WEB EXTRA: Scroll to the bottom of this article to watch, “The Catch,” a highlight film of the 1969 OPRF football team’s historic win over Lyons Township.
Mythical? If that’s what they want to call it, so be it. But there was nothing mythical about the 1969 Oak Park and River Forest High School football team.
We were crowned state champs after a mesmerizing 8-0 season, a feat that hasn’t been matched in 37 years, but because the state playoffs wouldn’t materialize for another few years, we were at the mercy of the Chicago daily newspapers. One daily clumped us with Loyola as state champs, another had us as the sole proprietors, but none of it really mattered. From the beginning, we knew we were the best. There was just something special about this team.
I’m using the word “we” because I played a major role on that club during that historic season. If I may be so bold: I was the best football player on the team-in the program, in the world, for that matter. That’s right, I was the hardest hitter, the fastest runner, the strongest blocker, the most accurate passer. I could catch like glue and run like the wind. I was so good in fact, our coaches each week would select players to be members of the “Zuffant Hitting Society.” I was that revered by teammates, coaches, and fans.
But enough about me. As good as I was, it was a team effort making history that season. I’d list all the names and each man’s contribution to the team if I could, but I don’t really want to buy extra ad space. Here are just a few names:
Pete Armstrong, one of several Armstrongs who built a sports legacy at OPRF, was the starting quarterback. What he lacked in height-5-foot-6-he made up for in pure athletic talent. Armstrong, also a two-time tennis state champ, called most of his own plays in the huddle and his arm suited his last name. But poise was probably Armstrong’s strongest suit. In the final minutes of the season opener against Lyons Township, the senior dropped back and effortlessly tossed a 45-yard TD pass to Randy Kaiser.
That’s Randy Kaiser, son of legendary baseball coach Jack Kaiser, who was also an assistant coach for the OPRF football team that year.
If Armstrong had poise, Randy Kaiser was blessed with more concentration than Nehi grape soda. His amazing catch [See the film at WednesdayJournalOnline.com] tied the game at 33-33, before John Ross kicked a perfect extra-point for the come-from-behind victory. On that big play, after the ball caroms off an LT defender, Kaiser reaches one hand back, tips it, and eventually hauls it in as he trots into the end zone for the score.
Without that catch, without the extra-point kick from Ross, a walk-on from Austin High School, the season may have been lost-which means instead of me writing about the football team, I’d be telling you about how cute the cheerleaders were that year.
Charlie Hambrook, now a dentist in Pompano Beach, Fla., and the organizer behind the team’s reunion at this Saturday’s OPRF Homecoming game against Proviso West (1:30 p.m.), was our running back that season. Ham was in the end zone more times than the lawnmower. He could do it all, run, catch and block. Against LT, just two plays before Kaiser’s remarkable catch, Ham saved the game. On fourth down and 2, he caught a pass from Amrstrong to keep things alive. But it wasn’t the LT game where Hambrook stood out the most.
A week after annihilating Highland Park 24-0, the Huskies hosted the much feared Evanston Wildkits. At the time, and in previous years, Evanston dominated the local high school football scene.
Oak Park Stadium swelled to 7,500 people, and the noise level would have drowned out a Beatles concert. Evanston took a 14-0 lead early in the fourth quarter, and it appeared as if the Huskies were destined for yet another disappointing season. Then Ham caught a 45-yard pass from Armstrong that set up OPRF’s first touchdown. He promptly recovered an Evanston fumble on the Wildkits’ own 14-yard line. The Huskies tied things up 14-14 and you-know-who then scored the game winner on a 2-yard dive.
The other running back was Patrick Sullivan, a stocky junior who kept quiet most of the time due to a stuttering problem. He didn’t need to do any talking anyway, not the way he ran. Sullivan racked up over 800 yards rushing that season, but he’s best remembered for his 47-yard scamper in the final minutes of the Evanston game that set-up Ham’s winning touchdown.
But those great running backs wouldn’t have been much without a gritty offensive line, led by Gerry Sullivan. The 6-foot-5-inch, 190-pound center went on to play nine years with the Cleveland Browns. Guard John Passananti was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings after a successful collegiate career at Western Illinois. John Meyer, who has helped preserve the team’s history on film the last few years, rose through the ranks to play tight end for the Huskies. Other stoppers included tackles Dan Weilandt, Jim Cozzi, and Don Rees, to name a few.
Offense wasn’t OPRF’s only strength. The defense was unyielding, shutting out three opponents that year. Douglas Potts was the vociferous captain of the defense and a bruising linebacker. Potts and his crew only yielded 91 points all season, while the offense garnered 270.
Yes, it was quite a season. Mixed in with the jubilant triumphs were silly nicknames (“Eddie the Rat” and “Sugar Bear” being most prominent), brawls (following the Proviso East game), and laughable moments (head coach Ed Zembal once ripped off his own shirt during an angry tirade at halftime).
