Nationally-Ranked!

Photo courtesy of John Russell, Vanderbilt University

For the first time in 24 seasons (1984), the Vanderbilt University football team is nationally ranked, coming in at Number 21 in the Associated Press poll and Number 25 in the USA TODAY balloting.

While the team's 4-0 start continues to draw national interest, Commodore fans likely remain a bit leery, given the Dores' past history, and with the meat of the SEC schedule just now coming up, beginning with the game against Auburn here in Nashville on October 4.

The off-week coming up for Saturday, September 27 gives the team a much-needed opportunity to heal up from several injuries and for fans to get pumped up for the rest of the season.

It also gives us a chance here at the Centennial Class blog to remember some of the highs and lows of our football experience while we were on campus. Let's start with our freshman year:

GREAT GAMES & INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES--1969

1. Vanderbilt 14-Alabama 10: We beat Bear Bryant for what I think is the only time during his career at Bama. Quaterbacks Watson Brown and "West End" Denny Painter are named National Offensive Players of the Week. Still the sweetest game of all.

2. Vanderbilt 42-UK 6: Watson Brown takes back a punt return 62 yards for a TD. Before injuries took their toll, Watson Brown was destined to be one of the greatest players ever in VU football history (and maybe in VU baseball history too before injuries intervened).

3. Vanderbilt 63-Davidson 8: The competition wasn't much, but this contest still holds the Vanderbilt single game record for most first downs in a game (40) and most first downs rushing (27). Watson Brown rolled for 115 yards, while halfback Doug Mathews gained 158 yards and returned a punt 89 yards for a touchdown. The defense stepped up too, allowing Davidson just 16 rushes in the game, which is still a school record almost 40 years later.

4.Vanderbilt 26-Tulane 23: Christie Hauck, later of Christie's Cookies fame, returns a fumble(it had to be caught in the air in those days) 70 yards for a touchdown. Senior Doug Mathews, converted to running back after spending all of his earlier VU career at defensive back, rushes for 214 yards against the Green Wave. Mathews, a former Vandy and UT assistant coach, is now a prominent radio sports talk host in Nashville and a big UT supporter.

5.A few other miscellaneous records were set that year:

A. Doug Mathews led the SEC in rushing in 1969 with 849 yards, still the third highest total ever by a senior running back at VU.

B. Watson Brown set a school record that still stands for highest pass completion percentage for a season at 62.2% (69 of 111 passes for 896 yards).

6. Two well-remembered Vanderbilt players completed their careers in 1969. Bob Asher, an consensus first-team, All-American and All-SEC offensive tackle, played in the 1970 Senior Bowl and was taken in the second round of the NFL draft by the Dallas Cowboys where he played during the 1970 season. Asher also played for the Chicago Bears in 1972.

No other Vanderbilt player on that 1969 team earned any post-season honors, believe it or not. Nevertheless, two players, defensive end Pat Toomay and defensive back Neil Smith were invited to play in the Blue-Gray Classic. Toomay was also drafted by the Dallas Cowboys where he began a decade-long career in the NFL, also playing for the Buffalo Bills, the Tampa Bay Bucs and the Oakland Raiders. He wrote a best-selling book on life with the Cowboys and playing in the NFL called THE CRUNCH.

7. This VU squad had two members on All-SEC academic team, Dave Strong, wingback and Noel Stahl, a defensive end.


THE CHALLENGES

1. Given all the positives above, it may be a little hard to believe this 1969 VU team finished only 4-6. But it may be easier to understand if you look at some other still standing school records set that season: Most kickoff returns in season by an individual, Jeff Peeples, 33 returns for 545 yards and a 19.9 yard average. And most kickoff returns in a game 8 by Doug Mathews against Florida(a record that has been matched unfortunately a few times since).

2. It was likely the trio of early season losses to Michigan, Army and North Carolina put this team in a hole it couldn't quite dig out of the rest of the season, despite the historic upset of Alabama and some of the other impressive achievements of this group. Big losses (by double digits or more) to Georgia, Florida and Tennessee didn't help either.

More in our next posting when we look back at the achievements and challenges of Vanderbilt football during the other years (1970-1972)we were students on campus. If you have any thoughts or memories to share about Vanderbilt football, please leave them below.

