ACU's "undefeated" coaches honored Sunday

By BILL HART / Senior Staff Writer

They were the coaches of Abilene Christian University's only undefeated football team, but members of that 1950 team say they were more than that. They had a big influence on the players' lives.

Head coach Garvin Beauchamp and assistants Oliver Jackson and Bill McClure were honored Sunday by the school and former players when plans were announced to name a room for the three coaches in the soon-to-be built sports complex.

A tribute luncheon was held in their honor Sunday at the Abilene Civic Center.

"Their life made me want to become a coach like them and they've had a big influence in my life," said Ted Sitton, a former ACU coach who quarterbacked the Wildcats to an 11-0 record and the Refrigerator Bowl championship that season.

"After I left school and was in the service, there were times when some soldiers wanted me to go out with them and do things," said Don Smith of Abilene, who was a defensive back that year. "But I'd say to myself 'But what would my coaches think if I did that?' so I wouldn't go. Their influence was far-reaching."

It was by chance that Beauchamp came to ACU. He had been offered an assistant's job at Graham High School, but he stopped by the college and visited with the head coach, the late A.M. "Tonto" Coleman.

"Tonto asked me hadn't I rather coach here and I said yes, so he said let's go talk with president (Don) Morris," Beauchamp recalled. "He let Tonto hire me."

That was in 1947, but two years later, Beauchamp went to Midland High School where his brother-in-law Tugboat Jones was the new head coach. After that season, Coleman left ACU for a job on the staff at the University of Florida, and ACU hired the 30-year-old Beauchamp to run the program.

"Tonto was a rigorous coach, but I guess I was just a friend of the boys that year," Beauchamp said. "I wanted them to have fun, although we did work them a lot and we put in a few new things. I just turned them loose and didn't try to overcoach."

What happened was a total surprise. ACU was picked to finish last in the Texas Conference and wasn't mentioned in any polls. And it was a young team with numerous freshmen and sophomores.

The Wildcats opened with 39-0 and 34-0 wins over Eastern New Mexico and Sul Ross. Then came the University of Chattanooga, which was comparable to today's NCAA Division I-A schools. The Moccasins had beaten ACU every time they had played.

But the Wildcats pulled off a 13-7 upset and that set the tone for the rest of the season.

"After the game, their coach, Scrappy Moore, told me that we made more yards off their passing game returning interceptions than they made on completions," Beauchamp said.

ACU was flat the next week when it traveled to Georgetown to face Southwestern. The Wildcats held a 7-0 lead late in the game when Southwestern scored to make it 7-6.

"I told Tiny Moore that he had to block that kick, that we probably were not going to score again," Beauchamp recalled. "We told him to find an opening in the middle and to go after it. He did and the ball hit him in the chest. That one play turned the game around and our season around."

Moore, who was from Snyder, weighed 290 pounds.

ACU had one more scare - at Kingsville. Texas A&I, as it was called then, held a 3-0 halftime lead, but the Wildcats scored three touchdowns in the first 13 minutes of the third quarter to win.

After a 27-6 win over Howard Payne, the invitation to the bowl game in Evansville, Ind., was offered and accepted. The opponent was Gustavus-Adolphus.

ACU trailed 7-6 when an official's blunder cost the Wildcats a long run deep into enemy territory. Sitton faked to fullback Alton Green, then gave it to Bailey Woods on a reverse for about a 30-yard gain. But the officials thought Green had it and blew the whistle and killed the play.

"Alton did a great job of faking because he stayed bent over and ran hard," Beauchamp said. "And Ted did a good job of hiding the ball. What's funny about it was the officials gave Alton a 3-yard gain on a play where he didn't carry the ball.

"We ran the same play later, but Ted came out of the huddle to inform the referees to watch for it. They told him if he wanted to call another play that he'd better get back in the huddle."

ACU came back to win, 13-7, when Bill Ayres ran about 40 yards for a touchdown late in the game.

Beauchamp was the head coach and headed the defense, while Jackson worked with the line and McClure the backs. So much for the 10-man coaching staffs of today.

"McClure had coached me one year in high school at Stamford, and he was the main reason I went to ACU," Sitton said. "Coach Jackson was a great track coach and he helped me to love track. But he was a failure when he tried to make me a quartermiler."

Not only did the 1950 team have good football players, but the team also had great singers, earning the nickname, "The Singing Christians." They even sang on a radio station in Evansville prior to the bowl game.

"Ray Hansen organized the singing and Wally Bullington and I were on the committee," Sitton said. "We sang a lot on bus trips and in the locker room."

Smith, who also coached the Wildcats as assistant to both Sitton and Bullington, says the three coaches played big roles in the players' lives.

"Jackson is one of the most dynamic coaches I've ever been around," Smith said. "We went to a lot of track meets and he was the most popular coach there. McClure is the smartest coach I've been associated with and Beauchamp unified us.

"From that team has come preachers, missionaries, elders, deacons, coaches, ACU board members and successful buisnessmen in all fields. And more coaches of the year came from that group. We owe those coaches a lot."

And some of it was paid back Sunday.