Lamar Football History Darrell Johnson scored the first touchdown in stadium history on a 30-yard run in the second quarter, and the Cardinals went on to post a 63-1 record, win the SLC championship and earn a berth in the 1964 Pecan Bowl. The Cardinals’ losses that season were by a combined eight points – 33-28 to the San Diego Marines, 13-12 to Texas A&I and 19-17 to State College of Iowa in the Pecan Bowl. While Primm, Harold LaFitte and Dan Yezak led the offense that season, lineman Anthony Guillory and linebacker Vernon McManus sparked the defense. A gem to the 1964 season was a non-conference, 21-14 victory over major college foe New Mexico State. Primm helped spark that win by completing 12 of 18 passes for 130 yards. Although Primm was plagued by injuries, the Cardinals managed a 6-4 record and another SLC championship in 1965. Primm’s two-point conversion pass to Frazer Dealy in the last two minutes enabled the Cards to nip East Central Oklahoma 15-14 in their opener, and they won three of their next four games before suffering back-to-back losses to Texas A&I and Southwestern Louisiana. Included in the early-season burst was a 20-7 victory over Arkansas State witnessed by a then-record crowd of 16,000 in Cardinal Stadium. The Cardinals clinched the SLC championship with a 21-3 triumph over Trinity University in which fullback Eugene Washington reeled off a then school-record 85-yard TD run. Primm, McManus, LaFitte, Jake David, Dick Croxton, Ed Marcontell, Bill Kilgore and Mike Allman were All-SLC picks that season. With Primm passing for a then schoolrecord 1,549 yards, the 1966 Cardinals shared the SLC championship with Texas-Arlington, a team they defeated 27-7. A 23-14 loss to Trinity University prevented the Cards from winning the title outright. Primm hit his high water mark of the season by completing 14 of 18 passes for 224 yards and four TDs in a 42-16 SLC romp over Abilene Christian, and linebacker Danny Jones led the Cards with 15 tackles in a 17-0 blanking of Arkansas State. Another big win that season was a 31-16 decision over Terry Bradshaw-led Louisiana Tech. Lamar’s bid for a fourth-successive SLC championship ended in the final game of the 1967 season when Skipper Butler kicked three field goals to help UTA defeat the Cards 1610. Still, they won seven-straight games over one stretch and finished the season with a fine 7-3 record. Randy McCollum took over as starting
quarterback that season and came within 16 yards of P r i m m ’s then school record with 1,533 passing yards. To m m i e Smiley, a 232-pound running back, was the team’s Coach Vernon Glass guided leading the Cardinals to Southland rusher with Conference Championships in 890 yards. 1964, 1965, 1966 & 1971. Croxton became the first Cardinal to earn a thirdsuccessive All-SLC award, and Kilgore, Johnny Fuller and offensive guard Spergon Wynn were all picked for a second time, while Darrell Mingle, Richard Bjerke and Bill Groberg were firstyear picks. The Cardinals came close to winning three times during their 0-10 1968 season, but they never quite pulled off the needed big play in losses of 16-14 to New Mexico State, 20-14 to Southwestern Louisiana and 24-20 to Trinity. Still, sophomore split end Ronnie Gebauer caught a then school-record 56 passes for 831 yards, and defensive tackle Richard Cummings and defensive back Benny Lansford were AllSLC performers. The Cardinals ended the 1960s decade with a 3-7 record in 1969 but went 0-4 in the SLC. Their wins came against McNeese State, New Mexico State and Southern Illinois in their first four games, and they ended the season with six-straight losses. An example of the Cardinals’ futility that season came in their game against Louisiana Tech. Quarterback Tommy Tomlin threw for 308 yards and a school-record six touchdowns, but he didn’t come close to matching the numbers put up by Terry Bradshaw in a 77-40 Tech win. The 1970s The 1970 Cardinals started their season impressively, upsetting West Texas State 33-28 as Tomlin completed 12 of 14 passes and then holding off Louisiana Tech 6-0 in a rainstorm in Cardinal Stadium in Week 2. A 32-16 road loss to Southern Illinois sidetracked the Cards the next week, and Tomlin went down with a
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practice injury a few days later that kept him our of action for four games. The Cards went on to lose six more games in a row before blanking Texas-Arlington 24-0 in the finale of their 3-7 season. They surrendered 309 points in 10 games, a dubious record that stood until the 1986 and 1987 teams gave up 339 and 386 points in back-to-back seasons. Gebauer had 39 catches for 540 yards in 1970 to become the first and still only Cardinal to amass more than 2,000 receiving yards. His 149 career catches and 2,098 career yards remain at the top of Lamar’s career lists. Also, Bennie Lansford finished his career that year with a still-standing 14 interceptions. With Lamar languishing with a 1-4 record at the midpoint of the 1971 season, Glass rolled the dice by switching from the I Formation on offense to the Wishbone T. With squatty quarterback Glen Hill at the controls of the Wishbone, it produced four-successive wins to close the season and a tie with Louisiana Tech and Trinity University for the SLC championship. The streak started with a 30-28 win over Abilene Christian in which Hill rushed for 100 yards and kicked the winning 30-yard field goal. Glass’ 1972 Cardinals pulled off a 42-28 road upset of Texas-El Paso in their second game and went on to post a fine 8-3 record. Doug Matthews, later to become Galveston’s city manager and a Lamar regent, rushed for 101 yards in the UTEP game and for a teambest 689 yards for the season. A first-quarter field goal of 41 yards by Mike Drake stood up as the Cardinals defeated Southwestern Louisiana 3-0 as cornerback Donald Hill sparked the defense with two interceptions. Another highlight to the season was Matthews’ 135-yard rushing performance in a 25-19 road victory over New Mexico State. Matthews, offensive tackle Charles Cantrell, split end Joe Bowser and safety Rondy Colbert were all first-team All-SLC selections. Lamar gained major college classification in football for the 1973 season, and the Cardinals compiled a 5-5 record against a beefed-up schedule that included road games at New Mexico State, Drake University and Texas-El Paso. They scored 17 fourth-quarter points to win the UTEP game 31-27 as Bobby Flores passed 8 yards to Steve DeRouen for the winning touchdown with a mere 12 seconds remaining. The Cardinals also scored late in their matching 10-7 SLC wins over Arkansas State and Texas-Arlington. Flores threw 11 yards to Larry Spears for the clinching score against Arkansas State, and Jabo Leonard booted a 27-
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