Go Vandy! Beat Auburn! And don't forget the Duke game for Homecoming and our Reunion Weekend October 24-25!

Breaking Through?

Photo courtesy of John Russell, Vanderbilt University

For the only the fourth time in our lifetime (roughly the last 58 years), a Vanderbilt football team has started its season 4-0(1950, 1984, 2005, 2008). But for a program that has not enjoyed a winning record since 1982, we all know nobody should be counting bowl bids just yet.

However, this group of Commodores with the way they bounce back from gridiron misfortune and how they seem to get stronger and play better in the second half of their games, there does seems to be a justifiable reason for optimism (and enough potentially winnable games left on the schedule to achieve that goal). :)

For example, there was the play of safety Ryan Hamilton in Vanderbilt's latest victory (23-17) over Ole Miss. The junior may have turned in one of the greatest individual defensive performances in Vanderbilt history, picking off a school record-tying three interceptions(one of which he returned for 79 yards for a touchdown, another he returned 24 yards to set up an important field down, and the final one he garnered to end the game).

And that's not all, Hamilton also made several key defensive stops, including one tackle to cap a goal line stand inside the one-yard line in the second half.

So maybe for the first time since Reunion has been moved to coincide with Homecoming, it's possible the football game (versus Duke on Saturday, October 25) could be one of the major draws and attractions of the weekend. Duke is also one of those winnable games toward becoming bowl-eligible (6 wins) and towards at least having a non-losing, if not a winning season, for the first time since my youngster daughter was three months old.



Looking back on Vanderbilt football during our time on campus (the 1969-1972 seasons), I am struck not by the losing records we had all four years, but the inconsistency and frequent frustration of that period. I think you can see it in the photo above of Chancellor Heard gamely holding on, while the paying customers depart early from another losing game at Dudley Field.

There was great optimism about football when we came to school. New coach Bill Pace had posted a winning season (5-4-1) in 1968. But 1969 began with three straight losses before we shocked the football world and Coach Bear Bryant, by beating his nationally-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide 14-10, before a stunned-but-very-happy Parents Weekend crowd here in Nashville.

However, the momentum from that historic moment in our football history could not be sustained, as the Dores won just three more games the rest of the year to finish 4-6.

1970 again brought great expectations and things got off to a great start as Vanderbilt routed UTC and The Citadel in its first two games. But then came a trip to Memphis to play Mississippi State in the Liberty Bowl, which resulted in disappointing 20-6 setback. That began a six-game losing streak, dooming the team to another 4 win season.

The 1971 season began ominously with a narrow 20-19 win over UTC and a 0-0 tie with Lousville, a game that still holds single-game school records for offensive futility by both teams. But then came a 49-19 rout of Mississippi State in Starkville, and hopes soared again, only to be crushed by Bear Bryant and his Tide with a 42-0 romp over Vandy here in Nashville. The rest of the season had only the highlights of a win in New Orleans over Tulane and a 10-7 victory over Tampa. It all added up to another 4-6-1 finish.

Senior year, 1972, there was a feeling, even before the season began, that Coach Pace was on thin ice to keep his job. Sure enough, things got bad early with all-star running back Jamie O'Rourke blowing out both his knees and missing the season. When the team struggled home with just a 3-8 record (wins over UTC, Virginia and William & Mary) and concluded the year with a six-game losing streak, it was clear Coach Pace was gone. He was replaced by a young Steve Sloan (who hired Bill Parcells as one of this assistants).

After we left school, Sloan went on to lead Vanderbilt to an all-too-brief, two-year period of football success (including a 7-3-2 record in 1974 and a Peach Bowl berth). Ironcally, Sloan achieved much of his success relying heavily on the talent recruited and left behind by Coach Pace.

Frustrating. In my next posting, I will take another look back at the achievements and disappointments of our football years at Vanderbilt. As always, please feel free to leave your own thoughts and memories below.

Go Vanderbilt!

Our Concerts 1969-1973

Along with promoting the "History of Motown" presentation by Vice Chancellor David Williams as a part of our upcoming (October 24-25) 35th Centennial Class Reunion weekend, I thought another way to get everyone in the mood for our big get-together was to look back at the many special groups we had come to campus to entertain us over our four years at Vanderbilt.