In their own words
It’s not right me telling you all the great moments of that historic season. I must sound like a know-it-all, but I am. Not only was I a superb athlete, I was a brilliant scholar as well. They don’t name societies after just any schmo. Nonetheless, here are some interesting perspectives from my teammates and coaches:
“That season provided me an opportunity to have confidence in whatever I decided I wanted do in life,” said Hambrook, who took advantage of a scholarship to play at St. Xavier University. “I wasn’t the smartest kid in class. Playing on that team with those great athletes got me a good education.”
“Joe Krupa was one of the main reasons why we were so good,” said running back Patrick Sullivan. Krupa, a former NFL lineman with the Pittsburgh Steelers, was an assistant coach. “He was a motivator who taught the line to make holes. I would just look for Gerry Sullivan and follow him up the field.”
“As I reflect on my high school football experience, what I remember most is that it was probably the first real experience I had at being a part of a cohesive team that accomplished something bigger than what any one individual could accomplish.” This is coming from Alex Plechash, a third-string quarterback on the ’69 team. “Little did I know then that it was setting me up for a fantastic personal journey of future leadership at Annapolis and later in the Marine Corps as an officer and fighter pilot.
“What I am today is in large part a product of what occurred on the gridiron back at OPRF and I am thankful for that,” Plechash said.
“We were like soldiers. We waited for our turn. We were little machines,” recalls Patrick Sullivan, who now resides in Dayton, Ohio. “The team was designed to just play, without any star players. I see how different it is now. We were well coached, and well disciplined.”
Potts, who lives in Oregon, recalled how it all began:
“I can remember when we would gather as players in the summer months, to work out on our own, weight-lifting, or running sprints. We would run in cadence, chanting the statement ‘Beat Evanston, Beat Evanston.’ It became a mantra, like a faith statement, that would become reality in our lives.”
Sullivan echoed Potts’ sentiments. He was both elated and surprised by the reaction after the historic win over Evanston.
“I remember turning to the sidelines, and it was like a waterfall, people jumping over the rails to get to the field. I just wanted to get to the lockers and take a shower. We were still in that machine mode,” he said. “In the locker room, grown men were crying, jumping up and down.”
To Potts, the ’69 season had quite an influence on his future.
“In a grown man’s heart, there are many loves in life. For me, this football team was a moment of great growth and teaching which I have used hundreds of times when instructing youth or adults how to work hard in life as a Catholic deacon and father.”
I’ll leave it up to head coach Ed Zembal to fill in exactly what role I played on the ’69 team:
“In 1968 one of our players, Dave Dillon, wanted two lockers, so he put this Alvin David Zuffant name on the one locker,” remembers Zembal, who currently divides his time between a home in Naperville and a cottage in Wisconsin. “Well, it stuck and every time we’d start discussing things, we’d refer to this Zuffant, this fictional person. We used it as sort of a motivational tool.
“Zuffant symbolized all the football players who played at Oak Park, their spirit and their will. Alvin David Zuffant represented everyone who put on the orange and blue.”
Coach, if what you’re saying is true, then I’m the only mythical part of the 1969 OPRF state championship football team.
Photo courtesy of John Meyer Champions
The 1969 OPRF football team shocked the state by defeating Evanston, then went on to finish a perfect 8-0. Row 1, l-r: John Cotton 62, Tom Londos 68, Rian Mintek 63, Vic Custardo 86, B. Stapleton 69, W. Brooke 87, Tom Woods 34, John Peterson 84, Denny Cory 85, Jim Dugal 67, and Jim Lee 52. Row 2: Coach Bob Wehrli, Larry Esposito 60, Mark Shanahan 70, Joe Potts 16, Randy Kaiser 45, John Ross 26, Ron Nordstrom 39, Bill Moerschbaecher 42, Pat Sullivan 37, Charlie Hambrook 28, Pete Armstrong 10, Steve Schuett 17, Jim Barrett 36, Dean Harvalis 43, Rick Nelson 29, Dan Cimaglio 40, and Coach Jerry Slack. Row 3: Coach Ed Zembal, Coach Norm Thompson, Terry Gaul 55, Pete Opela 53, Jim Cozzi 74, John Vincent 77, Holger Paetau 93, Don Rees 92, John Passananti 73, Gerry Sullivan 54, Al Muehrcke 96, Dan Weilandt 72, John Meyer 82, Andy Brende 94, Bob Mullen 78, Doug Potts 66, Coach Joe Krupa, and Coach Jack Kaiser. Not pictured: Dennis Bernaden, W. Brooke, Robert Caraher, Charlie Carey, Mike Conley, Jim Cowan, R. Del Debbio, S. Dillon, Manager Mike Feltes, Dan Furey, Peter Galesteanu, Paul Gegenheimer , E. Greenbaum, Edmund Grennan, D. Hanson, Richard Jones, Dave Kaderavek, Ernie Kilgallon, Mike Lennox, Rick Leonard, Tim Macaren, Kevin Maher, Rick Mathews, Bob Muehrcke, Walter Mybeck, Trainer Bruno Opela, Nicholas Papademos, Doug Peterson, John Peterson, Alex Plechash, Pat Norton, Managers Silvio Pedicini and Bonny Bumiller, Jim Schappert, Ron Schoff, William Stapleton, George Treutalar, Tom Weiler, Rick Wenzlaff, and Bob Zubak.