KFDM COOP Posted September 27, 2007 Report Posted September 27, 2007 Nederland’s ‘57 state champs are treasure chest of memoriesNeal Morgan column for Thursday, September 27The Port Arthur News When I began my teaching/coaching career at Nederland High School in 1956 — recently graduated from Stephen F. Austin State — I was 22-years old. Which made me some four years older than the NHL seniors. It seemed like a very large age difference at the time, but when I see those football players now — as I often do — I feel we are the same age. It’s just another sign of growing old, of so many things being hard to remember.But I’ll hardly forget going to the state final football game in ‘56 and winning the Texas state championship in ‘57. To have that kind of success coaching football in Texas your first two years out of college is an experience few ever have.It’s extraordinary, but there are other things I experienced the that same era which were just as unusual.Two of my Nederland High football teammates in 1950, Charles Thomas and Joe Sibley had the very same experience. Both were coaching right there in ‘56 when it all happened. But there’s still more remarkable things which happened to the three of us, unbelievably serendipitous things.Events that would change the direction of one’s life are easily remembered, of course.Charles Thomas, Joe Sibley and I were present the first time Bum Phillips walked into the Nederland High football dressing room. It was a moment that instantly altered the future for all three of us, and Nederland, Texas, though we didn’t know it at the time.It was 1950, and I was 16.“dang,†Charles Thomas whispered to me when Bum walked in, “did you see that? When he walked through that door, somethin’ walked ahead of him.â€But, you understand, we weren’t into auras back then.Coach Phillips’ arrival —history will show — not only changed our future, it change the future of Nederland, Texas. The number of young men who went to college because of Nederland football isn’t over yet. And it is my carefully considered opinion that most of it dates back to 1950 when Bum first walked into that field house.When Bum became the head coach, Emmett McKenzie was his assistant. Bum was the head coach in ‘56, when we went to the final game and lost 3-0. And McKenzie was the head coach when we won it all in ‘57.Legacies are sometimes hard to grasp and harder to explain, but Nederland’s at the that time and since, is because of a community that cares about its schools, and because of Bum Phillips. Dr. Emmett McKenzie is easily in the top two or three most intelligent people I’ve ever known. His integrity was impeccable, his honesty unquestioned, and his ability to grasp football’s intricacies and to motivate players conclusive. His being there was a gift to us all.Football is fun. Winning is fun. And that ‘57 tam went 14-0, won the state championship and will enjoy being honored - rightfully so — Friday night at Nederland’s homecoming game.
Guest Nederland Bulldogs Posted September 27, 2007 Report Posted September 27, 2007 Can't wait to see this event.
KFDM COOP Posted September 27, 2007 Author Report Posted September 27, 2007 Nederland to celebrate 1957 championship NEDERLAND - As surprising as it may seem today, when Bum Phillips departed as Nederland's football coach after a highly-successful 1956 season, there was no sinking feeling as if the ship had been suddenly left rudderless."I know Coach Phillips went on to bigger and better things, but the way we looked at it back then, what could be bigger and better than Nederland High School?" asked Everett "Tootie" Litchfield Wednesday morning as he sat around the breakfast nook in the kitchen of his Nederland home with a few old high school cronies and a couple of the former Nederland coaches from the 1950s.Litchfield, now 68 and retired from the construction business, played outside linebacker for Phillips' Bulldogs, who ended their 13-1 season in 1956 with a 3-0 loss to Garland in the Class 3A championship game.With Emmett McKenzie as Phillips' successor in 1957, Litchfield and his teammates did, indeed, achieve bigger and better things. They swept to the state championship in awesome fashion, outscoring their 14 opponents by a 431-54 margin (average of 30.8-3.9 per game).With every surviving member of the team committed to being in attendance along with some of their former coaches, the 1957 Bulldogs will be honored during halftime of Friday night's homecoming game against Vidor.Robert Richey, who played offensive guard and inside linebacker in 1957, came