And since Reunion weekend is now also Homecoming, what better place to start our look back than with our first Vanderbilt Homecoming as students in the fall of 1969.

Our Homecoming concert was given by one of the most popular bands around at that time, The Association.

Here they are in a live concert presentation I found on YouTube performing one of their biggest hits, "Cherish".....





I found the shots of the crowd to be particularly fun to watch.
Don't you just love the fashions back in those days and how young everyone looks? And what about the the folks using that reel-to-reel tape recorder or the tiny flash camera at the end?

Hearing "Cherish" also brought back memories of one of Nashville's top disc jockeys at the time, Scott Shannon of WMAK (1300 AM),who closed out his broadcast every night with that song.

Good times, man, good times. What are your memories of The Association concert? Did you have a date or just go with a group of friends? Please leave your thoughts and memories below?

I have a list of other concerts we enjoyed while at Vanderbilt, so I plan to continue our musical tour down memory lane with still more postings like this between now and Reunion.

If you want to be sure to see and hear a certain group(my concert list is probably not complete), drop me a note at the end of this posting to let me know. That includes mentioning any particular song you'd like to see featured in the posting. I will look it up and if I can find it on YouTube or someplace else, I will add it to this blog.

Man, this makes me feel a little like the old days working as a DJ at WRVU, taking telephone requests and dedications from listeners. :)

Getting Ready For Reunion & For Motown

Don't forget one of the can't miss parts of our 35th Reunion Weekend is our class-sponsored educational event "The History of Motown" by Vice Chancellor David Willams Friday afternoon, October 24,at 4:00 PM in the Board of Trust Room in the new Student Life Center right across from Memorial Gym.

Over the next few weeks, we will be reminding you again and posting some great Motown videos to refresh your memories of that music and get you in the mood for Reunion weekend.Like this great oldie, My Girl.....

My Girl (Motown video)
Uploaded by eXsistenZ1968

Putting It in Perspective

It's been bad week for everyone in terms of the economy. We are seeing things happen in the financial markets and with long-standing financial institutions which resemble more the events of October 1929, not September, 2008.

It's been particularly brutal on Wall Street with the Dow Jones daily average losing close to 900 points total on two different days this week, before rallying more than 410 points today (Thursday) to close at 11,019.

Right now, no one knows for sure what the future, or even tommorrow or next week holds for the economy and the markets. But it is interesting to look at these things from the perspective of our years at Vanderbilt from 1969 to 1973 (even though I am fairly sure very few, if any of us, paid much attention to the stock market during these years...OK, maybe Bill Spitz). :)

If you were paying attention to stocks, here's what you would have seen:

The Dow Jones Averages:

1969 High 952 Low 769

1970 High842 Low 699

1971 High 950 Low 790

1972 High 1036 Low 921

1973 High 1051 Low 788

Notice first, how very much lower the range of stock averages were then than they are today (trading in a range of 769 for a low to 1051 for a high in those days, compared stocks averages above 11,000to 12,000 in recent years).

Clearly what we've told for years has been true (at least over the last 39 years): investing for the long term does pay off as the economy grows and expands.

Also notice that in our first two years at Vanderbilt, stocks dipped in average, closing in 1970 below what the market had done in 1969 for both highs and lows. And while the decline in raw numbers looks almost insignificant today, remember what a smaller range of overall stock averages were in play back then, and you can see that perhaps the 110 point differances in high water marks for stocks between 1969 and 1970 was quite significant to the overall value of stocks (and if you'll recall those years were a somewhat difficult time economically).

Also notice how stocks rebounded so well in 1972 and 1973, with highs above 1,0000 (for the first time in history I believe) and even the stock lows in those years were better than all but one other year during that period.

Now none of this is meant to be an endorsement or a condemnation of any one's ideas about how (or how not) to reform or change Wall Street in the wake of its current difficulties. But maybe it will help me feel a little better (and have a little hope for the future) the next time I get my 401K statement. :)

Don't forget to take a chance and enter the Vandy trivia quiz a few blog postings below. We still have two nice prizes from the Vanderbilt Reunion Office left to give away.

And to make it easier than an open book exam, the correct answers are listed in Steve Womack's winning entry which you can find in the reply area of the quiz posting. And that's where you can leave your correct answers as well.

