HALL OF FAME TEAMS
1977 EUREKA COLLEGE RED DEVILS 1991 EUREKA COLLEGE RED DEVILS EUREKA COLLEGE HALL OF FAME
ILLINI-BADGER-HAWKEYE FOOTBALL CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS NAIA DIVISION II PLAYOFFS EUREKA COLLEGE HALL OF FAME
On the heels of an era that saw only four winning seasons in 31 years of Eureka College football since World War II, the 1977 Eureka football team broke through to give the Red Devils one of the most celebrated seasons of the 20th century.
SCHEDULE & RESULTS S 10 S 17 S 24 O1 O8 O 15 O 22 O 29 N5 N 12
7-3 Overall • 2-2 IBFC Olivet Nazarene W Lakeland W at Graceland L Principia W at Benedictine W NE Illinois L at Concordia (Ill.) W Illinois College W Iowa Wesleyan W at Milton L
14-0 35-12 7-27 27-20 17-14 13-14 38-14 14-10 31-0 7-27
The Red Devils won seven games in a season for the first time in program history and later became the earliest football team to ever be inducted into the Eureka College Athletics Hall of Fame.
The 1977 campaign marked the fourth season as head coach for Tom Hosier, who had gradually turned the Red Devils into contenders on the college football scene. The season also marked just the second year Eureka competed as new members of the Illini-Badger Football Conference. The season started on a high note, as the Red Devils earned a 14-0 victory in their first-ever matchup with Olivet Nazarene. The season also included a 17-14 triumph at Benedictine, snapping an eight-game losing streak in the all-time series with the Eagles and giving the Red Devils their first victory in Lisle since 1967. A three-game winning streak that began with a 38-14 romp at Concordia (Ill.) eventually spilled into November with wins over Illinois College and Iowa Wesleyan at McKinzie Field. The 31-0 blanking of the Tigers on Nov. 5 marked Eureka’s seventh victory of the campaign, breaking the previous single-season program record of six set on three previous occasions, including the 1976 season. Hosier would go on to finish his five-year tenure in 1978 with 23 victories as head coach of the Red Devils. The 1977 squad was selected for the Eureka College Athletics Hall of Fame in 2006.
92
Never before in 100 years of Eureka College football had the Red Devils put together a perfect regular season. That changed in 1991, as the Red Devils ripped off 10 consecutive victories, swept their way to an Illini-Badger-Hawkeye Football Conference championship and climbed as high as #3 in NAIA Division II national poll. The 1991 Red Devils were inducted into the Eureka College Athletics Hall of Fame in 1999. Under the direction of second-year head coach John Tully and less than three years removed from a 1-9 season in 1988, the Red Devils put together the finest season in the history of the program that dated back to the 1800s. Following a 35-3 rout at Monmouth on Sept. 14, the Red Devils SCHEDULE & RESULTS checked in with the #25 ranking nationally in NAIA Division II for 10-1 Overall • 6-0 IBHFC the first time in program history. A 31 Northwestern (Wis.) W 35-3 S7
at Knox
W
41-7
S 14 at Monmouth W 35-3 Each week brought another S 28 at MacMurray W 45-9 blowout victory, and the Red O 5 Blackburn W 46-0 Devils continued to climb in the O 12 Concordia (Ill.) W 42-28 rankings. A 46-0 shutout of O 19 at Lakeland W 28-7 Blackburn at McKinzie Field on O 26 Kentucky Wesleyan W 13-6 Oct. 5 vaulted EC into the topN2 Concordia (Wis.) W 55-6 10. When the third-ranked Red N 9 at Greenville W 22-15 Devils put the exclamation point on their undefeated regular NAIA Division II Playoffs season with a 22-15 triumph at N 23 at Georgetown (Ky.) L 14-42 Greenville on Nov. 9, a police escort accompanied the Red Devils over the final few miles of their trip home for an impromptu pep rally inside the Reagan Center.
The Red Devils averaged what was then a school-record 34.4 points per game in the regular season, while the defense ranked second in the nation with only 8.4 points allowed per game. The dominant combination, coupled with a plus-30 turnover margin, allowed Eureka to outscore its opponents by an average of four touchdowns each week. The undefeated ride came to a halt in the first round of the NAIA Division II playoffs, a 42-14 defeat at the hands of #2 Georgetown (Ky.).
2012 EUREKA COLLEGE FOOTBALL MEDIA GUIDE