from Salt Lake City where he recently retired from the National Weather Service and participated in Wednesday's lively yarn-swapping session along with other teammates Mike Johnson (halfback/cornerback) and Billy Perkins (backup quarterback) and former assistant coaches Neal Morgan and Joe Sibley.While many of the former Bulldogs still live in Southeast Texas, others are coming from as far away as California, Montana, Nevada and Arkansas to attend the first truly-organized reunion of the team."Our goal was to make 1957 a continuation of the 1956 season," said Litchfield. "Everyone was eager to get started, and we thought we were bullet proof. That's pretty much the way we performed throughout the season."The Bulldogs capped their championship run with a 20-7 victory over Sweetwater on the night of Dec. 21, before a packed house in Bulldog Stadium."Coach McKenzie had a great staff that year," said Litchfield. "We think a lot more of those guys now than we did when they were coaching us. They had us prepared to the point where every time we went onto the field, we didn't think there was any way we could lose."I remember how proud we were to get the game ball from the Sweetwater game into our possession. We still have it today, and we're going to get every player from the team to sign it Friday night."While the Bulldogs pitched seven shutouts during that season, they didn't exactly go untested. They held off Tyler 6-0 in their second game and Lake Charles 13-6 in their fifth.The Bulldogs' sternest challenge, however, came in the championship game. Nederland led 6-0 at halftime, but Sweetwater went up 7-6 midway in the third quarter.The score remained 7-6 until midway in the fourth quarter when the turning point came. Sibley, who coached the offensive linemen, remembered it thusly:"Sweetwater was lining up to punt, and if they (the Mustangs) got off a good one, we probably would've had about 80 yards to go to score. They had us scouted well, and they knew Herbie (Adkins) had blocked two punts in our semifinal win over San Antonio Edison the week before."They used what we used to call an elephant punt formation. They put their three biggest guys back to protect the punter. Herbie came charging up the middle and jumped up to try and block it, but all three of those guys took him out."If their punter had just kicked it straight up the middle, he would've gotten it off, but he turned a little bit to his right. That left it open for Street (James) to come from the left side and block it."The Bulldogs capitalized on the blocked punt by scoring on a 2-yard plunge by fullback Gary Thacker, and they added an insurance touchdown on a 1-yard sneak by quarterback Roger Rienstra in the final minute."When Coach Phillips got to Nederland (in 1953), he organized a system that was based on teaching the same offensive and defensive schemes from the junior high level through the sub-varsity teams and on to the varsity," said Litchfield. "We had a team that had been knocking at the door for four years but had never quite gotten through the threshold."Well, we got through the threshold in 1957, and we've been bragging about it ever since. We believe in what Coach Neumann (current Bulldog coach Larry) and his staff are doing now, and they've had some good teams that have knocked on some doors."They have another good team this year, and we're hoping they'll go all of the way through the threshold. Then, 50 years from now, those guys will be still celebrating a championship, just like we are."NEDERLAND'S 1957 TITLE RUN25 Orange 66 Tyler 025 South Park 714 Baton Rouge Istrouma 013 Lake Charles 641 Beaumont High 037 French 040 Port Neches 1442 Vidor 039 Silsbee 049 El Campo 741 Brenham 739 San Antonio Edison 020 Sweetwater 7
KFDM COOP Posted September 27, 2007 Author Report Posted September 27, 2007 Here's the Tuesday Sportscast video from Channel 6..Shows shot of State Championship Program from 57. Click on Sports on the right then Wednesday sportscast to see.http://www.kfdm.com/video/
WOS87 Posted September 27, 2007 Report Posted September 27, 2007 Original Press around the state covering the Bulldog's playoff runs in 1956 and 19571956 This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up 1957 This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up Interesting fact: The 1957 4A and 3A State Championship games were played on the same day less than 7 miles apart, right in Southeast Texas. Nederland faced Sweetwater at Nederland and Port Arthur Jefferson played Highland Park in the 4A finals at Port Arthur.
Recommended Posts