Oh, if some of my Vanderbilt exams had just been this easy!

Selling the Essentials---TV News Commercials in the Summer 1969

About the time our Centennial Class was getting ready to come to Vanderbilt for the first time in the late summer of 1969, the ads on the nightly TV news were selling the essentials.

Unlike today, when these shows are populated with ads flacking all manner of prescription drugs, in the late '60s it was all about soap, detergent and toothpaste, the kind of things we all needed to bring with us to campus, especially that toothpaste that would give us all "sex appeal", which was a rather risque thing to talk about on TV in those days.

So courtesy of the Vanderbilt TV News Archives, take a trip back to TV Land, commercial style, from August, 1969. Also see if you recognize the young blonde in the last ad. She went on to be quite a TV and movie star and she has roots here in Tennessee.....




Did you recognize Cybill Sheperd? She was born in Memphis (February 18, 1950) and came to her first brush with fame by being named "Miss Teenage Memphis" in 1966 and then "Model of the Year" in 1968. According to her biography on Wikipedia: "She quickly made a name for herself as a curvy, "real woman", which was a departure from the trend at the time of Twiggy-type waifs."

It was not her 1969 TV "Ultra Brite" ad that led to her next break. It was her fashion modeling and appearance on the cover of GLAMOUR magazine in 1970 that got film director Peter Bogdanovich to cast her in his next movie: THE LAST PICTURE SHOW.

From there it was on to other notable films in the next few years such as THE HEARTBREAK KID, DAISY MILLER and TAXI DRIVER. Later she branched into television, winning acclaim for her work in the MOONLIGHTING comedy series with Bruce Willis and for another series she starred in called CYBIL.

And to think on the national scene it all began with that "sex appeal" toothpaste ad.

Don't forget you have a chance to stand out among your former VU classmates. All you have to do is scroll down and correctly answer the trivia questions in the posting below. My good friend and former WRVU Station Manager Steve Womack has won the first prize, which is a nice Vanderbilt mug. And there are two other prizes up for grabs courtesy of the Vanderbilt Reunion Office, so put in your answers/guesses today.

Where Did You Eat Off Campus, Volume 3?

OK, even though it was just a few blocks off campus headed downtown, I can't say I ever remember eating at the Flaming Steer Restaurant on West End.

I do remember it had a big, tall lighted sign out front that looked a lot like...well, what else...a flaming steer. But I don't remember ever going inside to eat.

Did you ever go there? Have any fond memories or food nightmares to share from the experience? Please leave your comments and thoughts below.

The owners must have attracted some Vandy students to dine with them. After all, as you can see above, they advertised in THE COMMODORE Yearbook. Or maybe they just felt sorry for whatever student came around trying to sell them an ad. :)

I think the Flaming Steer may have been a little ahead of its time (before chain restaurants like Bonanza or other steakhouses made steak a popular and affordable menu item for any budget when you went out to eat).

I wonder if it was like Chambers Restaurant on the other side of campus, near the Oxford House and just across the street from the Peabody campus?

Now I do remember Chambers. Long before I came to Vanderbilt, my dad took me there for my first official steak dinner on my birthday when I turned 12. Anyway, it was quite a big deal for me at the time, although I remember the steak itself was more than a little tough(more like tasty shoe leather than a tender piece of meat).

But when you are taking another big step in your life towards becoming a man (and for me, having your first steak dinner with your dad was one of those),it was more the event itself and its symbolism that mattered, not the steak sauce or whether it was a ribeye or a t-bone (sorry, filet was still too expensive).

Today, Chambers has long since been gobbled up by the Vanderbilt Medical Center, while the Flaming Steer has also headed for the last roundup. In fact, its location on West End has housed a Mrs. Winner's Fried Chicken restaurant for several years now.

More on the places around Vanderbilt where we went to eat in some upcoming postings. We are now here everyday through Reunion Weekend, October 24-25, trying to get your memories refreshed and your mind in the mood for a great time as the Centennial Class returns to Vanderbilt for our 35th Class Reunion.

By the way, we are still looking for winners in the VU trivia contest. The questions are contained in the posting right below. Many of the answers can also be found in earlier postings on this site, including the name of the first Vandy dorm to go co-ed (to help someone who missed that question).