17 at halftime but Army opened the second half with a 47-yard field goal and it was 21-20. Then Louthan pushed the Falcons along with a 38-yard touchdown run to make it 28-20.

After Louthan's 38 yard scamper things went sour for the Knights.

Louthan added another two yard touchdown run early in the final period to make it 35-20. Then defensive tackle John Ziegler intercepted an Army pass and lumbered 50 yards for another score.

Von Cameroon looks up field for

John Kershner plows through Army's defensive line.

an

opening.

John Ziegler runs an interception

in for

a

touchdown.

244

^

/

ii nullV

trophy, the highest award given to the interservice champion for football in a season, for the second time in a row belonged to the Air Force Academy Falcons. Never before 1982 had this prestigious award been given to the Air Force Academy. On the way to The Commander-in-Chief's

(

�l

winning the trophy this year, the Falcons defeated both Navy (for the first time on Navy's home fieldj and Army. If the Falcons keep their winning ways it looks like the Com mander in Chiefs' trophy will be around the Academy for a

long time

to

come.

FOOTBALL SPORTS

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245

B

Even

though the weather did

not

exactly cooperate, the Falcons still were not to be stopped.

ABOVE: Marty Louthan prepares to give John Kershner the ball.

LEFT: Marty finds yardage through the Ole Miss defense.

_^

When it rains it Pours In the second post season action of major importance in as many years the Falcons look il to ihe University of

Mississippi.

A crowd of 41,274 braved monsoon like conditions and watched as the Kilh-ranked Falcons, the country's

edged the scrappy Rebels. 9-3, behind Sean Pavlich's three field goals.

team,

whipsaved boots of 44, 39. and 27 yards through the uprights, while Ole Miss could manage only a single 46 yard field goal.

Sean

The win raised the Falcons' season mark to 10-2, best in the Academy's history and closed the books on a two

odyssey that brought the Falcons national respect.

"It just couldn't have ended any bet ter for us," said cornerback Chuck Petersen, who emerged as a solid player in his senior season. "Sure, we dreamed about a game like this. We were ready for it."

For senior linebacker Tom Stanbury, a starter for almost all of his last three

season

sweet. He

b(;lping Buford

finale tasted especially spent much of Saturday night

the

seasons,

to

hold down senior tailback the Rebels' best

McGee,

weapon.

But like all the

others, Stanbury

suc

ceeded in never allowing Ole Miss to break the one long play it needed to grasp control of the game.

"We weren't about to let this one slip away," said Stanbury. "Everyone did their jobs and stuck together. We had always stuck together. We had always talked about having lo win one for the offense. Of course, we always wanted the offense to do well. But it's nice to be able to pay them back a little bit for all they've done the last two years."

Senior defensive end Charlie Heath, who started in every Air Force game of his four-year career, admitted feeling exactly the same way. Heath also said that during the fourth quarter, when Ole Miss was battling furiously to make a comeback, the defense had a few "meetings" in the huddles.

"Whenever there was a TV timeout, would just look at each other and talk about how we had come such a long way to get this far," said Heath.

"We weren't about to let it slip away from us."

Offensively Marty Louthan led Air Force with 67 yards on 25 carries and hit six of seven passes for 71 yards.

Mike Brown finished with 91 yards on 12 carries and John Kershner carried 15 limes for 58 yards. As it was, the Falcon offense did its job everywhere but on the scoreboard.

Against a gambling Ole Miss defense that severely hampered Falcon's triple option, the offense of the Falcons was still able to amass 277 yards rushing and 348 yards overall. Most important ly, though, the Falcons controlled the ball for 37 minutes and 13 seconds to a whop only 22:47 for Mississippi ping 15 minute advantage. All in all, it turned out to be a glorious night for coach Ken Hatfield and 23 seniors who finished their Falcon football career. we

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Marty prepares to pass despite the weather.

ABOVE: Mark Melcher gets the once over to get the mud out of his eye.

LEFT:

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iffi Paul Castanias, Carlos Mateos, Jody Simmons, Greg Pshsniak, Kelly Pittman, Randy Jones, Greg Zolninger, Dwan Wilson, Chuck Petersen, Jan Tavrytsky, Joe Arata and Mike Brown. SECOND ROW: Bart Weiss, Mike Chandler, Shawn Smith, Vic Bortka, Matt Rathsack, Pat Malackowski, Derek Brown, Rod Vernon, Tom Rotello,

FIRST ROW:

Kirby, John Kershner, Brian Knorr and Tom Coleman. THIRD Jeff Huff, Carl Dieudonne, Bob Avila, Terry Maki, Ken Carpenter, Marty Louthan, Gerry Mason, Kevin Fleming, Kraig Evenson, Scott Thomas, Steve Sigler, Ted Sundquist and Tom Stanbury. FOURTH ROW: Levi Cordova. Tom Ruby, Dan Behne, Charlie Heath, John Teague, Tim DeRuyter, Dave Sutton, A. J. Scott, Jerry Rose, Larry Nicklas, Steve Kelly, Scott Wachenheim, John Weigand, Von Cameron and Tom Huggins.

FIFTH ROW: Charles Streeter, Rick Branke, Roger Teague, George Mike

ROW:

The coaching staff at the Air Force academy produced another out standing team for the second year in a row. Even though coach Ken Hat field is moving down to Arkansas to coach the Razorbacks, another fine staff is filling the void with Fisher

DeBerry at the helm. Fisher became the fifth head coach in Falcon foot ball

history and

as

Col.

John Clune

put it, "Fisher's knowledge of the

players and the idiosyncrasies of ser academy football will provide

vice

the necessary continuity which is so important to any established

program."

248

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Manley, Joe Jose, John Ziegler, Hugh Brennan, Steve Flewelling, Jason Rouse, Steve Rafferty, Chris Funk, Mark Melcher, Fred Buttrell, Don Oberdieck, Sean Pavlich. SIXTH ROW: Carl Russ (assistant coach). Gor don Peters (manager), Karen Krukonis (manager), Joe Smith (trainer), Dick Ellis (assistant coach), Sammy Steinmark (assistant coach). Rick Brown (assistant coach), Dick Enga (assistant coach), Larry Beckman (assistant coach), Wally Ake (assistant coach). Ken Hatfield (head coach), Roger Hinshaw (assistant coach). Bob Trott (assistant coach), Fred Goldsmith (assistant head coach), Fisher DeBerry (assistant coach), Jim Conboy (head trainer). Jack Braley (strength and conditioning coach), Andy White (cadet manager), George Estep (cadet manager), Rick LeClaire (cadet manager), James Bailey (equipment manager), Larry Brinson (assistant coach) and Jack CulHton (head equipment manager).